Four-year-old upstart Cyrix Corp says it wants to replace rival Intel Corp as the the world’s number one chip company. The combination of price-performance; pin compatibility; and fast time to market – it has a current design cycle of about 18 months – are all key to the Richardson, Texas-based company’s strategy. It is homing in on the notebook and upgrade markets and reckons that by the second quarter of 1993 it will produce a chip superior in performance to the P5 Pentium. The company is to launch the Cx486DRu2, the first of a family of upgrade microprocessors at this week’s Comdex show. The Cx486Ru2 is an 80486-compatible, clock doubled processor, designed as an 80386 upgrade. It is based on Cyrix’s single-cycle Cx486DLC processor with 1Kb internal cache. It measures 1.45 by 1.7 by 0.75 and so will fit in any 80386 system offering 0.75 clearance above the microprocessor socket when the chip is removed. The Cx486DRu2 will plug directly into an 80386DX 132-pin PGA socket, with no additional changes necessary. Cyrix says it takes less than 15 minutes to install. The chip has been tested on a number of machines including IBM Corp PS/2 Models 70 and 80, and Compaq Computer Corp Deskpro 386 personal computers and, Cyrix says, boosted their performance by up to 70%. It is compatible with MS-DOS, Windows, OS/2 and Unix operating systems and Novell Inc-certified as NetWare-compatible. It will be available in two versions: the Cx486DRu2-16/32 enabling 16MHz machines to run internally at 33MHz; and the Cx486Ru2-20/40 providing an internal speed of 40MHz for 20MHz machines. It will cost $400 with distribution restricted to customers with a minimum of 500 users. A single-chip, 25/50MHz version is planned for the second quarter of 1993. The company’s other new offerings, the Cx486SLC/e and Cx486S2/50, launched last week (CI No 2,046), are targeted at the notebook market. The Cx486SLC/e, Cyrix claims, is the leading 16-bit processor for entry-level notebooks. The chip’s System Management Mode provides a flexible memory address space of up to 32Mb, uses less power and is up to 5.7 times faster than Intel’s system. A companion maths processor, the 87SLC/e, for spreadsheet users, helps reduce power consumption by up to 25%. The Cx486S2/50 is for more advanced notebooks and is the first in a series of 80486-compatible processors promised by Cyrix. Apart from offering superior performance and upgradability, Cyrix believes its pin-compatible processors have the advantage over Intel’s proprietary SL path because they garner third party chip set support. Cyrix predicts Intel’s SL lines will be dead end by mid-1993. The 32-bit Cx486S2/50 features Cyrix’ FasCache architecture which helps reduce bus traffic by up to two thirds to prevent stalling. In tests, Cyrix claims, the new chip produced a 50% higher clock speed than Intel’s 80486SX/33. So, although it is more expensive, costing $250 when you order 1,000 or more, compared with $190 for the Intel chip, it still provides greater relative value for money. Further pin-compatible products are promised for 1993. Most important will be a 80586-performance processor for workstations and high performance personal computers dubbed the spike (for those of you confused by sporting metaphors a spike in volleyball is a slam shot that is impossible for the defence to return). Cyrix says it will provide superior performance to the P5 with which it will be pin-, but not hardware-, compatible. It is expected to surface in second quarter 1993 around the same time as the ‘M7’, a 50MHz 80486DX pin-compatible CPU. This is an enhanced Cx486S2/50 with higher clock speeds, larger FasCache and an on-chip maths co-processor.