Intel to ditch Pentium Name

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Jonsey

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From Hexus:
http://www.hexus.net/content/reviews/review.php?dXJsX3Jldmlld19JRD05MDY

Intel's roadmap for dual core (chip multi-threading or CMT) processors extends across the entire range of its products. The desktop processor range gets dual core in the form of Smithfield. Smithfield sports 1MB of exclusive L2 cache per processor and rides the 200MHz system bus using the LGA775 form factor. Most of the desktop P4 features of the day will make their way into the cores too, including EM64T (more on which soon) and NX-bit support. You'll notice that HyperThreading doesn't feature.

Intel has yet to decide on a leading number for the naming scheme for those CPUs and it looks likely to drop Pentium as a brand name. The leading candidate for the processor brand name, as reported on a few websites, is Digital. With an educated guess giving the CPU 8-series naming, look out for the Intel Digital 820 (2.8GHz), 830 (3.0GHz) and 840 (3.2GHz) CMT processors sometime in 2005.
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Am I reading this right? Digital for the name of the new Intel processor? I agree the Pentium moniker is getting a bit long in the tooth, but there's got to be something better than "Digital." What do you think, is this name unoriginal or what? Any suggestions we should forward to intel on a new name?
 
Yes, you are reading it right.

And yes, "Digital" is by far the worst name I have heard for a processor yet.

"AMD'S Bitch" sounds like a good name for it :)
^^ Sorry Intel people. Just fooling around.
 
They probably aren't going to ditch the Pentium name. It still sells heaps of processors. The new name will probably be a suffix or something.
 
ugh! Digital!!! i always thought the Pentium name had an nice ring to it, but it is getting a little outdated (sadly). i never took a liking to AMDs -on ending (athlON, semprON, durON) either.

how about the Toxtium or something? :p just an idea...
 
Well, for starters, I think Digital is an overly generic name - all CPUs are digital. THen there's the fact that Digital (until Compaq bought them out) was a big name in computing. I don't see this working out.

But, yeah... Pentium's had a long run. Pentium, Pentium MMX, Pentium Pro, Pentium II, Pentium III, Pentium-M, Pentium IV. Pentium 5 would just sound stupid - something new needs to be done.
 
"Digitium"? :p

Pentium, Itanium... the -ium seems like something of a pattern. Then again, there's also Celeron, but nobody buys that, right? Right? :(
 
hahaha lol some CHEAP people buy the celerons
but digjital soundsss sooo fucking gay..
 
Digital hu..... Anyone remember them from back in the day? Compaq bought Digital (DEC Alphas) years ago and sold off the processor to Intel. Makes ya wonder if they stripped the 64bit instructions from the old Alphas for the new chips.

Then again, I had heard this years ago (someone please correct me if I am wrong here) That the processors companies have to "share" instruction sets. So that all processors will work with all software. If that is true, then letting AMD get the 64's out before saves Intel on R&D cost. Wish I could remember where I read that or who told me that.
 
oh man...Digital...uh...no comment.
I mean sure Intel wants to beat AMD in everything...but even in bad names...c'mon...
 
Spaceninja said:
Digital hu..... Anyone remember them from back in the day? Compaq bought Digital (DEC Alphas) years ago and sold off the processor to Intel. Makes ya wonder if they stripped the 64bit instructions from the old Alphas for the new chips.
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Uhh... not really. Itanium is a new architecture from the ground up (read up on EPIC, it's pretty cool stuff) and EMT64/AMD6/x86_64 is clearly a logical extension of x86 arch.

Tho, AMD took advantage of some of the Alpha tech, the Athlon's bus was derived from the Alpha. Definately a good choice.

BTW - Digital goes back -well- before the alpha. Ever hear of a VAX or the PDP series? DECStation? Before the PC, DEC was one of the major players in computing.
 
about cheap people and celerons.. 95% of the computers at my work are celerons.. and 99.999999% are dells.... :rolleyes:
 
have you ever seen the multis on the celerons? geez! i saw one for i think it was a 2.8ghz celeron once, and it was like 24!!!! :eek:
 
hmm... how about "technetium"?

technetium is actually the only radiactive element that is not transperiodic, i.e. it occurs on the periodic table before uranium does... it's also the only man-made element that is not transperiodic.
 
starhawk said:
hmm... how about "technetium"?

technetium is actually the only radiactive element that is not transperiodic, i.e. it occurs on the periodic table before uranium does... it's also the only man-made element that is not transperiodic.
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it does occur naturally just not it any quanity.

Some has been found in deep molybdenum mines.
 
i post corrected... my reference was a rather excellent book that was published in '65 or so... the book "matter" in the LIFE|science series.
 
ameoba said:
Uhh... not really. Itanium is a new architecture from the ground up (read up on EPIC, it's pretty cool stuff) and EMT64/AMD6/x86_64 is clearly a logical extension of x86 arch.

