SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Startup Rise Technology is about to throw its hat into the ring of Intel X86 processor competitors with a Socket 7 device geared toward low-end PCs and notebook computers. The new entrant comes at a time when processor, graphics and core-logic companies are partnering to deliver integrated parts to power low-end systems whose price points are continuing to fall.

The move toward sub-$700 PCs is forcing the industry to look for as many ways as possible to cut costs. "By the end of this year, you will see at least one of the major U.S. OEMs offering a sub-$600 PC," said Samuel Liu, president of Taiwanese chip-set maker Silicon Integrated Systems Corp. "Moving graphics functions onto the core logic is one way to reach that price point."

On the processor front, Rise executives said they have successfully demonstrated with their first spin of silicon — an X86 device that runs Windows and test applications. The company is getting ready to ship its first processor in volume to a number of Taiwanese motherboard and chip-set makers by the second half of this year. Several of those companies will show off systems based on Rise's mP6 next month at the Computex show in Taipei.

The device is based on a homegrown core that Rise claims will offer Pentium II-class performance but with power low enough to make it attractive to notebook makers. Jim Gilbreath, director of marketing for Rise, said the company will not detail the architecture or strategy behind its mP6 until later this year. However, he suggested that Rise has a unique take on the notion of instruction-set enhancements for 3-D graphics.

"We think we have an architectural advantage over other lower-cost solutions," Gilbreath said. "There's a lot of 3-D hype now with [AMD's] 3DNow and [Intel's] Katmai [New Instructions]. For the price points we're going after, we think we'll have several architectural advantages related to MMX."

A crucial choice
Since its founding in 1993, Rise has built up a technical team of engineers from companies such as Amdahl, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, LSI Logic, MIPS, NEC and Sun. David Lin, president and chairman, for one, came from NEC Corp.'s processor group before founding the company.

Rise's choice of foundry partners could be crucial to stave off a legal battle with Intel Corp., which has a history of going after X86 cloners over patent rights. However, Rise could be protected if its foundry already has a cross-licensing agreement with Intel. Companies that have such a license include IBM, National Semiconductor, STMicroelectronics and Texas Instruments.

The Rise processor will compete with Intel's own low-end family, the Celeron, as well as processors and integrated parts just announced from Centaur Technology (Austin, Texas), a subsidiary of Integrated Device Technology Inc.

Centaur announced its Winchip 2+NB, which combines the company's 300-MHz processor with a north bridge core-logic chip reportedly from VIA Technologies Inc. (Taipei). The part, slated to ship in the first quarter of 1999, is the first of a family of integrated processors from Centaur that aim to speed processor-to-memory access while lowering component costs.

"All the chip-set companies want to integrate the north bridge and CPU," said Glenn Henry, Centaur president. The combination also helps CPU makers avoid the problem of how to plug into a motherboard without adopting Intel's proprietary Slot 1 processor bus. "The PCI/AGP bus will become the new standard interface," Henry said.

There are, however, some potential disadvantages to integrating the CPU with the north bridge. It would force OEMs to use a new motherboard, for instance, although Henry said Centaur hopes to ease the transition by making the Winchip 2+NB resemble a north-bridge chip with just seven more interrupt pins.

Also, the move limits what can be integrated onto the die. To keep die size to a minimum, Centaur has dropped plans to include Level 2 cache on-chip. Instead, it will double the size of its L1 cache to a pair of 64k caches, beginning with the Winchip 2+ chip set to debut later this year. Henry said performance will equal that of a 256-k L2 cache with a 3-1-1-1 access time.

Centaur's decision to shun L2 cache for its second- and third-generation devices runs counter to the plans of Intel and Advanced Micro Devices Inc., both of which vow to offer processors this year that integrate L2. IBM Microelectronics will also integrate L2 cache into one of its X86 processors designed by the Cyrix division of National Semiconductor Corp., an IBM spokeswoman said, which suggests that Cyrix might have similar plans.

But Intel, AMD and to some extent IBM are still being conservative by integrating L2 and little else onto their X86s. Jill Kaplan, director of IBM's X86 marketing strategy, said it's too early to tell whether bolting on more peripheral functions will win out as an architectural choice over discrete processors.

Paul Otellini, general manager of the Intel Architecture group, expressed similar caution at a speech at the recent PC Tech conference. "This transition [to integrated parts] is risky because you wind up cementing features in silicon," he said. Otellini noted that while retail sales of sub-$1,200 PCs have grown significantly, overall consumption has remained flat over the last three years. "The low end isn't the end-all and be-all," he said. Still, Intel has dedicated as many as 800 engineers to its Celeron program, he noted.

Growing strategy
Another strategy pursued by Intel, by some graphics-chip companies and by chip-set suppliers looks to combine the graphics engine with the north bridge while continuing to use a standalone processor. Still others — such as National Semiconductor Corp. and STMicroelectronics (formerly SGS-Thomson Microelectronics) — plan to incorporate graphics, core logic and the processor in one device. Kaplan confirmed that IBM has been talking with STM about manufacturing the ST PC, which combines I/O and graphics with a 486 core. "It's looking to be very feasible," she said. "We are asking ourselves if it's the right time to put our stake in the ground."

Intel has told Taiwan's mainboard makers that it will launch its Whitney chip set in the second quarter of 1999 integrating the i740 graphics engine on the Pentium II north bridge core-logic chip. At least one of Taiwan's core-logic design houses has a similar idea. "We have plans [for] a new product that will incorporate a graphics engine inside the core logic," said Sylvia Lin, marketing manager for Silicon Integrated Systems Corp.