Extreme Gaming with the Intel® Core™ i7 Processor Extreme Edition For Desktops

Extreme Gaming with the Intel® Core™ i7 Processor Extreme Edition For Desktops ,


The ultimate immersive gaming experience Conquer the world of extreme gaming with the highest performing desktop processor on the planet: the Intel® Core™ i7 processor Extreme Edition. ‡1 With intelligent multi-core technology that kicks into overdrive as your activity becomes more intense, it delivers breakthrough performance in gaming. Plus, multitask demanding applications up to 25% faster‡2 and unleash amazing power for digital media.

VIA's Trinity Netbook Chips Take On Intel, Nvidia

VIA's Trinity Netbook Chips Take On Intel, Nvidia .



VIATechnologies launched a processor platform for netbooks, taking on Intel (NSDQ: INTC) and Nvidia in the growing mini-PC market. VIA's three-chip platform, called Trinity, comprises the company's Nano x86 processor; a media system processor, such as the VIA VX800 chipset; and a discrete PCI Express graphics processor from S3 Graphics. VIA said the combination translates into speedier netbooks than today's systems, which typically run the Intel platform.


VIA claims the onboard S3 Chrome graphics accelerator supports high-definition video and the latest DirectX 10.1 graphics technology in Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) Windows Vista. In addition, the technology supports an HDMI output for video and audio playback on a digital television or computer monitor. VIA did not disclose pricing, or say when the platform would ship in netbooks. Intel processors and graphics chipsets are used in the majority of mini-laptops shipping today. The so-called netbooks typically have displays of 10 inches or less and sell for as little as $300. The lack of performance, however, has been an issue with consumers. Industry observers say manufacturers have seen a high rate of returns among buyers, who are disappointed with the systems' inability to go much beyond basic Web browsing and e-mail.



Nevertheless, the market for the mini-PCs is growing. Manufacturers this year are expected to ship 14 million units, compared with fewer than 1 million last year, according to market researcher DisplaySearch, which predicts netbooks will settle in at about 16% of the laptop PC market by 2011.


The expected market growth is attracting platform vendors claiming to solve the performance problems. Nvidia has introduced its Ion platform, which combines its GeForce 9400M motherboard graphics chipset with Intel's Atom processor, which is quickly gaining traction in netbooks. Intel is likely to also introduce new products for boosting netbook performance.


While VIA's Nano has been seen in a few netbooks, the vendor has yet to establish itself as a player within the mini-laptop market or within the PC market in general.

Nvidia to Provide Notebook Driver Updates Itself

Nvidia to Provide Notebook Driver Updates Itself


Nvidia said Thursday that it will begin providing driver updates for its notebook graphics chips directly on its Web site, bypassing the need to visit the sites owned by the notebook vendors themselves. The first release will add Nvidia's CUDA functionality to notebooks equipped with GeForce 8 and 9-series GPUs or Quadro NVS-equipped notebooks, Nvidia said. Nvidia will add a WHQL-certified version supporting all GeForce 7, 8, and 9 series and Quadro NVS series notebook GPUs early next year.


Nvidia's choice has become standard practice within the desktop PC community; users typically have the option of downloading a standard driver set from either Nvidia or sometimes the graphics-card or board maker itself. Notebook vendors typically use some form of proprietary software service to facilitate upgrades, however.


"Nvidia is committed to giving the rapidly growing number of customers using notebook GPUs the same performance optimizations and innovative graphics features that desktop customers have grown accustomed to," said Dwight Diercks, vice president of software engineering at Nvidia, in a statement. "To accomplish this, we have worked diligently over the past year to modularize our driver architecture and develop a unified driver install package that will not only work with notebooks from all manufacturers but also maintain all of their specific model customizations such as hotkeys and suspend and resume functionality.


" In other Nvidia news, the company announced its Ion platform on Wednesday. Essentially, Ion is simply Nvidia's pitch to get its GeForce 9400 GPU, announced in conjunction with the latest MacBook notebooks, tied to Intel's Atom processor.


If anything, this is savvy PR on Nvidia's part: get the press talking about what essentially is a sales pitch. Intel can bundle a processor, chipset and wireless radio together and call it "Centrino"; what bundling options does Nvidia have? Discounts for desktop GPUs? I can't see the company having much leverage here, at least initially. In all fairness, however, any netbook can use improved graphics, especially to assist playback of Flash video and other multimedia functions.

Nvidia Looks to Combine Graphics, Intel`s Atom Processor for Mini-Notebooks

nVidia Looks to Combine Graphics, Intel`s Atom Processor for Mini-Notebooks.


Nvidia is looking to combine its graphics technology and Intel Atom processor into a new type of platform for mini-notebooks and so-called “netbooks.” Nvidia plans to roll out its new “Ion” chip set platform in 2009, which will combine an Nvidia GeForce 9400 GPU along with the Intel Atom processors for mini-notebooks and other types of netbooks. The Nvidia chip set news comes as AMD is also looking to enter the mini-notebook and ultraportable laptop market with its “Yukon” platform in early 2009.

Nvidia is looking to bring its graphics technology into the mini-notebook and “netbook” market with a new chip set platform that combines its own graphics processor with Intel’s Atom chip.


Nvidia announced its “Ion” platform for mini-notebooks and netbooks. This chip set platform combines Nvidia’s GeForce 9400 GPU (graphics processing unit) along with Intel’s Atom processor The Nvidia GeForce 9400 series GPU is the same graphics processor family that Apple selected for its new line of MacBooks and MacBook Pros that premiered in October.


While Nvidia is looking to partner with Intel to create new features and capabilities in netbooks and mini-notebooks, the company is looking to wedge itself into a market that Intel has dominated since the debut of the Atom earlier this year. If PC vendors use the Ion platform with new mini-notebooks, the Nvidia chip set would displace the integrated graphics that Intel ships with its own 945GSE Express chip set for netbooks and other mini-notebooks.


Nvidia has already signaled that it challenge Intel when it comes to mobile Internet devices or MIDs. In June, Nvidia launched a system-on-a-chip design called “Tegra” that uses the company’s graphics and an ARM 11 processor for MIDs. While the GeForce 9400 GPU offers 16 parallel processing cores, the entire Ion platform will use 18 watts of power. The platform also supports features such as HDMI (high-definition multimedia interface) and dual-link DVI (digital video interface).


For users, the presence of Nvidia graphics technology with mini-notebooks and netbooks could mean that they will not have to sacrifice performance for the low-price and portability that is quickly becoming a hallmark of these types of laptops. In a statement, Nvidia said its Ion platform would support 1080p high-definition video and support the user interface for both Microsoft Windows Vista and the upcoming Windows 7 operating system.


