Intel announces "Nehalem" - 8-core CPU with mem-controller + graphic capabilities

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/...7_FORTUNE5.htm

SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones) - A major computer-chip redesign at Intel
Corp. will likely put more pressure on smaller rival Advanced Micro
Devices Inc., industry observers said Thursday.

Intel (INTC) is working on a new computer chip called Nehalem that
will integrate the microprocessor -- the central processing unit in a
PC - with the chip's memory controller.

Intel currently uses external memory in separate products known as
chipsets that fetch data from different parts of the computer. The
Nehalem chip should help Intel relieve performance bottlenecks in its
current family of chips, analysts said.

AMD chips have had the two features combined for several years now, a
technology edge that has helped the company take market share from its
larger rival.

"Nehalem appears to be a truly revolutionary platform and addresses
AMD's latest claim of differentiation," wrote Deutsche Bank analyst
Ross Seymore.

In midday trading Thursday, AMD shares fell 2.5% to $13.05. Intel lost
0.4% to $18.48.

Intel plans to ship the Nehalem chip in 2008. It said customers will
be able to choose from single-core to eight-core versions, which are
the equivalent of eight electronic brains on a single chip.

Intel also said it plans to add some graphics capability onto the
chip. AMD is currently working on a similar design associated with its
$5.4 billion acquisition of ATI Technologies last fall.

AMD is facing increased pressure from Intel, which wants to win back
market share it's lost the past three years. To carry out that plan,
Intel intends to release several new chip lines through 2010.

Since last summer, Intel has unleashed 40 new microprocessors for
desktops, laptops, and servers.

In 2003, AMD (AMD) began to combine the memory controller with the
central processor when the company launched its Opteron server chip.

The processor, which uses so-called direct connect architecture,
rejuvenated AMD's fortunes, helping it dent Intel's worldwide market
share and forcing Intel to admit it made some technological missteps.

AMD now commands 25% of the world's microprocessor market, up
significantly from what it had before it rolled out the Opteron line.

Its encore to Opteron is called Barcelona, which is slated to hit the
market by mid-summer. Barcelona is the chipmaker's first major design
refresh in more than three years.

Intel's plans are "further validation that their current architecture
will not be competitive with Barcelona until they make this transition
that we showed the industry in 2003," AMD Vice President Randy Allen
said in a prepared statement.

Barcelona will compete with a quad-core processor Intel launched this
past November. AMD said its product won't force customers to make
"wholesale infrastructure changes in order to achieve incremental
performance gains."

Last month, AMD warned it won't meet its previous first-quarter
financial targets as it struggles with weaker prices for its
microprocessors and supply problems.

"It is becoming obvious that AMD's only weapon, outside of Barcelona,
is price," wrote Doug Freedman, analyst at American Technology
Research.

He projects Intel will recapture market share in the server space -
where AMD has hurt Intel the most - and concede less profitable parts
of the PC market to AMD.

AirRaid wrote:

> Intel plans to ship the Nehalem chip in 2008. It said customers
> will be able to choose from single-core to eight-core versions,

If the current "Core Solo" is basically a vapor-product (I've never
seen one avaiable for retail or e-tail sale) then why would Intel even
bother with a single-core version of this new chip?

That said, apparently many laptop and desktop PC's from major vendors
are not shipping with multi-core support turned on, or at least with
this kb update, as per this source:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=60416

See also:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/896256

Which adds to my assertion that multi-core CPU's is largely bullshit
as experienced by the vast majority of PC owners and is nothing more
than a marketing pitch by Intel the same way that XP was supposed to
be the hottest thing ever for PC's back in 2002.

As we learned with XP (that the emperor had no clothes) the same can
be said for multi-core CPU's.

-----------------

1) (for Intel CPUs) Check to see if the mandatory Windows XP Hotfix
Patch: KB896256 (NOT automatically downloaded with Windows Update) is
installed.
if not download KB896256 XP patch and install it.

1) (for AMD CPUs) Check to see if the mandatory Windows XP Hotfix
Patch: KB896256 (NOT automatically downloaded with Windows Update) and
the AMD CPU drivers are installed.

Note 1: Only install the AMD Driver if you have an AMD CPU.
Note 2: The AMD Dual-Core Optimizer was AMD's answer to Microsoft's
Multi-Core fix... originally, to get the hotfix, one would have to
email Microsoft to get it... screw that. Therefore, AMD released their
Optimizer to give the public (with AMD CPUs) a way to utilize both
cores. If you install the AMD Optimizer and it works without problems,
then you would NOT have to install the the WinXP hotfix.

