game trailblazer

Chapter 146 Integrating the Motherboard
In the morning, Zhang Lexing woke up from his sleep, sat on the bed and stretched, then rolled over and got out of bed.Walking into the bathroom with his slippers on, Zhang Lexing took a handful of cold water and poured it on his face, feeling much more awake immediately.After washing up, Zhang Lexing went back to the bedroom, changed his clothes, and opened the door to the living room.As soon as he came to the living room, Zhang Lexing saw Yan sitting on the sofa.pair.Fei, the traces of last night were completely gone from her face.

Seeing Zhang Lexing come out, Yan.pair.Fei quickly stood up: "Boss, good morning. Would you like to eat breakfast in the room, or go out to the restaurant?"

"Well, it's too boring to eat in the room. It's better to go out to eat. You arrange the place."

"Good boss." Yan.pair.Fei nodded, picked up the phone in the living room and made a call.

Yan.pair.Fei's voice on the phone was not loud, and Zhang Lexing didn't hear clearly, but just vaguely heard her say something into the microphone, "Manager Cen...you two..." or something.

Soon Yan.pair.After finishing the phone call, Fei put down the phone and said, "Boss, I just asked clearly. There are fewer people on the second floor, the dining environment is better, and there are more types of buffet breakfast. Why don't you just go there."

"Well, let's go to the restaurant on the second floor." Zhang Lexing was not too picky about breakfast, so he nodded in agreement.

……

A group of people took the elevator to the second floor, half of the bodyguards in charge of security followed, and the rest continued to stay outside the guest room to guard.Came to the restaurant on the second floor, Zhang Lexing and Yan.pair.Flying inside and going in, Ma Guanghai and another bodyguard also went in, while the other bodyguards stayed at the door of the restaurant.

As soon as we entered the door, the waiter greeted us enthusiastically. He first helped to find an empty table, and then quickly delivered the tableware.Zhang Lexing took a look, and sure enough, there were not many people coming to eat, that is, seven or eight Westerners.

Picking up the plate and going to the dining area, Zhang Lexing found that the long dining table was lined up with all kinds of breakfast, such as ham, grilled sausage, burgers, salads, fruits, etc. There were even six or seven kinds of bread patterns.Zhang Lexing chose the clips he was interested in as he walked, and he didn't give up until he filled two sets.Back at the dining table, put down the plate, and the waiter brought some more bowls of Yan.pair.Fei ordered porridge and a plate of fried dough sticks.

Zhang Lexing picked up the spoon and stirred the bowl of porridge in front of him a few times. It seemed that there were still a lot of ingredients in it, and it was hard to eat for a while.

Yan.pair.Seeing that Zhang Lexing was holding a spoon, Fei seemed a little hesitant, so he hurriedly explained: "Boss, your bowl is chicken preserved egg porridge. It's delicious. You can try it."

Zhang Lexing hesitated for a moment, but took a spoonful and brought it to his mouth. After tasting it carefully, it seemed that it was not as greasy as he imagined. It tasted sticky and refreshing, and it really tasted good.Tear a little more fried sticks and put it down, it's another taste.

After breakfast, I went back to my room to rest for a while, Yan.pair.Fei looked at his watch and said, "Boss, it's time to go to Dongfang Microelectronics Research Institute."

"Okay, let's go." Zhang Lexing ordered, and a group of people came to the parking lot downstairs.After getting in the car, the convoy headed towards Dongfang Microelectronics Research Institute. In addition to the bodyguards, there was also Yan.pair.Fei and another assistant, Zhao Jai.

……

The motorcade stopped at the gate of Dongfang Microelectronics Research Institute. Dean Yu (Yu Youcheng) and Vice Dean Ye (Ye Shengxin) were already standing at the gate.Seeing Dr. Yu whom he hadn't seen for a long time, Zhang Lexing got out of the car and walked over.

"Dr. Yu (Yu Youcheng), long time no see, how are you doing?" Zhang Lexing greeted him as usual.

"It's very good. I can do what I want here, and I have many old friends." Dean Yu said with a smile.

