Intel Debuts 550-MHz PIII, 366-MHz Mobile Celeron

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May 17, 1999 (12:00 AM EDT)

Intel Debuts 550-MHz PIII, 366-MHz Mobile Celeron

By Andy Patrizio,

Intel introduced Monday a 550-MHz version of itsPentium III processor and a 366-MHz Mobile Celeron chip. It also set the stage for even faster chips next month, as well as subsequent price cuts of slower chips.

The new high-end chips use Katmai New Instructions, which, combined with the speed boost and optimized applications, can offer big performance gains in floating point applications, such as graphics. Intel said when using KNI-optimized applications, image processing improves by 90 percent, while video encoding is 39 percent faster compared with a 450-MHz Pentium II.

The 366-MHz Mobile Celeron will be followed by a 400-MHz chip and a new chip set, the 440ZX, on June 14. The 440ZX will replace the 440DX chip set, which introduced a 100-MHz bus to mobile systems, but didn't have the AGP bus for high-performance video. With 440ZX, laptop computers will be able to support AGP video, which is four times as fast as PCI video.

With a new 550-MHz chip, Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel is expected to reduce prices on existing Pentium III, Pentium II, and Celeron chips next week. The company said it expects to phase out the Pentium II chip over time, with Pentium III accounting for 80 percent of sales vs. 20 percent for the Pentium II in the general desktop sales market. This does not take into account the Xeon, Celeron, and mobile markets.