swarren@convex.com (Steve Warren) (03/08/91)
"In a computer industry littered with vaporware, no one should have been surprised that Motorola would preannounce its 68040. And that is exactly what the company did on January 22, 1990, when it publicly unveiled its next-generation chip. In the many mnths that followed, a variety of vendors have been discussing, announcing, and even showing accelerator cards based on the 040. In fact, heavy hitters like GVP, Supra, Progressive, RCS, and Commodore are all set to jump into the game. "Problems at Motorola, however, delayed the release of the chip, leaving these products in limbo for months. Fortunately, Motorola has now begun shipping small quantities, so 040 accelerator boards should be hitting the streets by the time you read this. "Progressive has already announced its first 040, expecting to offer a board for the A3000 for less than $1000. "GVP is also hot on the chip and plans to ship 040 products beginning this spring. The company claims that its boards will optimize the speed of the 040 through the use of fast memory and a few other tricks. "Supra has already given a sneak preview of a prototype, and expects its A3000 board to sell for around $995. The company reports that an A2000 board is also in the works, but gives no time frame or price range as of this writing. "RCS Management has already advertised an 040 board designed for the A2000. The firm is developing a board with 4 MB (expandable to 32 MB) of RAM that will sell for about $3000. The firm is hoping to ship sometime in early 1991. "Given its history, one should expect Commodore to launch a pure 68040 machine, perhaps one that truly optimizes the power of the 68040. Because the company has a policy of announcing products only shortly before availability, talk of an 040 machine is only speculation. We should, however, see at least a CBM 68040 accelerator card very soon. "HOW FAST? HOW SOON? "Because the A3000 already comes with 32-bit memory, users can expect to at least triple their A3000 performance for less than $1000. Owners of less robust Amigas will need to add faster memory, which will increase the total investment. Performance gains for these systems, however, should be even more dramatic. "Although generally viewed as a bargain, the 040 is substantially more expensive than the 68000, which now sells for about $5 a pop. The new chip will cost vendors $595 each in lots of 1000. But because they have to pay in advance for orders of 1000 and then wait for arrival, vendors may well order in smaller quantities, paying a higher unit price just to get their hands on the still-rare chips. "But just give it a few years, and maybe the 68040s also will cost five dollars. Until then, the slow production ramp-up ahould keep the 040 at a premium for some time." --