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Pentium II hits 300 MHz

Some of Intel's new MMX-capable Pentium II samples, now shipping to vendors and system board makers, are running at 300 MHz.

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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Intel (INTC) is shipping new samples of its MMX-capable Pentium II processor to vendors and system board manufacturers with some samples capable of running at 300 MHz.

A number of board manufactures are receiving new samples of the Pentium II processor, according to sources. One manufacturer said he has recently received updated samples, with at least one sample running at 300 MHz. The chip is slated to be announced officially in May, according to sources.

The Pentium II processor ships on a small module which holds the chip and the cache memory. Cache is very-high-speed memory and boosts performance of the chip.

Another source said it had recently received a new 266-MHz sample of the Pentium II chip module with 512 KB of cache on the module.

Though Intel has not stated the speed at which initial versions of the Pentium II will run, 233 and 266 MHz are expected.

One source said that Intel will initially only ship the Pentium II processor on motherboards and will not ship the module by itself. This source expects to receive Pentium II motherboards in the next month or so.

Intel has demonstrated the chip at Cebit in Germany running at 266 MHz, said another source. Intel would not confirm the clock speed of the Pentium II used in demonstrations.

On another front, one board vendor stated that Intel's 440LX chip set, which supports Intel's new Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) 3D graphics technology, is delayed. Intel has slated the Pentium II as the chip platform of choice for running its AGP 3D technology. AGP is expected to be rolled out later this year.

"They keep pushing it [the shipment date] back," the source said.

(Intel is an investor in CNET: The Computer Network.)