Right now, most netbooks and min-notebooks run either Windows XP or some form of Linux and can not handle high-definition video. “It’s something that I think PC makers will embrace in that it could help them to deliver lower-priced notebooks that are still very much livable for customers in that they delivers reasonable performance in areas such as showing a videos or even rendering Flash on a Web pages.

“So the bottom line is that, by selecting this chipset, customers won’t be required to sacrifice performance when they choose a less-expensive laptop,” Spooner added. “In this economy that is a very important thing.”


While still considered a small part of the overall PC market, more and more IT companies are looking to offer their version of netbooks, mini-notebooks and ultraportable laptops. In early 2009, Advanced Micro Devices is expected to launch a new platform called “Yukon,” which will use AMD CPUs and ATI graphics for a new line of affordable ultraportable notebooks that have screen sizes of 10 inches or larger.


Other chip vendors, such as Qualcomm, Via and Texas Instruments are also jumping into the netbooks and mini-notebook markets with their own platforms The netbooks market alone will see unit shipments between 30 million and 40 million in 2009, which could make it a $1 billion market by the end of the year. Mosesmann also estimated that the average selling price of the Nvidia Ion platform will be between $30 and $50.


The average netbook or mini-notebook sells for about $350 for now, although companies such as Dell are offering more sophisticated configurations for a high price. For example, the Dell Mini Inspiron 12, which uses the Intel Atom, sells for about $600. The Nvidia Ion platform is expected to add about $50 to the price of the average netbook or mini-notebook.

Nvidia did not officially announced when the Ion platform would be available, although Mosemann’s research note indicated a launch by the first half of 2009. While the primary market for Nvidia’s Ion chip set is the laptop, the company also believes the platform will work in nettops and all-in-one PCs.

why to choose nVidia

why to choose nVidia.

At our demo, Ragones was quick to chime in: "That's just Intel positioning around the limitations of their hardware." He also says that computers using Ion can run not only ten times as fast as current netbooks but also five times faster than straight Centrino-platform laptops using Intel integrated graphics. According to nVidia, the thermals of an Ion-platform machine will be lower than those of a current Atom system, and the idle power will be comparable, while maintaining roughly the same battery life.


That means that machines using Ion could run Vista--and, nVidia says, Windows 7. (No doubt, Microsoft is more than happy to dump XP and push Vista and Windows 7 these days.) Such systems will be able to process and output 1080p video sans stuttering, too. Of course, that says nothing of the potential for incredibly tiny desktops that still pack a punch. Staple on a couple hard drives and turn this unit, and the makers could sell it tomorrow. Heck, incorporate the guts into a TV, and you have a turbocharged media center without the extra box in the living room. For some perspective, the Mac Mini measures 6.5 by 6.5 by 2 inches, but nVidia's l'il system occupies only about half as much space. And the black box that nVidia showed was as big as it was only due to the daughter board that handles additional connections (such as 7.1 audio).


Does this mean that nVidia is shutting out Via's mobile CPUs? "We continue to work with Via to promote small-form-factor platforms based on discrete GeForce GPUs and Via Nano CPUs," Ragones says. "Via Nano platforms fully support full PCI Express x16 expansion for GeForce graphics."


All right, here are the big questions: How long before we can lay hands on computers using this configuration? As soon as next June, according to Ragones. And how much could it add to the price of current netbooks? Not much. "At most," he says, "it would tack a $50 premium onto the price." But that $50 could make a world of difference between what a netbook can do now and what it will do in a couple months.

nVidia Ion Turbocharges Intel Atom

nVidia Ion Turbocharges Intel Atom


1. A charged atom

2. nVidia's new two-chip product that works with the Intel Atom netbook CPU for affordable, portable performance. I'm going to give you the same advice I'm currently giving to all my buddies: Unless you absolutely need a sub-$500 portable right now.

3. Imagine a netbook that can actually play modern first-person shooter games. Or a tiny $500 PC that can quickly encode video. It's possible--I just saw it with my own two eyes. nVidia recently came in to show off its two-chip Ion platform, which marries an Intel Atom CPU with nVidia's 94000M graphics processing unit. Honestly, the results surprised me.


4. Let me back up for a second. I've been complaining that, as neat as netbooks may be, I'm not buying one until their makers replace their lame integrated graphics. I want to play games that are a little more sophisticated than Peggle, and to watch good-quality video on the machine's 10.2-inch screen. And that's exactly what's happening here


5. nVidia product line manager David Ragones didn't didn't have an actual netbook on hand (he said that we were getting the same demo that manufacters have started seeing in the past couple weeks), but the proof of concept was right there, in his hand. On a tiny Pico ITX motherboard sits a single Atom CPU, nVidia's GeForce 9400M GPU, an HDMI-out, dual-link DVI, a SATA connection, a USB 2.0 port, and an ethernet port. That array of components dwarfs what you see on current netbooks, where you're lucky to get VGA-out and more than two USB ports.


6.As for the performance, while we didn't have the opportunity to throw our own tests at the platform, we did try a few quick side-by-side demos. In one corner was Acer's Aspire One. The first test was last year's hit game Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. On the Aspire One, the game bombed out before even loading. Blame Intel's GMA945 graphics.


7.On the test system, I started blasting my way through the first mission at 1024-by-768-pixel resolution with respectable speeds (a solid 25 to 30 frames per second). While the textures were a little flat--hey, I'm not expecting GTX280 performance here--the results were impressive. Not to mention that they're a huge step up from what we see on current netbooks, which can't even get out of neutral.


8. Another test that nVidia loves showing off is video encoding. On the nVidia wondermachine, we saw a video, The Plush Life, get encoded for an iPhone through a program called Badaboom. The app whipped through and encoded the 720p, 30-fps video at a rate of roughly 1 fps. (That's very good.) It speeds through tests thanks to CUDA-based software--that is, Badaboom is one of the few mainstream commercial applications that use the GPU for something other than just playing games.


9. Meanwhile, the Aspire One chugged along, encoding video with iTunes--software that runs off the CPU. Its total run time was about 20 minutes. Now, I admit that this was a slightly flawed comparison. I'd rather see Badaboom running on both machines, but that's a CUDA-only application.


10. The truth is, I've never had a problem with the Atom processor; it enables good performance at a bargain-basement price. The rest of the chip set is what has been holding netbooks back. But here's where tech journalists (and I'm including myself) need to own up to something: We've gone too easy on netbooks. I always figured, "Eh, it's a slick-looking mini-notebook that costs under $500. If it's meant only for Windows XP and basic computing needs, so be it."

Intel Core i7 920, 940 and 965 Extreme Edition review

Today marks the release of Intel's latest and greatest processor architecture to date.

