NEC, and now Sony, are both recalling some of their Transmeta powered notebooks because of a bug in the 600 Mhz version of the Crusoe processor. Intel, of course, is having problems with its P4, and Apple/Moto/IBM have already been taking heaps of scorn for over a year due to flagrant violations of Moore's Law. Damn. On the other hand, The Register (insert small grain of salt) is reporting that"AMD has been quietly producing test chips using a new, pure version of silicon with greatly enhanced thermal properties....California-based Isonics produces an isotopically pure silicon which has
much better thermal conductivity than natural silicon, meaning that heat
can be removed more effectively. Isonics won't confirm it's working with
AMD, stating only that 'a major microprocessor manufacturer has modeled
isotopically pure silicon wafers and has told us that the peak temperature
of their advanced 1GHz microprocessor was reduced by 35 degrees
celsius.'" Beware of the vapors here, but 35 degrees! I'd love to see AMD pull this off.
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- jim 12-03-2000 4:17 pm