Intel's Big Gamble: RAMBUS

Why, Intel, Why?

Ever since AMD won a lawsuit allowing them to make CPUs compatible with Intel's x86 series, consumers have been able to choose among several manufacturers for every part of a system. This freedom was based on the standards that govern the inter operability between different parts. Five years ago, you could buy a Pentium or a K6 and put it into a Socket 7 motherboard, use any ATA hard drive, plug a graphics card into your VLB or PCI slot, and use anybody's EDO RAM in the SIMM slots. What did this flexibility mean, other than reduced prices for consumers?
Reduced profits for Intel.

Rambus Module

Since AMD was doing a great job competing on the same playing field as Intel (the original K5 and K6 were huge successes), Intel changed the rules with the help of the US Patent and Trademark Office. Citing the limitations of the classic socket architecture, Intel abandoned Socket 7 for their new, patented Slot 1 with the Pentium II.

While Intel constantly justified their decision as a technological necessity, the fact that AMD could not legally make compatible processors probably had something to do with the decision too. Intel, the world's largest OEM motherboard maker, discontinued production of all motherboards and chipsets compatible with Socket 7. Intel thought they had AMD over a fire; no matter how good AMD's processors were, without a motherboard, an AMD chip would just be a black chunk of epoxy. Hey, if Microsoft can have a monopoly, why can't Intel?

VIA, You're My Hero

Luckily for consumers, AMD had a knight (or knights) in shining armor in various 3rd party chipset manufacturers, and one of them has set itself apart from the crowd: VIA technologies. VIA continued development of Socket 7 chipsets, matching Intel feature-for-feature. Socket 7 systems now have all of the benefits of Intel's best offerings, including 100Mhz FSB, AGP ports, and UDMA/66. This has led to the Super 7 class of systems.

Frustrated with their inability to control the chipset and motherboard markets, Intel has turned its considerable engineering and financial might towards memory. Intel has endorsed the total memory solution offered by Rambus Technologies.

Ah, the Wonders of Intellectual Property

Rambus technologies doesn't actually sell memory, they sell the specification. This is a continuation of the closed specification trend started with Intel's Slot 1 experiment. Every time someone buys a Rambus memory module, or a motherboard with a Rambus compatible chipset, Rambus gets a small royalty. Considering the number of memory chips produced in a year, that could be a significant amount of money.

Aside from the political controversy surrounding Rambus, the technology hasn't been universally accepted either.