For the past two years Intel has dominated the CPU market with their Core 2 processors, reaping havoc on AMD's Athlon and Phenom products. Yet despite of this significant dominance, Intel will be pushing the Core 2 aside and make room for the new Core i7 processor series.

When you consider that the Pentium 4 lived on for roughly four years, it'd seem almost criminal to be axing the Core 2’s lead so early, especially considering the success that the Core 2 has been.

While the Pentium 4 often played second best to AMD's Athlon64 range, today AMD is finding itself in hot water, and we can't even begin to imagine what will happen now with the Core i7 introduction taking place today. t's becoming quite evident that Intel is enjoying being on top of their game, and the Core i7 should ensure that they stay this way for some time to come.

Today we will be introducing you to three new Core i7 processors based on the new Intel Nehalem microarchitecture, each featuring 4-cores and operating in the 2.66 to 3.20GHz range. Like the Core 2 family, these new processors feature model numbers, designed to keep things simple.

Initially Intel is releasing just three processors, one of which is an Extreme Edition version.

The Core i7 965 Extreme Edition runs at 3.20GHz and features a QPI (QuickPath Interface) throughput of 6.4GT/s, which is the key difference here. The mainstream versions of the processor include the Core i7 920 and 940, clocked at 2.66GHz and 2.93GHz, respectively. These more affordable processors feature a QPI throughput of just 4.8GT/s, so it will be interesting to discover what kind of impact this has on performance. As we move along, we will detail some interesting new concepts introduced on the Core i7's Nehalem architecture, talk about the future of this platform, how it performs today (a.k.a. the benchmark galore), only to close up with some preliminary overclocking findings and initial pricing.

A closer look to the Core i7 and Nehalem

The revamped architecture used on the new Core i7 is a whole new ball game, and as you are about to find out, much has changed. Possibly the largest architectural change involves the QuickPath Interface (QPI) which we mentioned earlier. The QPI has been developed to replace the aging FSB (Front Side Bus), offering a lightning fast interface between the CPU and the chipset. Of course, the chipset must support QPI technology and therefore the X48 has been replaced by the new X58 chipset.

Now, because components no longer run off a universal FSB which is then multiplied to get an intended frequency, Intel has introduced a single 133.33MHz base clock. Each component uses its own unique multiplier to reach a specified frequency.

Take the Core i7 940 processor, which operates at 2.93GHz using a 22x multiplier (22 x 133 = 2926MHz). However unlike conventional processors, which use a single multiplier, the Core i7 965 Extreme Edition for example offers a feature called “Turbo Mode”. When enabled, this allows the user to designate an individual multiplier to each of the four processor cores. This means that when overclocking it is possible to push only the first core to the extreme as this is the most heavily used core.

As a result you can reduce the heat output if only the core(s) in demand are running at their peak capacity, rather than all four. The memory also works in a similar fashion, using a multiplier off the base 133.33MHz clock to achieve a certain frequency.

For example, by default the Core i7 platform uses DDR3-1066 memory and to reach this frequency an 8x multiplier is required. This really simplifies overclocking and allows the user to either adjust the 133.33MHz base clock to overclock everything at once, or individually overclock components using their multiplier.

This simplified overclocking potential along with greater bandwidth between the processor and chipset are impressive enhancements, but there was something else the FSB was holding back. That is of course memory performance, and to solve this problem Intel has finally done what AMD did years ago, move the memory controller onto the CPU. The new on-die memory controller of the “Bloomfield” Core i7 processors supports triple-channel DDR3 memory.

Previously the 333MHz FSB of the high-end Core 2 processors limited them to a peak memory bandwidth of 10.6GB/s, while DDR2-1066 memory working in dual-channel mode had a peak bandwidth of 17GB/s. In order to move forward Intel had to remove the need for the FSB, and since AMD already had the answer, Intel just had to follow. That's not to say Intel didn't think beyond, so they went all out developing a triple-channel DDR3 memory controller. When paired with low-end DDR3-1066 memory this controller will have a peak bandwidth of 25.5GB/s, while DDR3-1333 will exceed 31GB/s! While the speed is impressive, also keep in mind this controller supports three channels and allows for two DIMMs per channel. This means that motherboards can have three or six DIMM slots instead of the usual two or four. It should be pointed out as well that the Core i7 processors can only support DDR3 memory.

The Core i7 is a single-die processor, meaning all four cores, the memory controller, and all cache are on a single die. The three processors that we are looking at today feature an on-die shared 8MB L3 cache, while each of the four cores have its own 256KB L2 cache. In total, each processor boasts an impressive 731M transistors and a thermal design process of 130W.

As the icing on the cake, hyper-threading technology makes a comeback on the Core i7, making these quad-core processors capable of handling a total of eight threads. This is the same feature that was present in the older Netburst Pentium 4 processors, but was dropped for the Core 2 line-up. Indeed, your OS will see eight cores.

10 reasons why you need Intel Core i7

Wondering whether you should drop your hard-earned cash on the new Intel Core i7-965 CPU? Here's a top 10 list that'll convince you.

1. Mike Feibus, a principal analyst at TechKnowledge Strategies, says his number one reason is that this is the first processor to integrate a high-speed DDR3 interface - the Core i7 can receive memory directly instead of getting bogged down in the system bus. AMD has used built-in memory for years, but this is the first time Intel has done it. Direct DDR3 support means a wider bandwidth for RAM than any previous chip. (It also means you'll need three memory sticks for the best performance.)

2. This is the first Intel processor to use Turbo Boost mode for multi-core processors. It means, for a single-threaded application such as Microsoft Excel, that doesn't use all four cores, the i7 can power down three cores and add power to a single core, resulting in a cooler chip overall.

3. The Core i7 uses a much faster bus to the rest of your computer, which Intel calls QuickPath Interconnect, resulting in less frequent bottlenecks in file transfers, processing for image editing, and for watching videos. The front-side bus runs at a blazing 1,333MHz.

4. It's also the first CPU built using 45 nanometer technology, which means it runs faster but uses less power. With the smaller die size, Intel can pack more processing power onto the CPU.

5. Intel has added a third cache, another first. And it's no minor enhancement -- the cache size is 8MB, or enough to make both gamers and 3D animation experts happy no matter how many pixels are flying around the screen.

6. New PCI Express Gen 2 support means double the transfer rate of the original PCI Express. It's also the first time Intel has openly admitted (in a keynote by senior VP Pat Gelsinger) that discrete graphics is a strategy that they support (or, at least talk about) through PCI Express 2.

7. If you choose the Extreme Edition of the Core i7, you can overclock the CPU -- the "overspeed" protection has been removed. Be careful out there, though: Intel seems a lot more serious about the dangers of overclocking this particular CPU.

