Klamath card forces rethink by hardware firms

Leading PC hardware firms are clarifying their product strategies for 1997 and beyond as more details of Intel's Klamath and Deschutes technology enter the public domain.

A source at one of the biggest PC companies said his firm will concentrate on the Pentium Pro in 1997. 'The Klamath is the Pro but in different packaging - it's a card design rather a pinout,' he said. 'The cache on the card is slower and the speed will be half that of the Pro.'

He said the performance of the 266MHz Klamath and the Pro will be about the same. 'The two are running neck-and-neck,' he said. 'But it's cheaper for Intel to make cache on a card than within the Pro.'

Hardware vendors will only offer the Klamath card in 1997, he said. 'This is desktop technology. Klamath will only be aimed at the bottom-end server market. You won't get ECC memory on the card until later in 1997.'