Pentium III Goes Socket370
There was quite a bit of speculation in the past about this logical move and now it's finally confirmed, Pentium III (new .18µ 'Coppermine'-core) will go 'FC-PGA370' (= Flip Chip Pin Grid Array 370) by Q4/99.
| Design new innovative form factorsSmall form factor supported by FC-PGA socketed Pentium III processors and the PGA370 Intel Celeron processorsFC-PGA Pentium III processors use 100 MHz FSB for initial volumes as the time-to-market solutionsExploring how to enable faster FC PGA products to match SECC2 roadmap speeds (may require 418 package)Intel Celeron processors available only in PPGA starting with 466 MHz |
Pentium III for Socket370 will only be certified for uni-processor systems and initially there won't be any Coppermine-variants with 133 MHz front side bus available for Socket370 and the supply will be limited vs. the supply of Coppermine for Slot1. This will change in the second quarter of 2000, when supposedly all Coppermine-Pentium III variants will be available for Socket370 as well as Slot1.
Possible New Socket418 For Dual-Pentium III Configurations
Intel is currently 'exploring' a new Socket called 'FC-PGA418' for dual-processor systems. This Socket is supposed to be backwards compatible to Socket370. If Intel should decide to go for Socket418, we can expect it in the second quarter 2000, when Pentium III will be available in all speed variants for Slot1, Socket370 and the new Socket418. It's not quite understandable why dual-processing would require 48 pins more, since as we know Celeron runs fine in dual-mode and Socket370.
