New Low-Cost MMX Alternative from IDT

Michael Slater

Integrated Device Technology (IDT) is a newcomer to the x86 processor business. An IDT subsidiary, Centaur Technology, has developed a low-power, low-cost CPU called the IDT-C6. Early samples have been shipped to key prospects, but systems using this chip won't appear until this fall.

The IDT-C6 is a single-issue, non-superscalar design like the 486. But by using a Pentium bus, a large on-chip cache, and a refined pipeline design, it can achieve Pentium-level perfor-mance. Like the K6 and 6x86MX, it has 64K of on-chip cache, it is Pentium pin-compatible, and it implements the MMX extensions. Its die size (88 square millimeters) is considerably smaller than that of its competitors, reducing manufacturing costs, and IDT plans to price it aggressively. First models will appear in 150- to 200-MHz varieties.

One advantage of the IDT-C6's streamlined design is its low power consumption; IDT hopes to find a market in portable systems as well as in desktops. The chip's biggest weakness, like the K6 and 6x86MX, is its FP and MMX performance.

Unlike AMD and Cyrix, IDT is not out to capture 10 percent or more of the market--it will be quite happy with just a few percent. The IDT-C6 will probably show up primarily in systems from smaller Asian manufacturers; it has a good chance to be the least expensive MMX processor in the near future.

From the September 23, 1997 issue of PC Magazine

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