Uhh...unless I am just completely off base (and I don't think
I am), Intel PURCHASED most of the cache that was placed on
the PII Slot cartridges.
Therefore, it wasn't an issue of yield improvements at all.
Even then, the PII's used two 256KB cache chips, not a single
512KB chip.
Greg
Yeah I think that was the point, it meant that they COULD purchase the
cache
if they wanted which freed up production capacity for the core. This then
drove down costs as they would have been able to get far more actual
processors on a wafer than if it was integrated. Also at the time the
packages that were being used in the industry were very expensive for
larger
dies compared to the ones we are using now.
It may very well be that the marginal cost for a larger die was greater then
than it is now (largely due to the move to 12" wafers, I imagine), but let
us not undervalue just how huge the PPro core was, even compared to today's
dual core chips.
The 350nm PPro with 512KB cache was 438 sq.mm, vs. the largest chips
available today: the Pentium D dual core at 206 sq.mm and the X2 Toledo
(2x1MB) at 199 sq.mm.
The PPro was an extremely costly-to-manufacture beast, and still would be
today.
Greg
