Originally Posted by
lynx
What's this report actually saying?
Is it saying that other chips can replace Intel's processor, or is it an additional chip in a multi-socket board? The picture certainly shows multiple sockets, but the purpose is unclear.
If it is the former, then I doubt we will see another full scale cpu, so presumably it would be a chip for other purposes. No real worries for AMD's cpu production on that score, but a boost for Intel's general chip production if the FSB can be used in other devices such as HighDef Video receivers.
If it is the latter, this could be the one area where Intel's use of an FSB to communicate between processors has an advantage over AMD's DirectConnect Architecture, but there's plenty of other ways to access FSB speed buses without using the processor socket, so what would be the point?
In any case, I don't see anything special about this. They must have revealed trade secrets about the FSB to other chip makers (such as Nvidia, Via etc) otherwise they would be the sole chipset makers, which in itself would prohibit them from lucrative government contracts. AMD are far enough down an alternative path that there cpu products are likely to be in any way threatened by this move. I can see lots of possibilities in the embedded processor area though.
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