Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

RIP Pentium II, 1997 - 2006

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the still-waiting-on-my-sexium dept.

zorn writes "The Register has the scoop that 'this week Intel told its customers that it is to formally discontinue production of the Pentium II at 266, 333, 366 and 466MHz. Documentation seen by The Register reveals that you'll be able to continue ordering the part for a year, with the last trays leaving the chip giant's Pentium II warehouse on 1 June 2006.'"

15 of 418 comments (clear)

  1. Really warranted? by REBloomfield · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Does this really warrant a death knell? A processor that has been considered slow for the last few years is still going to be around for another two?

    I was really impressed when we first got our first 450Mhz, but god, does it seem like a dog now... I do remember thinking at the time, 1998 iirc, who the hell needs that much?!?

    1. Re:Really warranted? by DaHat · · Score: 5, Insightful

      For desktop use, yes, they are horribly slow by today's standards. But for simple embedded solutions, they can at times be considered overkill. Ex: When I get around to putting a mediapc under my drivers seat... I have no need or desire for a chip whose clock is measured in Ghz, simply because it's far more power (heat and draw) than I need to play mp3's and basic custom software.

      --
      Help Brendan pay off his student loans
    2. Re:Really warranted? by eno2001 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's funny about that. Depending on your application and OS, it seems that there are different experiences of "slow". When I used to run Windows and I made the jump from a 486 DX2 66 to a Pentium 100, I thought the 486 was slow as hell. At work (where we use Windows as well) I've also seen the performance degradation in Windows boxes as the registry gets junked over time. So, a PC that started out "fast" eventually seems "slow" artificially unless you do a re-install. The other factor also is additional applications that you didn't originally run before. We had a batch of P3s here that were running Windows 2000 sufficiently fast. Eventually we had to break down and add a few very important and required utilities (DeepFreeze and Norton AV for example). Just the addition of Norton dragged those system's down to really horrible performance.

      Now, with my experience at home (where I run Linux pretty exclusively), my main X "application server" is a dual Pentium II with each proc running at 233. This thing is just about as fast as my P4 with hyperthreading running Windows XP Pro (for audio apps). It's been running for two years now and has had no performance degradation. At all. Period. The system is about 7 years old and it competes very nicely with a system that is only just barely a year old.

      I'd say that before anyone knocks a processor as being "slow" take a look at what your OS and applications are doing. If they've changed over time, theneither your OS is the issue or your application has changed dramatically in some way.

      --
      -"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
    3. Re:Really warranted? by Tux2000 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Do you remember the story of NASA searching i8086 CPUs for their space shuttles just two years ago? There are other stories, I remember some companies paying a lot of money for ancient Toshiba 386 laptops that was the only computer certified to "remote control" a certian pacemaker. A re-certification of a new system would have cost much more than buying a few 386 laptops at pentium-class prices.

      Some systems (not only NASA shuttles) are designed around a randomly selected CPU, and they run with software that needs the exact behaviour and timing of that special CPU. Say hello to the world of embedded systems.

      This message from intel is just a warning for designers of embedded systems that there will be a day when there is no spare P-II left.

      Tux2000

      --
      Denken hilft.
    4. Re:Really warranted? by jawtheshark · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I agree... You can even do with less if you're just surfing. I'm posting this from a P-II 400Mhz that is used as a dial-up test machine at work. It has only 128Meg RAM and runs Firefox just fine on WinXP Pro (all visual effects disabled). The Task Manager indicates 170MB used, which means that it would run waaaay better with much more RAM, but it's good enough to do the testing of our webapp (and gives us some humility towards our customers with less snappy machines)

      --
      Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
  2. In other news.... by Geek_3.3 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    naah, too easy.

    On a real note, how many PII's *DID* Intel produce in the past couple of years?

    Gah, this was about as surprising to me as when that /. article on Sony phasing out Betamax...

    1. Re:In other news.... by bsd4me · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Betamax is the consumer version, and is pretty much dead. The professional version, Betacam SP, is still used, and in some places, it is still the most popular video format. The main reason is that it works well, the Sony Beta decks will not die, the newer professional digital decks are really expensive.

