Second
Generation WinChip
The IDT WinChip 2 3D is IDT's second generation
CPU that follows in the footsteps of their
inexpensive WinChip C6 product. The major changes
to the WinChip 2 3D include 3DNOW! support, a
pipelined FPU, and of course, higher clock
speeds. While the review sample was only a 225
MHz part, IDT will be delivering a 300 MHz
version sometime around the end of Q398
(September or October). The 225 MHz version uses
a .35 micron fabrication process, but the future
300 MHz version will use a .25 micron fabrication
process.
The WinChip C6, IDT's previous offering, ran
applications quite well but lacked the FPU power
to play Quake 2 and other 3D intensive games at
engrossing speeds. The WinChip 2 3D has twice the
FPU power as the WinChip C6, and the WinChip 2 3D
has support for the exciting new 3DNOW!
instructions.
The WinChip 2 3D also includes an upgraded MMX
unit that, in theory, could compete head to head
with the Pentium MMX when processing MMX
instructions. Unfortunately, since there are very
few software packages that support MMX in a
measurable way, it is nearly impossible to verify
IDT's claims.
The WinChip 2 3D's target market is the entry
level sub-$1000 PC. IDT developed the CPU to
compete for the home PC market where its main
competititors will be the AMD K6-2, the Cyrix
6x86MX, and the Cyrix MediaGX. The design of the
WinChip 2 3D is well suited for the task. The
Winchip 2 3D is very inexpensive, it runs cool,
and performs very well while running most
applications and games.
The WinChip 2 3D is not intended for the high end
server market, nor is it intended to be used in a
highend CAD workstation. Since this chip will be
sold very cheap, it's ok that it does not have
workstation level FPU performance or SMP support.
DOS Quake 1.06 Performance
The legacy gaming performance of the WinChip 2 3D
is vastly improved over the WinChip C6. While the
original WinChip couldn't even come close to
touching the AMD K6-2 in DOS Quake, the WinChip 2
3D actually works well for older FPU intense
games, slightly beating the AMD K6-2.
Quake 2 v3.15 Performance
The Quake 2 performance of the WinChip 2 3D is
vastly improved. Without the 3DNOW! drivers, the
WinChip 2 3D is in a virtual dead heat with the
AMD K6-2. With the 3DNOW! drivers, the WinChip 2
3D runs Quake 2 pretty well, but it's obvious
that this version of Quake 2 was optimised with
the AMD K6-2 in mind. The WinChip 2 3D 225 MHz
can run Quake 2 faster than most human eyes can
keep up with. Anyone who receives a salary for
playing Quake 2 all day long, though, should
choose the AMD K6-2 instead. Keep in mind that
the following benchmarks are for the
preproduction sample running at 225 MHz. The
performance of the Winchip 2 3D is expected to
scale respective to the planned increases in
clock speed.
Incoming - Lux Et Robur
v1.01 Performance
The AMD K6-2 was slightly faster when running
Incoming, but not a noticable amount. The WinChip
2 3D and the AMD K6-2 are doing better in the
Incoming benchmark than the IBM 6x86MX, but not
to the degree that you would have expected them
to. Therefore, it can be assumed that Incoming is
not making as much use of the 3DNOW! instructions
and FPU performance as many people previously
thought.
Winstone98 Performance
Since the original WinChip C6 ran Windows
applications quite well, the WinChip 2 3D was
expected to be just as good. Luckily, this turned
out to be true; the WinChip 2 3D runs Windows
quite well, as shown by the ZD Winstone
benchmark. When clocked identically, the IDT
WinChip 2 3D and the AMD K6-2 feel approximately
the same when running common Windows
applications.
Technical Details
The .35 micron WinChip 2 3D runs at a dual plane
setting of 3.5v core and 3.5v I/O. Even though
the Winchip 2 requires 3.5v, it runs cool. This
cool running style is similar to the single plane
WinChip C6 that runs at 3.5v. The .25 micron 300
MHz IDT WinChip 2 3D is expected to run with a
2.8v core and 3.3v I/O. IDT has made the
intellegent decision to support legacy
motherboards. IDT decided to save some money and
use only full multipliers (2.0, 3.0, 4.0, etc.)
on the WinChip C6 and the WinChip 2 3D. This
means there are no half multipliers like 2.5x and
3.5x. It is interesting to point out that the
normal 1.5x/3.5x multiplier is mapped to the 4x
multiplier, which means that the Winchip 2 3D can
be used in older socket 7 motherboards quite
easily.
IDT's Roadmap
At the time of this writing, the WinChip 2 3D is
still in the sampling phase. In the near future,
the WinChip 2 3D will be released at 225 MHz, and
faster clock speeds will be released throughout
the remainder of 1998. The WinChip C6 200 MHz is
currently available for around US$50 from some
online vendors.
Conclusion
IDT's WinChip 2 3D is a very promising economy
CPU. It will be priced lower than the competition
from AMD and Cyrix, yet it has very good
application and game performance. The WinChip 2
3D will likely be a key component in many of the
sub-$1000 systems that will be sold around
Christmas 1998. Because of the Winchip 2 3D's low
price point, it should enable even more feature
packed PCs. On the upgrade front, the WinChip 2
3D should make a lot of users very happy. Since
it does not require a new motherboard purchase,
legacy motherboard owners can drop the CPU into
their existing systems with minimal difficulty.
Those looking to upgrade their old machine on the
cheap should definitely consider the WinChip 2 3D
as a solid game and application supercharger.
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