EnigmA Amiga Run 1995 November/EnigmA AMIGA RUN 02 (1995)(G.R. Edizioni)(IT)[!][issue 1995-11][Skylink CD].iso/earcd/docs/lwml9504.lha/LIGHTWAVE-APR95/000396_owner-lightwave-l _Mon Apr 17 18:49:01 1995.msg

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To: David Kim <[e-mail]>
From: [e-mail] (Don Peterson)
Subject: Re: RAPTOR 3's Processer-Independent technology?
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>So yes...it's speedy. (Is this the only 21164 based CPU out?)

Yes it is!

>My question is:  Does having the processor independent of the motherboard
>really make the Raptor 3 immune to obselence?

Immune relative to existing workstation systems.  We think the motherboard
will last through this and the next generation of CPUs like the R10000, PPC620.

>The next generation of Alpha chips from DEC are supposed to run in the 600Mhz
>to 900Mhz range (not exactly sure).  So what specifically is it about the
>design of the Raptor 3 that guarantees that CPU modules can continue to
>be developed for it, and just simply plug in?

I don't know who told you about 600 and 900Mhz CPUs from DEC.  I don't know
anything about such speedy devices.  I do know of more powerful devices
coming out of Digital and elsewhere but if there's a DEC guy on the list
maybe we can get some insider to tell us.  What I know is under NDA and so I
really can't say much.  The only thing we can guarantee is that we can
design a module for it.  Anything DEC does will be more similar to the 21164
than not.  Since we had no problem making the transition from MIPS to Alpha
I don't think we'll have a problem with anything new that DEC or MIPS might
do.  The interface mechanism between the CPU module and the motherboard is
completely abstracted from any unique features of the CPU itself.  In making
such a translation, some would argue that we might give up a few compute
cycles, however, the translation that occurs is taking a 64-bit bus and
making it 128-bits wide, wider than it originally was.  We also run that
interface bus asynchronously to the PCI bus on the motherboard.  Therefore,
we are not married to the PCI bus nor are we married to any one particular
CPU bus.  The only processor-specific design is in the interface between the
CPU and cache memory on the module.  That's why its on the module.

The real point here is not just that we can add faster or more powerful
modules to the R3.  The real point is that by mid-1995 we'll have an
entry-level Pentium module, a low to midrange R4600/R4700 module, a faster
275Mhz 21064A module and then the 266 or 300Mhz 21164 module.  At somewhere
between $5000 and $25,000 anyone can have a computer that supports any
budget or performance requirment.  And best of all, even though you may have
bought the Pentium module, for less than a third the price of a new system
you can have the fastest thing on the planet, once your budget can support
it that is.

>At what point does the design of the main motherboard itself become obselete?

When something other than standard DRAMs are the volume memory component.
Or,  when dual PCI or 64-bit PCI peripherals are the standard.

==========Don Peterson =============
Phone: [phone]  Fax [phone]
=====DeskStation Technology, Inc.=======