Zhang Lexing greeted Vice President Ye again, and then followed President Yu to the conference room of the research institute, accompanied by Yan.pair.Fei and Zhao Jaw.When he came to the conference room, Zhang Lexing found that there were already four people waiting inside, presumably they were researchers of motherboard-related technologies.

This conference room is usually used by researchers to discuss issues. The area is not too large. There can only be twelve or three people sitting around the conference table in the middle, but it is more than enough to accommodate the people who are meeting today.

After everyone was seated, Zhang Lexing went directly to the topic without any formalities: "Everyone's time is precious, so I won't talk nonsense. This time, let everyone come here to discuss the improvement of computer motherboards. Yan Shuang. Fei, you and Zhao Jai will give each of the computer motherboards you brought."

"Okay, boss." Yan.pair.Fei nodded, and began to distribute the computer motherboards with Zhao Zhuo.The computer motherboards I brought this time are all 486-level, and they use AMD’s CPU. Before I came here, Zhang Lexing looked at them several times, but I didn’t recognize which company’s product it was, but it didn’t affect my use today.Dean Yu, Vice Dean Ye, and the four people who were waiting in the conference room looked at the somewhat outdated motherboard in front of them, feeling a little confused.

"I believe that everyone should have a certain understanding of computer motherboards. Take the 486 motherboard in front of us as an example." After the motherboard was distributed, Zhang Lexing pointed to the two chips on the motherboard and said: "The most important part is these two chips. , respectively called the North Bridge and the South Bridge. The North Bridge chip mainly includes four logic components: memory controller, graphics interface controller, front-side bus controller, and North and South Bridge bus controllers. Chip communication. The south bridge chip focuses on functionality, mainly including the control of the ISA bus and keyboard and mouse interfaces. With the current motherboard functions, in order to assemble a computer, in addition to the CPU and memory, a graphics card must also be added to the motherboard , sound card, network card and other expansion cards, of course, including power supply, floppy drive, hard disk, keyboard and mouse, monitor, etc., can be said to be very complicated.

I recently had an idea, why can’t computers be simpler, such as integrating expansion cards such as graphics cards, sound cards, and network cards into the motherboard, so that a few things can be added to become a computer, and the size of the computer is still small. Can be smaller than now, do you think this is possible? "

Everyone glanced at each other, and one of the researchers stood up and said, "Mr. Zhang, hello. My name is Tang Wenyuan. I study the logic optimization of PCB layout, and I also have a little bit of chip design. What you just said is in theory. above is doable.”

"Oh, let's talk about it in detail." Unexpectedly, someone seemed to support his idea of ​​integrating the motherboard, and Zhang Lexing suddenly became interested.

Tang Wenyuan picked up the motherboard in front of him and said, "Taking this motherboard as an example, as Mr. Zhang said just now, the north bridge chip includes the logic of the graphics interface controller, so the graphics card needs to be integrated on the motherboard. It should be integrated into the north bridge chip, so as to maintain relatively high efficiency. And the sound card and network card use the ISA interface, so the theory should be integrated into the south bridge chip to maintain high efficiency. Of course, this is only My personal theoretical analysis, which has not been verified by experiments, can only be used as a reference."

Zhang Lexing vaguely remembered that the integrated motherboard in the future seemed to be integrated in this way, so he couldn't help but take a high look at Tang Wenyuan.Others also made speeches one after another. Out of the researcher's instinct, they were very cautious, and they were not very optimistic about the prospect of integrating the motherboard. .

After everyone finished speaking, Zhang Lexing coughed lightly, and then said: "What everyone said is very reasonable, but from the perspective of the company as a whole, this research project on integrating the motherboard must be launched."

Vice President Ye's face changed slightly, he opened his mouth, but he didn't say anything.As Ye Shengxin was the vice president in charge of the allocation of research funds, Zhang Lexing knew what he was worried about. It was nothing more than the fact that the research on the integration of the main board took up R&D funds and affected the progress of other projects.

"As for the research and development funds, the integrated motherboard project will receive a special fund, which will not be included in the amount of research and development funds for this year. In addition, I hope that Tang Wenyuan can participate in the research of this project."