8. The Core i7 may have four cores, but it uses eight threads for applications from Avid and others that can use multiple video streams in hyperthreading mode. As a side note: Core i7 will be around for a while, so it doesn't make sense to wait for an 8-core CPU anyway.

9. Energy efficiency is no longer just a buzzword with Intel chips -- Core i7 is the most energy efficient processor ever made, with specs that blow 65nm chips out of the water.

10. Heck, it's just a lot faster -- running at 3.2GHz in the Extreme edition and generally providing a 10 per cent speed boost over the QX9650, the previous speed champ in the Intel line-up.

Future Core i7 plans

As mentioned before, this next generation Intel microarchitecture goes by the code-name 'Nehalem', a name many of you have probably seen floating around for quite some time now. Nehalem will come in variants for desktops, servers and notebooks.

The first series under the Core i7 brand goes by the codename 'Bloomfield' which are 45nm processors featuring 4-cores with Hyper-threading. Also in the works we know of Westmere, Clarkdale, Beckton, Gainestown, Lynnfield, Clarksfield, Havendale, and Auburndale. Quite the mouthful, huh? We know Beckton will be a four-socket server CPU, while Gainestown is the dual-socket version.

As for the desktop, we expect that eventually the Bloomfield processors that we are reviewing today will be replaced by Westmere cores that will bring a number of enhancements. High-end processors based on the Westmere core will feature 6-cores (12 threads) and will be built using the 32nm design process. The cores will feature a 12 MB shared L3 cache and will also be able to use a further improved quad-channel DDR3 memory and a 4x QuickPath bus interface.

All of this is not expected until late 2009 or perhaps the first half of 2010. Today's Bloomfield processors, as well as their Westmere future successors, are designed to use the new LGA1366 socket which is not compatible with previous LGA775 processors. Other future desktop cores like Lynnfield and Havendale will not use the same LGA1366 socket. Rather they will require motherboards using a smaller LGA1156 socket.

The fact that we are once again foreseeing two different CPU sockets from Intel is interesting (but certainly not encouraged). When Lynnfield and Havendale come out in late 2009, they are expected to only support dual-channel DDR3 memory and therefore become a value solution for consumers. Inevitably, a mobile version of Nehalem is also expected to arrive but not until late 2009.

The performance mobile processors (Clarksfield) will be very similar to the Lynnfield desktop core, meaning they are quad-core parts featuring an 8MB L3 cache and carrying support for dual-channel DDR3 memory.

Another very exciting upcoming mobile chip is called 'Auburndale'. Although these are mainstream dual-core processors with 4MB of L3 cache, they will incorporate an on-die GPU (Ironlake). This is expected to be Intel’s first GPU on CPU design.

Intel Set to Launch Nehalem Nov. 17

INTEL will launch the next-generation Nehalem processor on Nov. 17, the company revealed Wednesday. In an event invitation, Intel said it will unveil Core i7, the first processor of the Nehalem family, which is targeted at high-end desktops.

Test units of the Core i7 chips have already been shipped, with Web sites such as Tom's Hardware and PC Perspective praising its speedy performance. The Core i7 chip speeds range from 2.66GHz to 3.20GHz, according to retail Web sites.

Chips based on the Nehalem microarchitecture will go into some systems priced at under US$1,000 at launch, said a source familiar with Intel's plans. The Core i7 920 quad-core chip running at 2.66GHz is priced at $329.99 at Isorm, an online retailer. The Core i7 940 running at 2.93GHz is selling for $639.99, while the Core i7 965 Extreme Edition running at 3.2GHz is priced at $1,149.99. The 940 and 965 also are quad-core chips.

Nehalem chips are an upgrade from Intel's Core 2 chips, which are currently used in laptops and desktops. The chip technology cuts bottlenecks of Intel's earlier Core microarchitecture to improve system speed and performance-per-watt. The chips will later be scaled down for consumer desktops and laptops, and should be released in 2009.

Nehalem chips, with two to eight cores, will include QuickPath Interconnect (QPI) technology, which integrates a memory controller and provides a faster pipe for the CPU to communicate with system components, Intel has said. Each core can execute two software threads simultaneously, so a desktop with four processor cores could run applications quicker by running eight threads simultaneously. Down the line, Intel will be integrating graphics capabilities in Nehalem CPUs, which could cut down the need for an external graphics card and bring more power efficiency to desktops and laptops. High-end users, like gamers, might need a separate graphics card to meet their graphics needs. Nehalem chips are manufactured using the 45-nanometer process, which is also used to make the company's latest chips.

Intel's Core i7 shines in benchmarks

Intel's forthcoming Nehalem chips are set to be the fastest processors yet, according to the latest benchmark results. Available later this month, the first Nehalem parts are quad-core desktop chips bearing the Core i7 brand - the 3.2GHz Core i7 965 Extreme Edition, 2.93GHz Core i7 940 and the 2.66GHz Core i7 920. In tests conducted by vnunet.com's sister title Personal Computer World the Core i7 965 Extreme achieved a PCMark05 CPU score of 11072.

This is about 7.5 per cent higher than the previous high score of 10311 for a non-overclocked chip by an Intel QX9770 at the same 3.2GHz clock speed. However, a greater increase was found in tests that measure multi-threaded performance. The Core i7 scored 16202 against the older chip's 12544, almost a 30 per cent improvement. Styled by Intel as "the biggest platform architecture change in a decade", Nehalem features a modular design that scales from two to eight cores per chip, enabling it to target everything from mobile devices to enterprise servers. Versions of the design targeting the mobile and server segments are due in 2009.

Nehalem also ditches the old system bus architecture in favour of memory connected directly to each processor chip, with a high-speed QuickPath Interconnect to link multiple Nehalem chips together and to the rest of the system. However, Intel will not have everything its own way. Rival AMD is poised to introduce an update to its quad-core processors codenamed Shanghai. Built using a 45nm production process like Nehalem, Shanghai will primarily target servers, a market in which AMD has perhaps had its greatest success in gaining market share.

Intel Core i7 965 Extreme Edition runs up against the peak performance of the x86

The first three processors in Intel's new Nehalem generation shouldn't really have come out until mid-November, but Intel obviously wanted to forestall AMD's first 45-nanometre server processors, which are already being listed by online dealers.

The market leader in semiconductors has at any rate allowed the world's press to start reporting today on the test kits that were distributed a few weeks ago. These contain the Core i7 965 Extreme Edition – 3.2 GHz – and Core i7 920 – 2.66 GHz – 45-nm four-core processors developed under the codename Bloomfield, the DX58SO motherboard – codenamed "Smackover" – with the X58 – Tylersburg 36S/I10R – chipset, the LGA1366 processor socket and three DDR3-1066/PC3-8500 memory channels, two processor coolers, and one of the X25-M solid-state disks (SSDs) presented some time ago – DX58SO Smackover X25-M. As with the Atom, Intel has again reactivated hyper-threading (HT, Intel's implementation of simultaneous multi-threading, SMT) in the Nehalem generation processors.

