That's very likely a typo and they meant to put Pentium III there. Quality control for motherboard manuals was pretty relaxed at that time, and there were more than a few times that I found outright errors. Never mind the fact that translations were often... less than perfect in that period.

Like the Intel 486 DX40, the Intel 486 DX4-120, they were CPUs that motherboard manufacturers guessed at, but Intel never released.

For a while, Katmai was expected to be yet another Pentium II. Your manual was likely printed in late '98 or very early '99, when manufacturers were aware of Katmai's existence but before Intel decided to brand it Pentium III.

MadMac_5 wrote on 2023-02-14, 16:11:

That's very likely a typo and they meant to put Pentium III there. Quality control for motherboard manuals was pretty relaxed at that time, and there were more than a few times that I found outright errors. Never mind the fact that translations were often... less than perfect in that period.

I take it the manual's refering to the Katmai PIII 500mhz and 550hmz? It doesn't mention the 600mhz Katmai variant was that not supported?

Unfortunately for me I have the BX6DS v1.7 which doesn't support Coppermine otherwise I'd be cranking the mhz up to 1000!

Standard Def Steve wrote on 2023-02-14, 16:23:

For a while, Katmai was expected to be yet another Pentium II. Your manual was likely printed in late '98 or very early '99, when manufacturers were aware of Katmai's existence but before Intel decided to brand it Pentium III.

That's very plausible, thanks for the info.

As mentioned, the Pentium II was expected to be longer lived, but after only about a year on the market Intel rebranded it to Pentium III.

Here is a contemporary article, postulating that the third gen Pentium IIs would increase up to 600MHz

https://www.anandtech.com/show/55

These projected Deschutes likely were given a tweak and released as Katmai.

JayAlien wrote on 2023-02-14, 20:23:

As mentioned, the Pentium II was expected to be longer lived, but after only about a year on the market Intel rebranded it to Pe […]
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As mentioned, the Pentium II was expected to be longer lived, but after only about a year on the market Intel rebranded it to Pentium III.

Here is a contemporary article, postulating that the third gen Pentium IIs would increase up to 600MHz

https://www.anandtech.com/show/55

These projected Deschutes likely were given a tweak and released as Katmai.

Thanks for the info, it'll be good to know what I'm talking about eventually 🙂

BitWrangler wrote on 2023-02-14, 16:15:

Like the Intel 486 DX40, the Intel 486 DX4-120, they were CPUs that motherboard manufacturers guessed at, but Intel never released.

In some cases they were on the early “future looking” NDA protected CPU timelines
DX3-75 and DX4-90 were hinted at circa 1991.
Pentium 80mhz was also on the timeline during the socket 4 release (some boards that hit retail would have even supported it).
Intel instead skipped straight to Pentium 90mhz from 60mhz
And 486-100mhz from 66mhz

If AMD had not been pressuring Intel it’s possible the PII-500 would have released instead of the slightly improved PIII-500
Oddly early 500mhz engineering samples were sometimes improperly labeled

https://www.engineering-sample.com/gallery/In … ium%20II%20500/

JayAlien wrote on 2023-02-14, 20:23:

As mentioned, the Pentium II was expected to be longer lived, but after only about a year on the market Intel rebranded it to Pentium III.

It really should have been called the Pentium II SSE, as per the Pentium MMX. And then the Pentium 4... oh never mind. This is what happens when marketing runs the show.