As soon as this remark came out, Vice President Ye's face immediately returned to normal, and President Yu did not raise any objections, and the research project for integrating the motherboard was passed, and Zhang Lexing didn't have to worry about the subsequent personnel scheduling. To search through the channels of the research institute, you only need to send money in on time after the budget is out. After all, computer motherboards also belong to the category of microelectronics technology research.

Before leaving, Zhang Lexing also announced a piece of good news: "In order to further strengthen the research and development capabilities, the company will choose a suitable place to build a park. By then, the Institute of Microelectronics will have a larger research site and better research equipment... "

Naturally, this news was once again welcomed by everyone in the Institute of Microelectronics, especially when Zhang Lexing cryptically mentioned that better equipment might include a "super" computer, the crowd was even more excited.Zhang Lexing only knows that supercomputers are very useful in scientific research, but he doesn't know the specific uses. These researchers are very clear about this, but because of some well-known reasons, they have always given up hope.Of course, the "super" computer mentioned by Zhang Lexing is actually the basis of "cloud computing" - a computer cluster, which is not exactly the same as the supercomputer that these researchers think.

Leaving the Oriental Microelectronics Research Institute, Zhang Lexing and his group found a place to solve the problem of lunch. After killing time for a while, the group came to Oriental Holdings at No. 33 Lockhart Road, Wanchai. Hua Ziqing, his assistant and the investment department Supervisor Dou Yong and others are already waiting in the meeting room.

The agenda of the meeting was very simple. There were two main things. One was to build a similar park in Hong Kong, following the example of the San Jose park, and relocate all the company’s R&D institutions in Hong Kong to form a synergy and strengthen management.The other thing is to invest in setting up a real estate company in the mainland. This is not a new thing in Hong Kong. Because of the policy changes in the mainland, a lot of money has poured in. For example, Hutchison Whampoa has an Oriental Plaza project in BJ.Affected by the San Jose park, Zhang Lexing plans to create a park in BJ and other places in the same way, relocate all his local industries to facilitate unified management, and provide employees with a better working environment. The construction and post-management of the park are very troublesome things. Zhang Lexing hopes to set up a professional company to take care of it. This is the original intention of the establishment of the real estate company.However, this real estate company will not be engaged in real estate development, but will only carry out preliminary planning for the park. The specific construction work will be handed over to powerful developers (such as Hutchison Whampoa Real Estate). As for the later management, it must be done by itself, because Zhang Lexing has seen a lot about how the so-called property service companies will manage owners in the future, so he doesn't want to invite a group of grandpas for his employees.

After making the request, the next thing will be handled by professionals, Yan.pair.Fei also took advantage of this period to complete the task of renting the yacht, and Zhang Lexing only needed to wait quietly for the arrival of He Guoyuan and Shen Wangbo.

……

At 18:16.09 p.m. the next day, Zhang Lexing and Yan.pair.Fei, Ma Guanghai and another bodyguard drove to the marina.As soon as he set foot on the pier, he saw Yan from a distance.pair.A rented white yacht is docked in the harbour.According to Yan.pair.According to Fei, the yacht can accommodate 4.67 passengers, with a length of 2.32 meters, a width of [-] meters, and a floor height of [-] meters.

After waiting on the pier for a while, a black Mercedes-Benz drove over from a distance and stopped at the entrance of the pier.As soon as the car stopped, the door was opened, and then He Guoyuan and Shen Wangbo got out of the car.Zhang Lexing waved his hands vigorously at them, apparently the two of them noticed and walked towards them.After the two approached, Zhang Lexing exchanged pleasantries with him, and then they all walked towards the yacht together.

The yacht has been equipped with a captain and two sailors, and when everyone is on board, the yacht will soon head out to sea.Several reclining chairs had been set up on the open-air deck in advance, Zhang Lexing called He Guoyuan and the two to come and sit, and then he picked one at random and lay down on it.

After the sea breeze blew for a while, Shen Wangbo couldn't help but speak first: "Mr. Zhang, you called us all the way to Hong Kong. What's the matter?"