      --

      (S(SKK)(SKK))(S(SKK)(SKK))

  3. But 300 MHz survives! by AvantLegion · · Score: 1, Insightful
    300 MHz, you are the survivor! Fear is obviously not a factor for you. You're hired!

    Seriously though, what about the 300 MHz P2? Or 400 for that matter? Were they both canned earlier? Intel hatin' on 100 MHz FSB P2s?

  4. One may ask, why? by Staplerh · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This trend to move away from old technology such as the Pentium II that still serves a valid purpose is silly, part of a push to always be bigger and better.

    Now I'm not saying that the Pentium II is viable for any new programmes, heck, I find my Pentium 4 a little slow at times. I first started questioning this push over the summer, when I worked at a Canadian government office. The workers there ALL had brand-new Pentium 4 Dells (and it wasn't just our office, the entire facility had been upgraded), with full sound cards, video, you name it. Of course, sound was all deactivated as it was a cubicle farm.

    Needless to say, what did the people use these Pentium 4's for? Word Processing. Perhaps a bit of Excel, and some random surfing of the web. I wasn't complaining, because I was underworked and could take advantage of the Pentium 4's spectacular Solitaire and Minesweeper processing, but it wasn't necessary.

    The Pentium II can run Office applications fine, and heck, that's waht the majority of work force productivity is? Now you'll have to buy a better model to use Word.. wow.

    I don't know the cost difference in terms of productivity between the P2 and the P4, and I'm sure they can concentrate on just producting the P4 even more on masse, but this is simply going to give procurement departments an excuse to connive themselves better equipment.

    Well, that devolved into a rant, but hopefully my point can still come across clear! Cheers.

    --
    "There's no success like failure, and failure's no success at all."
    - Bob Dylan
    1. Re:One may ask, why? by Frank+T.+Lofaro+Jr. · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You are forced to get new versions of Windows (security holes, Microsoft and other vendors refusing to support or write software for old versions, needing new windows versions to run new Office versions to read files your customers/coworkers/clients sent using the new version of Office) almost all the time, and they need more memory and CPU, or else performance becomes dreadful.

      So you need to upgrade just to stay in place (performance wise).

      That is, unless you are lucky enough to be free of Microsoft.

      --
      Just because it CAN be done, doesn't mean it should!
    2. Re:One may ask, why? by g0hare · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Bran new Dell, WInodws XP Pro, under $400. Better than ATA 33, faster ram access, faster hard drives, etc, etc. If you get more than $134 a year in inreaseed productivity PLUS you can get rid of 98, it's a no-=brainer. Upgrade.

      --
      Vote Quimby!
    3. Re:One may ask, why? by jayhawk88 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I'd be shocked if Windows XP ran (acceptably) well on a P2. Don't run XP you say? Problem is, depending on your licensing agreement with MS, you might not have much of a choice. Linux might be an option of course, then again, it might not be.

      Added into this is the fact that sometimes you have money you have to spend on upgrading computers whether it makes sense or not, because of budget reasons. "You had $15k in your budget set aside to upgrade your office machines and you didn't do it, here's a nice fat budget cut". Stupid yes, but more often than not one has to work within the rules of the system. Plus the general "happy worker" factor you get from people getting brand new machines from time to time.

      The point is that even though there may not be much productivity difference between a P2 and a P4, there are often other factors.

  5. Re:is it bad... by Masami+Eiri · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I, for one, was saddened when the Arch Deluxe was discontinued.

  6. Price of P-IIs Soar? by Saeed+al-Sahaf · · Score: 2, Insightful
    That's a very good point: People pick up some "loyalty" for some reason, often not based on any particular reason, and ignorantly discount everything else as being inferior. Can we think of any other products, either hardware or software, that this applies to?

    Anyway, I wonder if manufactures that have products that are designed around the P-II will start buying them up, creating a shortage. Will we see the price of unused and "reconditioned" P-IIs on Ebay soar?

    --
    "Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
  7. Re:is it bad... by Tim+Doran · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Parent is modded +1, Insightful.

    Ah, Slashdot... your moderation is always a source of entertainment...