Klamath vanishes in favour of Pentium II

Klamath is no more. Intel has officially confirmed the name of its new sideways processor card as the Pentium II.

The processor card, which includes Pentium Pro chips, an onboard cache and MMX extensions, is now probably due to arrive in July. Gateway 2000 said a month ago that the machines will be positioned as machines for consumers later on in the year.

An Intel representative confirmed the name should be described only with Roman numerals, drawing instant fire from hardware vendors. One, an Intel-only first-tier supplier who wished to remain anonymous, said it was a cynical marketing move intended to fool consumers into thinking that Klamath-based machines were a follow on to Pentium MMX chips.

Chris Bakolas, technical director at Dan Technology, said: ?It?s more clever than interesting. I hope people are not completely confused. I hope people don?t think they can put a Pentium I into a Pentium II machine ? the socket is completely different.?

Keith Corbett, marketing director at the Mitsubishi Electric PC Division, said: ?I?m getting a little weary of the whole subject. I don?t think users will be in the dark. The pros and cons have been well aired.

?Obviously Pentium is a strong brand and it makes sense to leverage that. The Pentium II has got performance going for it, but there will be cost implications. The motherboard?s going to be a bit more expensive.?

But Keith Warburton, executive director of the Personal Computer Association, described Intel?s efforts as an attempt to lock out competition. ?A lot of product announcements are made to spoil the competition,? he said. ?It effectively closes out competing processor manufacturers.?

This spring, chip makers AMD and Cyrix will introduce MMX chips which use non-Intel motherboard designs and are socket compatible with Intel?s old designs.