HT was introduced with the Pentium 4 and later abandoned. Each of the four Core i7 cores thus reports a second "logical" or virtual core to the operating system, so that in certain situations better use is made of the available arithmetic and logical units. Hyper-threading is just one of many Nehalem innovations, however. Another is that Intel has now definitively turned away from the front side bus architecture. The memory controller is now in the processor itself, no longer in the Northbridge of the chipset. This is intended to shorten latency times appreciably when accessing RAM. As in the K10 generation of the AMD64 processors, all four cores of the Core i7 – each of which has 256 kilobytes of L2 cache – now have a memory controller – with three DDR3 channels, an – 8 MB – L3 cache shared jointly by all cores, as well as a QuickPath Interconnect (QPI, up to 25.6[ gigabyte/s]) housed on a chip, with 731 million transistors jostling each other in an area of 263 square millimetres. For comparison, in its Phenoms and quad-core Opterons fabricated in 65-nm technology in Dresden, AMD currently squeezes 450 million transistors on to an SOI die with an area of 285 square millimetres.

Although we are talking here about Intel's handpicked test specimens of its new processors, the first benchmark results do nevertheless show their enormous potential. In the SPEC CPU2006, and with high optimized code thanks to Intel's latest C/C++ and Fortran compilers in version 11 beta, which already use SSE4.2 commands, a Core i7 965 Extreme Edition scored 110 points in integer throughput – int_rate_base_2006 – and 85.1 points in floating-point operations – fp_rate_base_2006, measured under 32-bit Windows Vista in each case. This first representative of Nehalem thus overtakes not only all previous x86 and x64 processors, but also most of the tandems made from two quad-core Opterons – 2360 SE: 92.7/84.7 points – and, in floating-point throughput, approaches two 3.2-GHz Xeons.

Unusually, we had to carry out the CPU2006 tests under 32-bit Windows instead of 64-bit Linux, because the 64-bit code of the benchmark suite requires 2 gigabytes of RAM per core, thus a total of 16 gigabytes for eight cores, but the Core i7 processors with 2-gigabyte DIMMs on boards with six slots can only drive a maximum of 12 gigabytes of RAM. Unbuffered DDR3 SDRAM DIMMs with a capacity of 4 gigabytes cannot yet be supplied. In more practical benchmarks, the Core i7 965 Extreme Edition can't so clearly outdo its predecessor, the Core 2 Extreme QX9770, which also has a clock frequency of 3.2 GHz, particularly in applications that compute with a single thread or with only a few threads in parallel.

The Core i7 965 was in any case just 8 per cent faster than the Core 2 Extreme QX9770 on an X48 motherboard with PC3 12800 memory – DDR3-1600 – in the BAPCo SYSmark 2007 benchmark, and in 3D games the Inhaler's lead was negligible most of the time – BAPCo SYSmark 2007 X48-Mainboard. Only World in Conflict, which obviously exploits several cores, ran somewhat faster on the Core i7 965. With some other games, even a Core 2 Duo E8600 – 3.33 GHz – held the lead. Multi-threading applications, such as compiling a Linux kernel, ran 26 per cent faster, and the Cinebench R10 rendering benchmark ran 34 per cent faster. Hyper-threading yielded marked advantages in compiling – 22 per cent – and rendering – 11 per cent, and HT only minimally slowed down the BAPCo SYSmark 2007. For our benchmarks, we had activated the new Turbo Mode, in which the processor over clocks itself unless all cores are working to full capacity.

Depending on the CPU's version, Turbo Boost raises the clock frequency by one or more steps, each step being 133 MHz. That is the basic frequency of the processor, which governs the higher clock frequencies of its arithmetic and logical units, the L3 cache, the memory controller, the memory modules, and the QPI. In our measurements, both Core i7 965 and Core i7 920 could be over clocked by one step in each case, which gave a performance boost of at best 5 per cent – but this makes the computer's power consumption rise markedly under full load.

At 194 watts with the CPU under full load and 82 watts in no-load operation, the system with the Core i7 965 was nevertheless still somewhat thriftier than the comparison system with the Core 2 Extreme QX9770 and with the same fittings as far as possible – the graphics card being a Radeon HD 4550 in each case. By the way, we used a standard, but quite lively SATA hard disk instead of the Intel SSD for our measurements. With a very powerful cooler and on motherboards with overclocking functions, you can set a higher thermal design power (TDP) for the Core i7 than it nominally has – 130 watts. If you then enable even higher Turbo Boost multipliers, automatic overclocking will reach the 4-GHz mark with the expensive Core i7 965 Extreme Edition. Besides the Core i7 965 Extreme Edition – list price $999 – and the Core i7 920 – $284, Intel also intends to release a Core i7 940 – 2.83 GHz – $562. The Lynnfield – quad-core, possibly without HT – and Havendale – dual-core plus graphics – versions of Nehalem that are intended for medium-range boards with an LGA1160 socket won't come out until the third or fourth quarter of 2009.

Besides Intel itself, at least Asus, EVGA, Gigabyte, Foxconn, and MSI intend to release LGA1366 boards with an X58 chipset, some with the SLI function. Any such board will cost more than 200 euros. Of course, Intel must now prove it can deliver the Core i7 and the X58 chipset as planned. Data sheets for the new products are not expected until mid-November.

Analyst calls Intel's Core i7 chip 'blindingly fast'

Intel Corp.'s Nehalem chips, slated to ship later this month, today were called "blindingly fast" by an analyst who is using an early machine running the processor.

Steve Smith, vice president and director of operations for Intel's digital enterprise group, told Computerworld today that the first Nehalem chip, officially named Core i7, will be a quad-core designed for high-end desktops used by power users and gamers. He noted that on the day Intel officially launches the chip, several PC makers will begin shipping desktops running it. Intel has been shipping previews of the chips to hardware vendors since September. Rob Enderle, an analyst at the Enderle Group, said he's been test-driving an Intel-built desktop running the quad-core chip with the hyper threading turned on, so it's virtually an eight-core. "It's fast. It's really fast," said Enderle. "We're talking blindingly fast.

" The analyst also noted that the chip shows "significant improvement" in power efficiency. "It's very quiet and has low heat output. It's not turning my office into a sauna," he added. "A lot of people are concerned about their energy consumption. For high-performance to be energy-efficient is really important.