UPDATE: Windows XP Hotfix KB896256 Version 4 (From Microsoft)
All languages available.

Intel Guy <> wrote:
> AirRaid wrote:
> > Intel plans to ship the Nehalem chip in 2008. It said customers
> > will be able to choose from single-core to eight-core versions,
>
> If the current "Core Solo" is basically a vapor-product (I've never
> seen one avaiable for retail or e-tail sale) then why would Intel even
> bother with a single-core version of this new chip?

Because the real current single-core offerings are cheapie Celerons. I
doubt there will be many (if any) single core Nehalems at launch, but
they're not going to be selling 90nm chips forever; is there even a 65nm
shrink of the Celeron D?

--
Nate Edel http://www.cubiclehermit.com/

"What's the use of yearning for Elysian Fields when you know you can't get
'em, and would only let 'em out on building leases if you had 'em?" (WSG)

AirRaid wrote:
>
> http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/...7_FORTUNE5.htm
>
> SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones) - A major computer-chip redesign at Intel
> Corp. will likely put more pressure on smaller rival Advanced Micro
> Devices Inc., industry observers said Thursday.
>
> Intel (INTC) is working on a new computer chip called Nehalem that
> will integrate the microprocessor -- the central processing unit in a
> PC - with the chip's memory controller.
>
> Intel currently uses external memory in separate products known as
> chipsets that fetch data from different parts of the computer. The
> Nehalem chip should help Intel relieve performance bottlenecks in its
> current family of chips, analysts said.
>
> AMD chips have had the two features combined for several years now, a
> technology edge that has helped the company take market share from its
> larger rival.
>
Like most press releases, this one presents the spin the writer wanted,
rather than a neutral technical viewpoint. The pros and cons of external
memory controllers have been discussed here before, and I won't rehash,
but the bottom line is that any assumption that integrated or external
memory control is "better" ignores the fact that is a tradeoff.

The IBM maximum performance chipset discussed about two years ago is a
case in point, providing higher bandwidth and lower latency through
increased complexity in the memory subsystem. As I recall, it was
multiway interleave, integrated L3 cache, and CPU to CPU cache bypass
(not through main memory). And I admit I didn't dig back in the archives
for the details, either.

--
Bill Davidsen
He was a full-time professional cat, not some moonlighting
ferret or weasel. He knew about these things.

On Apr 3, 6:16 am, Bill Davidsen <david...@tmr.com> wrote:
> AirRaid wrote:
>
> >http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/...703291555DOWJO...
>
> > SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones) - A major computer-chip redesign at Intel
> > Corp. will likely put more pressure on smaller rival Advanced Micro
> > Devices Inc., industry observers said Thursday.
>
> > Intel (INTC) is working on a new computer chip called Nehalem that
> > will integrate the microprocessor -- the central processing unit in a
> > PC - with the chip's memory controller.
>
> > Intel currently uses external memory in separate products known as
> > chipsets that fetch data from different parts of the computer. The
> > Nehalem chip should help Intel relieve performance bottlenecks in its
> > current family of chips, analysts said.
>
> > AMD chips have had the two features combined for several years now, a
> > technology edge that has helped the company take market share from its
> > larger rival.
>
> Like most press releases, this one presents the spin the writer wanted,
> rather than a neutral technical viewpoint. The pros and cons of external
> memory controllers have been discussed here before, and I won't rehash,
> but the bottom line is that any assumption that integrated or external
> memory control is "better" ignores the fact that is a tradeoff.
>
> The IBM maximum performance chipset discussed about two years ago is a
> case in point, providing higher bandwidth and lower latency through
> increased complexity in the memory subsystem. As I recall, it was
> multiway interleave, integrated L3 cache, and CPU to CPU cache bypass
> (not through main memory). And I admit I didn't dig back in the archives
> for the details, either.
>
> --
> Bill Davidsen
> He was a full-time professional cat, not some moonlighting
> ferret or weasel. He knew about these things.

Perhaps you mean IBM's X3 chipset:

http://www.realworldtech.com/page.cf...WT042405213553

It has a snoop filter, and can use the memory as a virtual cache for
remote data.

