Intel showcases latest chips at IDF 2008
From the smallest Nettop to the largest gaming rig, Intel is leaving no market untapped with its upcoming range of Nehalem processors.
But for those in need of more power, the next iteration of Intel chips will come in the form of Nehalem processors. It is also the first time a native quad-core chip will come out of its factories. The current Core 2 Quad models are really two dual-core processors slapped together with their own distinct L2 caches. The Nehalem quad-core solution will share a single L2 cache and allow the system to distribute the load asynchronously across the four processors. The L2 cache is important to performance as it is the fastest memory storage which services the processor directly (data is passed from the harddisk to the RAM and then to the L2 cache). Other than the fact that, like AMD, Intel now has integrated memory controllers on its chips, one of the key features is the Turbo Mode. But don't let the name fool you into thinking that this means overclocking. With the new architecture, what happens is that instead of equally distributing power to all cores, it switches off processors which are idle and shunts energy to the remaining active cores. According to Intel, this reduces the power requirements while increasing actual machine performance. This is possible because there is a microcontroller dedicated to power management. For servers, there will be two Nehalem models available--the eight-core Nehalem-EX and quad-core Nehalem-EX. The desktop and mobile editions comes under the Core i7 label. The deskbound Lynnfield and laptop Clarksfield will be straight-up chips working on number crunching. However, Havendale (PC) and Auburndale (mobile) are unique in that a graphics component will be put on the same piece of silicon as the processor much like what AMD hopes to accomplish with its Fusion processor. This is a first for Intel and will likely bring integrated graphics performance to another level. These new chips will be rolling out in the last quarter of the year.
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