"Enderle also noted that Core i7 seems to be designed to work with Microsoft's upcoming Windows 7 operating system. He said the computer Intel sent him to try out is running Windows Vista, but he noted that chip designers had specs on Windows 7 while they were developing the new chip. "Corporations are more likely to move to Windows 7 than Vista," he added. "This would be good, because [Core i7] was developed with Windows 7 in mind. By the time Windows 7 ships, these chips should be in corporate and at least high-end desktops and workstations." The Nehalem architecture features a 45-nanometer, four-core processor with an integrated memory controller that eliminates the need for a front-side bus.

The new architecture is modular, which officials say will make it easier to scale from two to eight cores. The Core chips also are being designed to have two-way, simultaneous multi-threading, use Intel's QuickPath interconnect, and have a three-level cache hierarchy. Smith said an eight-core Nehalem is slated to ship in the second half of 2009, while two-core and four-core Nehalem chips for laptops should ship at about the same time.

Intel's new Nehalem blows everything else away

Early benchmarks of the forthcoming Nehalem, aka Intel Core i7 processor, reckon it offers breakthrough performance,

mostlyIntel's long-awaited Nehalem* processor has hit the net with a bang, and ChannelWeb says it is "so powerful that it

simply destroys previous CPU benchmarks. An early look at the company's new chips shows they have the potential to drive

current data center-class performance onto the desktop. … Early results show nearly historic levels of improvement over

previous generations of processors."

Indeed, YoYoTech, a UK-based supplier, has just announced "the fastest, single-processor, production machine ever," on SPEC

benchmarks. Its Fi7ePower MLK1610 (sic) has an Intel Core i7 965 processor and 9GB of high-performance Corsair DDR3 memory on

an Asus** P6T motherboard, and looks like an 8-core system (with hyperthreading) to your standard 64-bit Vista. YoYoTech

(which has a shop at 30 Windmill Street, London, W1T 2JL) claims its £3,995 machine beats the fastest thing from Sun or IBM

by more than 50% -- but they'll soon have Nehalem based systems as well.

There will also be much cheaper systems.

For example, Custom PC has just published a rave review of the Scan 3XS X58 Core i7, a pre-overclocked PC running on an Asus

P6T Deluxe. It concludes: "The PC industry moves forward at an often frightening speed but sometimes huge jumps in

performance occur. With the arrival of Core i7, we are witnessing such a jump."

If you want the details, AnandTech has a comprehensive 20-page review (which shows performance isn't so good with media

encoding), while Guru3d crams it into 19 pages.

Chips should be on sale around November 19. Sorry, Nehalem won't work in your old motherboard: it needs a new Socket B, aka

LGA1366.

* Nehalem is pronounced Na-HAY-lum, to rhyme with Salem. Nahalem is a river in Oregon, which is a common source of Intel US

code-names. These include Deschutes, Klamath, Prescott, Tillamook and Willamette. It is not one of the Israeli lab's

codenames -- which include Banias, Dothan, Golan, Merom, and Yonah -- even if it looks like it.

Atom Could Challenge Intel's Higher-end Processors

The use of Intel's Atom chip in sub-notebooks could undercut sales of its higher-end chips, Atom chips are low-cost and low-power processors that mostly are being used in netbooks designed for Web surfing and e-mail.

With Fujitsu's new LifeBook U820 tablet PC, introduced on Tuesday, Atom chips are now being used in laptops with small screens, packed with networking and multimedia features.

Tablet PCs usually feature Intel's more expensive Celeron and other dual-core chips, but using Atom chips in such systems could undercut sales of those higher-end chips, analysts said.

Other than the screen size, the U820 mini-notebook offers capabilities similar to those of traditional laptops. It weighs 1.32 pounds (598 grams), includes Bluetooth and 802.11n wireless capabilities, and has a built-in website and high-definition video decoding. It also has a built-in Garmin GPS (global positioning system) receiver for navigation. It can be configured with as much as 1G byte of RAM and includes a hard disk drive as big as 120G bytes, as well as solid-state drive options.

The U820 comes with a 5.6-inch swivel touch screen and runs the Windows Vista OS. A four-cell battery runs the tablet for up to seven-and-a-half hours, according to Fujitsu. Prices start at US$999.

The U820 is a mini-notebook targeted at consumers and mobile users looking for touch technology, said Kevin Wrenn, senior vice president of PC business and operations at Fujitsu. Atom's low-cost and low-power features were a consideration in adopting the processor for the laptop, Wrenn said. Upcoming laptops from the company with screens up to 12 inches will incorporate Atom, he said.

This laptop is the first of its kind running an Atom processor with this kind of advanced functionality, said David Daoud, an analyst at IDC. It is a sign that Atom-based devices are coming of age, and users looking for more functionality than what a netbook offers could adopt this ultramobile PC.

In an economic downturn, a PC with a low-cost Atom chip also could be more attractive over expensive alternatives, he said.

"That processor provides opportunity for reduced cost and cost avoidance during tough economic times," Daoud said.

Atom shipments are expected to witness healthy growth through the economic slowdown, IDC said in a study released on Monday.

Atom shipments were good in the third quarter, totaling around 5 million units, IDC said.

For a tablet PC, the LifeBook U820 has an interesting price point, though the Atom processor's real appeal lies in its power savings over Intel's higher-end Celeron and Core processors, said Nathan Brookwood, principal analyst at Insight 64.

"Atom's low-powered consumption ... is like 10 watts. The lowest you'd ever get with Celeron or Centrino is 15-20 watts,"

Brookwood said. For a tablet PC, that is very impressive, and if it allows for a smaller battery, that's important, he said.

"I don't think you could build a tablet PC in that form factor with even a low-powered Centrino," Brookwood said. Laptops like Fujitsu products, with Atom, could cut into shipments of the lower-end processors, but the laptop is new and results have yet to be seen, Brookwood said.Atom might bite into sales of Celerons first, followed by Pentium dual-core chips, which are on the lower end, said Dean McCarron, principal analyst at Mercury Research. With expenditure in check, people may instead opt for Atom-based systems.

"So far, there is not a lot of evidence that has happened, but it is certainly an area of concern," McCarron said.

The use of the Atom processor is evolving, said Bill Calder, an Intel spokesman.

"What you're seeing is an evolution of the category. We've seen some areas where [PC makers] have expanded and broadened the feature set," Calder said.

AMD launches new HD 4830 graphic card, priced at $150

In a unique move to acquire more customers and profits, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) launched a PC-gaming graphics card on Thursday dubbed as the ATI Radeon HD 4830 which has been priced less than $150.

The latest offering in the AMD's 4800 series cards supports high-definition content and Microsoft's DirectX 10.1 graphics technology in Windows Vista.

The launch of this card points to the fact that AMD has adopted a strategy to provide graphic cards at reasonable prices but at the same time full of functionality, that would appeal all the customers. The newly launched AMD card will help the company to increase its market share.

