X-Box: and the winner is...Intel
- — 13 March, 2000 16:44
Almost two years from the release of Microsoft's first Internet gaming console, the software giant has confirmed the product will be powered by a Pentium III processor, not AMD.
Microsoft officials this morning confirmed the deal with Intel had been signed "at the eleventh hour", although Microsoft Australia's marketing director, Peter Cray, announced late last week that Intel's rival processor manufacturer, AMD, had won the contract.
The spokesperson said the confusion had been caused by "time zone" differences between Australia and the US, where AMD was gazzumped by long-time Microsoft partner Intel moments before the announcement in the US - but after the announcement in Australia.
Microsoft said it finally chose to use Intel's Pentium III processor due to its SIMD extension. "That (SIMD) graphic accelerator was a draw card," the spokesperson said.
X-Box is due to for release towards the end of 2001
