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IDT lays out low-cost chip plans

The chipmaker previews new generations of WinChip microprocessors targeted at sub-$1,000 desktops and sub-$1,500 notebooks.

Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor
Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
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Brooke Crothers
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SAN JOSE--Integrated Device Technology (IDT) today previewed a product road map for its low-cost WinChip family.

In a presentation at the PC Tech Forum, Glenn Henry, IDT's senior vice president and president of its Centaur Technology design subsidiary, described future generations of WinChip microprocessors targeted at sub-$1,000 desktop and sub-$1,500 notebook computer systems.

The Santa Clara, California-based chipmaker will soon introduce a host of new processors, including the WinChip 2, WinChip 2 3D, WinChip 2+, WinChip 2+NB, and WinChip 3.

IDT also announced that it has begun sample shipments of its WinChip 2 and WinChip 2 3D processors for the low-end desktop and notebook computer market. The WinChip 2 3D incorporates AMD 3DNow! Technology, which accelerates games and applications written to Microsoft's Direct3D application programming interface (API).

Samples will initially be available at speeds running as high as 266 MHz. Later this year the chip will reach 300 MHz.

The WinChip 2+ will combine the WinChip 2 with a greater amount of cache memory to improve performance. The WinChip 2+NB will integrate part of the chipset into the processor.

The WinChip 3 will introduce a new processor core and techniques to double speeds to between 400 and 600 MHz while maintaining small chip size and low cost, the company said.

Michael Slater, founder and editorial director of the Microprocessor Report, said that IDT won?t soon be a big player but its chips could appear in PCs selling for as little as $500-$600. "They?ll sell maybe 2 to 3 million chips this year. They?ll be happy if they?re selling 5 to 10 million next year," he said.