Pentium III it is: Intel to release 500 MHz chip

Raising the bar even further, Intel Corporation will formally introduce itsnext-generation "Katmai" processor--now officially known as the Pentium III--next Monday. The Pentium III, which will ship in quantity beginning inMarch, will debut at speeds of 450 and 500 MHz, while offering a new set ofMMX instructions that will speed 3D graphics processing. The usual assortment of PC makers are expected to back the chip.

The "Katmai New Instructions" (or "MMX-2") used in the Pentium III are a set of 70 new processor-level codes that will speed the performance of 3Dvideo, audio, and speech recognition. Katmai technology may eventuallyfilter into other Pentium products in the same way that the original MMXinstructions did