Tho, AMD took advantage of some of the Alpha tech, the Athlon's bus was derived from the Alpha. Definately a good choice.

BTW - Digital goes back -well- before the alpha. Ever hear of a VAX or the PDP series? DECStation? Before the PC, DEC was one of the major players in computing.
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Yeah I remember reading about them, never accually seen one in person. I have a friend that worked for DEC before the Compaq buyout, after HP got ahold of Compaq he had to call it quits, HP is a beast to work for from what I hear.

But since AMD already has an extended x86 platform, don't they have to share that with Intel to make software compatible with both Intel and AMD systems?
 
as stupid as "Digital" may be, is it worse than the blue advertising guys? That's what I thought. I wouldn't put calling it digital beyond intel.
 
i still say that "technetium" would be a cool name. what do you guys think? ::flaming ok'd by me::
 
kubalaTF said:
as stupid as "Digital" may be, is it worse than the blue advertising guys? That's what I thought. I wouldn't put calling it digital beyond intel.
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blue advertising? i'm lost...

the name can't be too long or hard to pronounce in the midst of a sentence. pentium was good because it wasn't long and the letter sounds didn't slip and slide into each other so that it was easy to slurr.
 
RedTornado said:
blue advertising? i'm lost...

the name can't be too long or hard to pronounce in the midst of a sentence. pentium was good because it wasn't long and the letter sounds didn't slip and slide into each other so that it was easy to slurr.
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There are intel commercials with these blue (by blue I mean blue) people doing things like rats with a new toy. Somehow it's supposed to say that intel is good, and AMD is not good. How you're supposed to arrive at that is still beyond me.
 
kubalaTF said:
There are intel commercials with these blue (by blue I mean blue) people doing things like rats with a new toy. Somehow it's supposed to say that intel is good, and AMD is not good. How you're supposed to arrive at that is still beyond me.
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dude, that was the blue man group.. you know who the blue man group is, right?
 
When Pentium was first announced, the big joke was that the next generation would be called Sexium or Hexium (yes, your cpu is capable of voodoo)...of course it ended up becoming Pentium Pro....Personally, I wouldve never dropped the 80x86 naming....I always wondered about having an 80986 processor...and I liked the sound of 586 better than Pentium. Of course, Intel couldve patented those numbers as a name had it remembered to label its chips properly...and Pentium is easier for computer illiterates than series of numbers. But here we are with numbers (in limited form) again...I hope the remnants of DEC sue and keep Digital off the map.
 
I don't think they should ditch the -ium idea because Pentium is well known and established in the technology market. It sells incredibly well and would be a mistake to get rid of. I'd like to see something along the lines of Octium maybe. Always sounded good to me.
 
they should call it the Intel Enima

that would be funny...

and true...it will feel like an enima when you see what you are going to pay for it...
 
Synful Serenity said:
Of course, Intel couldve patented those numbers as a name had it remembered to label its chips properly...
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Actually, the reason Intel came up with the Pentium name was because they wanted to keep their competitors from having chips with the same name, but couldn't trademark 586 (trademarking of numbers isn't allowed).


When Pentium was first announced, the big joke was that the next generation would be called Sexium or Hexium (yes, your cpu is capable of voodoo)...of course it ended up becoming Pentium Pro...
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Yeah, I remembered that... which is why I suggested Sextium earlier in the thread. :)
 
They could very well have, but the courts ruled the 586 was a model number and not a name after Intel failed to enforce its rights to it. There was nothing stopping Intel from trademarking as it did later with the term i486, except for the fact that it forfeited its rights by not labeling its chips as such. When AMD and Cyrix and others started making their own 386 and 486 chips, Intel was powerless to stop them at that point. This all could have been averted were it not for Intel's blunder in labeling its chips.
 
kubalaTF said:
so what's with this blue man group? not intel, advertising for them?
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theyre these three guys who paint themselves blue and play techno or something like that... i dont care for them personally, but they were pretty big a while back and some of my friends have seen them in concert. getting the blue man group to be in intel commercials was just like john kerry getting whats his face(cant remember right now... some famous guy) to gly with him on his campaign
 
But instead of saying "powered by the intel pentium processor" they'd say "powered by the intel intelium processor" ... nah, better come up with a new slogan while they're at it. :)
 
lithium726 said:
theyre these three guys who paint themselves blue and play techno or something like that... i dont care for them personally, but they were pretty big a while back and some of my friends have seen them in concert. getting the blue man group to be in intel commercials was just like john kerry getting whats his face(cant remember right now... some famous guy) to gly with him on his campaign
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And it's like U2 advertising for the iPod and so many other products being advertised the same way. Blue Man Group is a pretty interesting and talented musically (although not everyone may like it) group that I guess some people can identify with or at least they use it because some of it is catchy. Seems a lot more neutral than using U2 to me but it's the same thing.
 
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