Instead just two RIMM slots will likely be offered on the retail VC820, although the maximum amount of RDRAM supported (512MB) will remain the same.

Again, if Intel is able to solve the problem, they will still attempt to offer the VC820 with three RIMM slots, which is desirable to the more limited solution of just two.

While the VC820's three-RIMM bus design is dissected to solve the bug problem, RDRAM manufacturers will have to wait until the new undisclosed launch date for the i820 to begin selling mass quantities of the new ram.

The current state of RDRAM is a much better one than even just three months ago, with 90% of the world's memory manufacturers actively engaged in producing the new RIMMS. Intel in fact, expects that the RDRAM ramp up by these manufacturers will take approximately one year until output capacity is able to match the world's RDRAM needs.

By the end of 2000, projections indicate that RDRAM will likely be as common as PC-100 SDRAM is today, with cost being a negligible factor in the RDRAM purchase decision at that time.

Its been well chronicled the past three months by the media that Intel has revised their previous stance on 133MHz SDRAM, and would enable the i820 core logic set to support the faster SDRAM in addition to RDRAM support.

This result came from the pleas of several high-end Intel loyal customers who feared that RDRAM's premium price tag would force consumers to look in alternative directions when purchasing their new PCs, particularly to AMD's low cost K6-2 and K6-3 platforms.

Because of Intel's newly found PC-133 SDRAM support, several i820-based mainboards from third party manufacturers will now offer a "2 + 2" design when it comes to memory support, meaning that they'll be able to run two PC-133 SDRAM DIMMS or two RDRAM RIMMS.

No, unfortunately you won't be able to occupy and use all four slots at the same time on these boards with some Frankenstien RDRAM/SDRAM setup because of power differences between the two formats.

The Intel i820 VC820 Vancouver mainboard is loyal trooper to its creator, and hence isn't offered in a 2 + 2 format, instead offering three RIMM slots for use exclusively with RDRAM.