David

David Kanter wrote:
> On Apr 3, 6:16 am, Bill Davidsen <david...@tmr.com> wrote:
>> AirRaid wrote:
>>
>>> http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/...703291555DOWJO...
>>> SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones) - A major computer-chip redesign at Intel
>>> Corp. will likely put more pressure on smaller rival Advanced Micro
>>> Devices Inc., industry observers said Thursday.
>>> Intel (INTC) is working on a new computer chip called Nehalem that
>>> will integrate the microprocessor -- the central processing unit in a
>>> PC - with the chip's memory controller.
>>> Intel currently uses external memory in separate products known as
>>> chipsets that fetch data from different parts of the computer. The
>>> Nehalem chip should help Intel relieve performance bottlenecks in its
>>> current family of chips, analysts said.
>>> AMD chips have had the two features combined for several years now, a
>>> technology edge that has helped the company take market share from its
>>> larger rival.
>> Like most press releases, this one presents the spin the writer wanted,
>> rather than a neutral technical viewpoint. The pros and cons of external
>> memory controllers have been discussed here before, and I won't rehash,
>> but the bottom line is that any assumption that integrated or external
>> memory control is "better" ignores the fact that is a tradeoff.
>>
>> The IBM maximum performance chipset discussed about two years ago is a
>> case in point, providing higher bandwidth and lower latency through
>> increased complexity in the memory subsystem. As I recall, it was
>> multiway interleave, integrated L3 cache, and CPU to CPU cache bypass
>> (not through main memory). And I admit I didn't dig back in the archives
>> for the details, either.
>>
>> --
>> Bill Davidsen
>> He was a full-time professional cat, not some moonlighting
>> ferret or weasel. He knew about these things.
>
> Perhaps you mean IBM's X3 chipset:
>
> http://www.realworldtech.com/page.cf...WT042405213553
>
> It has a snoop filter, and can use the memory as a virtual cache for
> remote data.
>
*Thank you*, that's the hardware I had in mind, and I had only seen a
page on the memory controller. The link you have is as good on the
memory and covers a lot of other scaling issues which are interesting in
themselves.

--
Bill Davidsen
He was a full-time professional cat, not some moonlighting
ferret or weasel. He knew about these things.

On Apr 27, 6:22 am, Bill Davidsen <david...@tmr.com> wrote:
> David Kanter wrote:
> > On Apr 3, 6:16 am, Bill Davidsen <david...@tmr.com> wrote:
> >> AirRaid wrote:
>
> >>>http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/...703291555DOWJO...
> >>> SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones) - A major computer-chip redesign at Intel
> >>> Corp. will likely put more pressure on smaller rival Advanced Micro
> >>> Devices Inc., industry observers said Thursday.
> >>> Intel (INTC) is working on a new computer chip called Nehalem that
> >>> will integrate the microprocessor -- the central processing unit in a
> >>> PC - with the chip's memory controller.
> >>> Intel currently uses external memory in separate products known as
> >>> chipsets that fetch data from different parts of the computer. The
> >>> Nehalem chip should help Intel relieve performance bottlenecks in its
> >>> current family of chips, analysts said.
> >>> AMD chips have had the two features combined for several years now, a
> >>> technology edge that has helped the company take market share from its
> >>> larger rival.
> >> Like most press releases, this one presents the spin the writer wanted,
> >> rather than a neutral technical viewpoint. The pros and cons of external
> >> memory controllers have been discussed here before, and I won't rehash,
> >> but the bottom line is that any assumption that integrated or external
> >> memory control is "better" ignores the fact that is a tradeoff.
>
> >> The IBM maximum performance chipset discussed about two years ago is a
> >> case in point, providing higher bandwidth and lower latency through
> >> increased complexity in the memory subsystem. As I recall, it was
> >> multiway interleave, integrated L3 cache, and CPU to CPU cache bypass
> >> (not through main memory). And I admit I didn't dig back in the archives
> >> for the details, either.
>
> >> --
> >> Bill Davidsen
> >> He was a full-time professional cat, not some moonlighting
> >> ferret or weasel. He knew about these things.
>
> > Perhaps you mean IBM's X3 chipset:
>
> >http://www.realworldtech.com/page.cf...WT042405213553
>
> > It has a snoop filter, and can use the memory as a virtual cache for
> > remote data.
>
> *Thank you*, that's the hardware I had in mind, and I had only seen a
> page on the memory controller. The link you have is as good on the
> memory and covers a lot of other scaling issues which are interesting in
> themselves.

Thanks for the compliment - I wrote the article in question and I
pride myself on good content.

David