AMD's ATI CrossFireX technology, which let the gamers combine as many as four cards on one PC to enhance game performance, is supported by the HD 4830. This new card also fully supports mulitchannel audio called ‘surround sound.’

The motherboards from ASUS, Club 3D, Diamond Multimedia, Force3D, Gecube, Gigabyte, Hightech Information Systems, Jetway, MSI, Palit Multimedia, PowerColor, Sapphire Technology and VisionTek, all support the latest HD 4830.

HD 4830 has exactly the same 512 MB of GDDR3 memory as that of HD 4850. However, the new card has slower clock speed and fewer stream processors.

AMD Delivers First TeraFLOPS Graphics Chip

AMD has announced the launch of the first teraFLOPS graphics card, the ATI Radeon HD 4850, and the first graphics card featuring ultra high bandwidth GDDR5 memory, the ATI Radeon HD 4870.

These two innovations combine with AMD's energy-efficient design and DirectX 10.1 compatibility to deliver superior performance at the high-volume mainstream and performance price points.


Both the ATI Radeon HD 4850 and ATI Radeon HD 4870 are immediately available.


"The ATI Radeon 4800 series represents a 2X performance jump over the ATI Radeon HD 3800 GPU, the biggest generational increase since the game-changing launch of the Radeon 9700 in 2002," said Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager, Graphics Products Group, AMD. "AMD made a strategic decision to focus on GPU designs that maximized our efficiency and allowed us to provide enthusiasts, performance and mainstream users with the most compelling value proposition at every price point. The ATI Radeon 4800 series sets a new industry standard in key metrics such as performance-per-watt, performance-per-mm2 of chip die size, and performance-per-dollar.


" The ATI Radeon HD 4870, carries a suggested retail price of USD$299, and represents 1.2 teraFLOPS of visual compute power. It features a stock GPU core clock speed of 750 MHz, 512 MB of GDDR5 memory rated at 3.6 gigabits/second, and comes in a dual-slot PCI Express 2.0 configuration with a maximum board power of 160 watts.


The ATI Radeon HD 4850, carries a suggested retail price of USD$199, received and is the world's first teraFLOPS graphics chip, with 800 stream processing cores (identical to the ATI Radeon HD 4870), a stock GPU core clock speed of 625 MHz, 512 MB of GDDR3 memory rated at 2 gigabits/second, and comes in a single-slot PCI Express 2.0 configuration with a maximum board power of 110 watts.

AMD Announces X2 Versions of 4850, 4870 Cards

AMD has announced the ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2, looking to advance visual computing and delivering 2.4 teraFLOPS of processing power. They have also announced ATI Radeon HD 4850 X2 graphics card which looks to deliver blistering performance at a compelling price point.


These cards comprise the ATI Radeon HD 4800 X2 series, combining two ATI Radeon HD 4800 series GPUs with a more advanced cross-GPU connection based on the PCIe 2.0 standard, plus two gigabytes of memory based on an advanced 55nm design and leading DirectX 10.1 support, the ATI Radeon HD 4800 X2 series delivers engineering elegance and the industry's most compelling feature set. The ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 is immediately available from e-tailers worldwide priced at USD $549, while the ATI Radeon HD 4850 X2 is scheduled to be available in September at an estimated price of USD $399.


"The ATI Radeon HD 4800 X2 series is proof that our graphics strategy is working. The response from OEMs, system integrators, game DEVELOPERS, press, and most importantly, from gamers regarding the ATI Radeon HD 4800 series products has been incredibly positive. Now, only a few short weeks after the launch of those products, AMD reclaims the ultimate performance crown and continues to deliver winning products to market in the ATI Radeon HD 4800 X2 series," said Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager, Graphics Products Group, AMD.

Intel Unveils New Chip Design to Challenge AMD

Intel Corp. cracked the lid Tuesday on a new chip design that is at once a big challenge to smaller rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and an admission that AMD nailed a key design feature before it slipped into a severe financial slump.


Intel, the world's largest computer chip maker, showed off the new blueprint, known as a microarchitecture, for its chips at a developers conference in San Francisco.

Though some of the details were already known, the design's formal unveiling represented another demonstration of Intel's advantage over AMD in cranking out new chip designs once every two years, a factor that helped send AMD's stock price down 5 percent in an overall down day for TECHNOLOGY shares.


AMD has racked up nearly $5 billion in losses during the past 18 months and last month replaced Hector Ruiz, who had been running AMD for six years, with a new chief executive, Dirk Meyer.

The details of Intel's microprocessor architecture are always highly technical. But they're also closely watched because of the ubiquity of Intel's chips in personal computers and corporate SERVERS.

One of the most significant changes was already known. Intel now plans to build a part called an integrated memory controller - which moves information between the microprocessor and the COMPUTER'S MEMORY - directly into the processor itself.


That's a key change because processors are asked to do more and more, and any lag in communication can seriously hurt performance. AMD has already been incorporating integrated memory controllers into its processors.

Because of that and other tweaks, Intel said its new design, which is code-named Nehalem, will triple the speed at which data can be written to memory or read back, compared to previous generations. Intel says Nehalem also will have nearly double the 3-D animation capabilities as past chips, and better utilize the multiple "cores," or processing engines, on each chip.

Chip makers are adding multiple cores to their chips, essentially jamming many separate processors onto the same slice of silicon, to make sure they're able to continue ramping up performance without running into overheating problems.


Intel said four-core Nehalem chips, which are due to be in production by the end of 2008 and will first target servers and desktop computers and later laptops, have the ability to turn individual cores on and off and can be programmed to boost the speed of active cores when the workload ramps up.

AMD to Unveil New Phenom Chips in 2008

AMD is working on releasing new Phenom processors in the 2008 timeframe. However, the highest frequency available for now is still in the 2.6 GHz range.

According to the company's newest roadmap, the higher-end Phenom chips are slated to arrive later in the second quarter of 2008. The chip manufacturer plans to introduce two new Phenom CPUs in the 2.4 - 2.6 GHzrange. The AMD Phenom 9750 will run at 2.4 GHz and will come with a thermal envelope of 125 Watts, while the more powerful Phenom 9850 runs at 2.5 GHz in the same thermal envelope. AMD also plans to introduce a new stock keeping unit for the Phenom 9750 that will deliver the same performance at a lower energy cost (95 Watts only).


During the third quarter of 2008, AMD will introduce its highest-end processor, called the Phenom 9950. It will be the company's last high-end chip built on the 65-nanometer process node and will feature a thermal envelope of 140 watts - the highest thermal envelope of all AMD's chips until now. According to the same roadmap, the company will release another SKU of the Phenom 9950, but there are no details on the chip's thermal envelope.


