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Acer Laboratories has unveiled a new chip set for Intel's Pentium 4 processor that uses DDR SDRAM, a move that should help lower costs for computers using that type of high-speed memory, one industry analyst says.

ALi has begun offering samples of its Aladdin-P4 chip set to manufacturing customers, the company announced. ALi plans to begin volume production of the chip set in October, priced at $31 each in large quantities, according to a statement.

ALi joins Via Technologies to become the second provider of DDR SDRAM (Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory) chip sets for the Pentium 4. The move should help lower the price of some Pentium 4 PCs for end users, according to Martin Reynolds, a research fellow with analyst firm Gartner.

Until recently, computer makers had no choice but to use the more expensive Rambus DRAM chips in their Pentium 4 PCs, because Intel's latest processor supported nothing else. DDR SDRAM is not only cheaper than Rambus DRAM; it is also faster than the SDRAM memory type used in most mainstream PCs today, offering data throughput speeds as high as 2.1GB per second.

Encouraging Price Wars

Having two vendors in the market providing DDR chip sets for the Pentium 4 should boost competition and help drive down the cost of components used to build Pentium 4 computers, Reynolds says.

"ALi is a large manufacturer that will help drive costs down," Reynolds says. "The more low cost chip sets there are, the faster the P4 will come to market."

Intel has said it will introduce its own DDR chip set for the Pentium 4 early next year. ALi typically charges manufacturers less for its components than Intel, Reynolds says. "Intel is the premium manufacturer, and they charge a premium price," he adds.

Either way, the arrival of additional suppliers of DDR chip sets could help further reduce prices. Ahead of Intel, the third supplier of DDR is likely to be Silicon Integrated Systems, which is also licensed to produce DDR chip sets and has set late August as a launch date for its chip.

Using DDR memory with the Pentium 4 has been a controversial topic, particularly since Via launched its Apollo P4X266 chip set supporting the standard earlier this year. Intel has said that Via needs a license to make the product and has hinted at possible legal action against the Taiwanese firm.

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