Timna microprocessor family was announced by Intel in 1999. Timna was
planned as a low-cost microprocessor with integrated graphics unit
and memory controller designed to work with Rambus memory. The
company anticipated that by the time the processor is released to
market, that is in the second half of 2000, the price of Rambus memory
would fall to the level where it could be used in value computer
systems. As the price of Rambus memory failed to drop, Intel decided
to use a bridge chip (Memory Translation Hub or MTH), that was
already used with Intel 820 chipset, to link Rambus memory controller
with less expensive SDRAM memory. When a serious bug was discovered
in the MTH design in the first half of 2000, Intel recalled the MTH
and delayed Timna release until the first quarter of 2001. After
that, the company started redesign of the MTH component from scratch,
but due to continuing problems with the newly redesigned MTH part, as
well as due to lack of interest from many vendors, Timna family was
finally cancelled on September 29, 2000.
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