"Look how vast the sea outside is." Zhang Lexing said without answering, pointing outside.

Now even He Guoyuan couldn't help it anymore: "Mr. Zhang, the sea is indeed very vast, but this should not be the purpose of our coming here."

"How is the current situation of your two companies?" As soon as Zhang Lexing said this, the expressions of the two of them changed immediately.

Shen Wangbo happily introduced the recent situation of the innovative company because it had just been listed on the main board of the Singapore Stock Exchange.

But He Guoyuan is different. After ATI's revenue reached 2.3 million Canadian dollars last year, it was successfully listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Everything was developing in a good direction, but a sudden stock market crash caused ATI to suffer heavy losses. If it wasn't for another capital injection from Zhang Lexing, he might not be able to survive until this summer, so when he talked about ATI's recent situation, his face naturally didn't look much better.

After listening to the introduction of the two, Zhang Lexing concluded: "Actually, both of your companies have some problems..."

After hearing this, Shen Wangbo was not happy: "Mr. Zhang, the current situation of Innovation Company is very good. Not only is the company listed, but its share in the sound card market is also rising steadily. I really can't think of any problems."

"Don't get excited, Mr. Shen. As far as I know, most of the current revenue of innovative companies comes from sound cards, and most of the profits come from sound cards. It can be said that sound cards are the lifeline of innovative companies. If one day The sound card in the computer is not that important, what do you do?"

"Impossible, how can the computer produce sound without the sound card?" Shen Wangbo didn't believe it at all.

"What if one day the computer motherboard has an integrated sound card? What if the sound quality of this integrated sound card is very close to that of an independent sound card? How many people do you think will be willing to spend extra money to buy an independent sound card? What will innovative companies do by then?"

Shen Wangbo only felt as if a thunderbolt rang in his mind, and a chill surged up his back, and he muttered to himself: "Yes, what should I do..."

Zhang Lexing turned to He Guoyuan again: "Your ATI company also has the same problem. While focusing on the graphics card, it is necessary to properly get involved in other aspects."

Looking back, Shen Wangbo and He Guoyuan asked almost in unison: "Mr. Zhang, what do you think our innovation (ATI) company should do?"

"Both of them are veterans in the IT industry. I believe they should be familiar with computers. For computer users, except for a few high-end users, most users still care about the price factor. And the current graphics card and Sound cards need to be purchased with extra money. If you can develop a motherboard that integrates a graphics card and a sound card, and the price is lower than the sum of the prices of traditional motherboards, graphics cards, and sound cards, which side do you think users will choose? Now For users, your graphics card and sound card seem to be bought with extra money, which may limit their desire to buy for some users, but once this integrated motherboard with integrated graphics card and sound card is developed, users It is relatively easier to choose, if the integrated graphics card and sound card are provided by your two companies, then the relative sales will also increase significantly.”

The eyes of Shen Wangbo and He Guoyuan lit up all of a sudden. This is obviously a great thing for their company. If they succeed, they will definitely make a lot of money, and the company's development will naturally grow rapidly.

"So I plan to do a research project on integrating motherboards. The project will be located in Hong Kong, and I will provide the research and development funds. However, two companies are required to provide graphics card and sound card technology support. We lack R&D personnel in this area. Once If the development is successful, the three of us can invest in building a factory to produce it, or we can authorize it to other companies and we will charge licensing fees. I believe that either way will bring us a lot of money."

Shen Wangbo and He Guoyuan looked at each other, and said, "Mr. Zhang, our Innovation (ATI) company is willing to participate in this research. With your shares and mine, we can already decide this matter." , I will report this matter to the board of directors when I go back.”

With the support of ATI and innovative companies, it can be said that the integrated motherboard plan has been half successful, and the next thing is to wait for the good news from Dr. Chen.Of course, even if Dr. Chen failed to bring good news, Zhang Lexing still intends to carry out the plan to integrate the mainboard, but there is a lack of heat dissipation experts, and "cloud computing" may have to be delayed for a while.

(End of this chapter)