Multicore processors, ultra mobile PCs, new platform technologies... These are some of the gems which came out of the Intel Developers Forum happening in Beijing this week.
One chip, many cores
No big surprise here. From here on, Intel will be focused on putting as many cores as it can physically cram into a processor. The stepping stone for this is its 45nm chip technology, which will be featured for the first time in the upcoming Penryn family of CPUs. According to Patrick Gelsinger, senior vice president and general manager for the Intel Digital Enterprise Group, a pre-production 45nm quad-core 3.33GHz chip was measured against Intel's current high-end Core 2 Extreme processor QX6800 processor, and the result was encouraging. The new silicon saw performance gains of about 15 percent for imaging-related applications; 25 percent for 3-D rendering; over 40 percent for gaming; and more than 40 percent faster video encoding with Intel SSE4-optimised video encoders.
Platforms... and we don't mean shoes
The speed race is so last generation. Intel's marketing department conceived the Centrino branding, which catapulted its mobile platform to dominance. Recognising this, it expanded the initiative to Viiv for home entertainment and vPro for the business segment. The latter will soon be entering its second generation which is based on the new Intel 3 Series chipset family formerly codenamed Bear Lake and the Weybridge processor technology. The former is based on the faster 1.3GHz front side bus and support for DDR3 memory, PCI Express 2.0 and Intel Turbo Memory for application acceleration and faster boot times.
Mobile office workers will also be getting some love with the upcoming Centrino Pro platform. Though one might assume that it is an extension of the consumer Centrino brand, the Centrino Pro is actually a followup of the vPro initiative. More information on the new platform can be found here.
Viiva la Intel
Who says the PC has to remain in the study room? Certainly not Intel, which plans to move its Viiv branding into the living space. Like vPro, the next iteration of the Viiv platform will include the Intel 3 series chipset family arriving this quarter with enhanced features such as Intel Clear Video Technology and hardware support for Microsoft DirectX 10. Soon to be available is the Intel Media Share software which will allow browsing, streaming and downloading media files from Viiv PCs onto Centrino laptops via a wireless home network.
But how can we call it entertainment if gaming isn't mentioned? The chipmaker plans to put forth another platform specifically targeted at shooters and looters in the virtual warzone. It will feature two sockets for quad-core processors and four PCI express slots for advanced graphics. So if spending countless hours locked in virtual combat is your thang, keep a sharp eye for the codeword Skulltrail.
You can never be too small
It has given Microsoft a chance, and now Intel is turning to the open source community instead. The next evolution of its ultra mobile PC (UMPC) will be based on the MID2007 platform, currently codenamed McCaslin, with a Linux-based interface. Termed as a Mobile Internet Device (MID), it will go after consumers and prosumers instead of the corporate segment. More information can be accessed here.
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Anonomous
17/03/2008 02:19 PM
This is very helpful for me. This chip sounds like a revolution for computers.
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