Opti introduces Pentium chip trio

Electronic News, June 10, 1996

Taipei, Taiwan--Milpitas, Calif.-based multimedia and core logic supplier Opti christened a trio of devices here at Computex '96 aimed at the Pentium notebook and desktop markets, while simultaneously rolling out a pair of audio chipsets for the multimedia PC.

The company's one-chip Vendetta and FireStar core logic ICs, designed respectively for the Pentium desktop and notebook PC, and the Discovery chipset for Pentium Pro-based desktop systems, were joined by the OPTiSound 925 and 931 integrated audio chipsets.

The Vendetta (82C750) BGA chip, which supports Pentium, Cyrix 6x86 and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) K86 processors, features integrated SoundBlaster compatible audio and auxiliary 66MHz PCI for support of Intel's new Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) architecture.

The scaleable chip will be available in sample quantities in September, with volume shipments slated for January 1997. Packaged in a 470-pin BGA, the Vendetta chip with audio is priced at $30 in 10,000-unit quantities, $25 without audio. The device also supports external wavetable and is Windows compatible.

The two-chip Discovery (82C650/1)--an optional third chip adds an auxiliary PCI bus which can double as the AGP--is a 64-bit core logic device which supports an integrated PCI and unified memory architecture. Scheduled for volume production in 1Q97, the chipset will be offered in sample quantities for $50 in OEM volumes in 4Q96.

OPTi's 64-bit FireStar (82C700) IC succeeds the company's Viper notebook product, offering a deep buffer architecture, power saving modes and claimed high-level system integration for notebook design without TTL. The FireBridge option supports hot docking with no additional sideband signals needed in addition to the PCI bus signals, and is said by OPTi to improve primary PCI bus performance by offloading cycles buffered from the primary to the secondary bus.

The FireStar is available for $35 in 10,000-unit quantities now. Volume production is slated for 4Q97. The chip also supports synchronous level 2 cache with fast page, EDO and SDRAM.