Advanced Micro Devices will also release two new processors in the mainstream sector next month. The Phenom 9550 will feature a core clock speed of 2.3GHz, while the Phenom 9650 will reach lower clocks, namely 2.2 GHz.

The Toliman family will get new members during the second quarter, with the advent of three mainstream units: the AMD Phenom 8450, Phenom 8650 and Phenom 8750. The chips will be clocked at 2.1GHz, 2.3GHz and 2.4GHz, respectively, and are alleged to deliver more horsepower than the dual-core counterparts.


They will feature a thermal design power of 95 watts and will be based on the bug-free B3 silicon stepping. The B3 revision will also be the latest update to the 65-nanometer silicon, as AMD will move to the 45-nanometer process node during the last quarter of the year. The first 45-nanometer processors to hit the market will be based on the Deneb and Propus silicon. The new chips will be built using a quad-core architecture and will feature 2MB of L2 cache. While the Deneb version will share the L3 cache pool among its four cores, the Propus will come without it.

New AMD hardware

K9A2 Platinum 790FX AM2+ ATX Motherboard

Radeon HD 3870 512MB GDDR4 PCIe Graphics Card

AMD® Boxed Phenom X4 Quad-Core Black Edition Processor 9850

XMS2 2GB PC-8500 DDR2 Memory Kit

I have to say that this is one sweet system. I know people have bench-marked the Spider platform at less than the Intel Core2 Duo. I don’t really care for supporting Intel. That is a personal opinion, and I will bash Intel later for “cheating” to get into the Quad Core market. Intel thinks that they were first, but AMD has 4 single cores, and not two dual cores fused together.

I feel that Intel’s Core2 Duo was built for the “right now” and not for the future. AMD built a Quad Core that, I would say, 80% of the software doesn’t support. What do I mean? Multi-threading. I noticed that when using apt-get, in Ubuntu 8.04, to build the dependencies for WINE that during the install one core would max at out 100% while the other 3 cores just cruised along. Just about the time that one core would drop to 0% another one to max out to 100%. This means that for each lib that was installed, apt-get was only riding on one core, thus not multi-threading.

I have yet to do any testing in Microsoft Windows. Although I have installed Microsoft Windows XP, I will still need to do some test and installs to see how it goes with the Phenom. If my hunch is correct, XP will function as a 2.5GHz 80% of the time. Maxing out 1 core while the others run other processes. We shale see.

As for the ATI RadeonHD 3870. The processor speed is at 800MHz. I have seen some of the same cards boast 851MHz, but I have not tried to over clock the GPU yet, and I may not ever. From what I can tell the few minutes I played GuildWars, the responce time on graphics is great. Everything was turned up as high as it would go. I’m looking forward to getting some other game time in and seeing how the system preforms.

AMD sets a course for 2008

AMD on Thursday laid out plans to serve 30 percent of the market within the next two years, with new quad-core processor designs scheduled for 2007 and an acceleration of its manufacturing capabilities.

The company also talked about plans to build future processors with the ability to mix and match the building blocks of a chip to cater to different needs, and to allow its partners to add co-processors that can link directly to Opteron processors through AMD's Hypertransport links.

Executives speaking to analysts and press at the company's headquarters here sought to maintain the momentum AMD has enjoyed over the last three years, gaining market share in important markets and giving Intel fits. "We want to open up our technology and unleash a completely new wave of innovation," said Hector Ruiz, CEO of AMD

The chipmaker plans to license its Hypertransport technology to allow customers and third-party chipmakers to build specialized processors and other chips that can connect directly to future Opteron processors, said Marty Seyer, senior vice president at AMD. Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems, IBM and Cray have all agreed to participate in the program, which AMD is calling Torrenza.

Ultimately, AMD wants to separate the building blocks for its chips--such as processing cores, memory controllers, Hypertransport links and cache memory--into distinct parts that can be configured in multiple ways to meet changing workload requirements, said Phil Hester, AMD's chief technology officer. This also will allow customers to plug co-processors built specifically for certain workloads, such as Java or XML (Extensible Markup Language) traffic, right into Opteron chips, he said.

AMD's partners have been able to sign up for noncoherent licenses to Hypertransport up until this point, Hester said in an interview after the briefings. The new licenses provide a coherent link to the chipset and will allow server users to manage different co-processors with drivers, like PC peripherals, rather than having to use new applications for each co-processor, he said.

The difference between noncoherent links and coherent links is the difference between a co-processor being treated as an adjunct to the system and it being treated like another Opteron processor, said Nathan Brookwood, an analyst at Insight 64. A coherent link allows a specialized high-performance co-processor to access data stored in the cache memory of the Opteron processors. This could prove useful for applications such as cryptography or media processing, he said.

On the manufacturing front, AMD plans to introduce chips based on its 45-nanometer manufacturing technology by the middle of 2008, said Daryl Ostrander, senior vice president for logic technology and manufacturing at the company. That would mean a 1.5-year gap between the introduction of AMD's first 65-nanometer chips later this year and the volume production of 45-nanometer chips, he said. The number attached to the size of the manufacturing technology refers to the average size of features on the chip. Smaller features allow chipmakers to pack more transistors and more performance into their chips.

Intel has been losing market share to AMD in several areas over the last few years, but it has maintained an advantage in introducing new manufacturing technologies ahead of everyone else in the industry. Intel is already shipping a 65-nanometer chip, its Core Duo processor. Some in the chip-manufacturing industry have called for chipmakers to slow their cadence of shrinking transistors to every three years as the challenges become more daunting, but Intel has stuck to a two-year schedule. However, AMD's plan is to move from 65 nanometers to 45 nanometers in 18 months, which will allow it to chip away at Intel's advantage, Ostrander said.

Later in the day, Ostrander said that the 18-month turnaround for 45 nanometers was set because of AMD's confidence in that generation of its technology, but wouldn't necessarily serve as the cadence for future rollouts. Next on the agenda is 32 nanometers, which AMD will hopefully introduce 18 to 24 months after the 45-nanometer chips arrive in production volumes, he said.

By 2008, AMD will be ready to introduce something called Direct Connect 2.0 for server processors, Hester said. Direct Connect is the name AMD uses for its chip designs, which use an integrated memory controller to link directly to memory and Hypertransport links to connect to other processors or a system's I/O (input/output) controller. Details about Direct Connect 2.0 were not immediately available.

The company plans to introduce quad-core processors for servers and desktops in mid-2007, as it outlined at the recent Spring Processor Forum, and mobile chips based on a new power-optimized architecture. Hester revealed a few extra details about the quad-core chips on Thursday, disclosing that each core in a mid-2007 server processor will have either four 16-bit Hypertransport links or eight 8-bit links for connecting to other cores or processors.