IDF 2008: mobile quadcores IDF 2008: Turbo Mode and the Nehalem IDF 2008: Intel unveils its SSDs IDF 2008: The Larrabee on top Nvidia also moves over to ACC (OC-Phenom)

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IDF 2008: mobile quadcores   Posted on 20/08/2008 at 18:36 by Damien

	Intel has officially launched 2 new CPUs in San Francisco which are the company’s first mobile quadcores. These are the Core 2 Extreme QX9300 and Core 2 Quad Q9100 which are of course based on two Penryn dies and destined for the Centrino 2 (Montevina). The QX9300 is set at 2.53 GHz while the Q9100 is at 2.26 GHz. Both use a FSB 1066 and stick to a thermal envelope of 45 watts. These are of course destined to "desktop replacement" type laptops.

IDF 2008: Turbo Mode and the Nehalem   Posted on 20/08/2008 at 18:35 by Damien

	Intel has unveiled a little more on the Nehalem’s Turbo Mode. This technology consists of putting some of the cores at rest while increasing the frequency of active cores. In this way, if CPU use is high but concentrated on 1 or 2 cores when the application(s) is not adapted to multiple cores, performances will be boosted. In the beginning this was a technology that appeared in the mobile world in order to maximize performances for any given thermal envelop. For desktop PCs, its interest is less compared to an entire CPU’s higher frequency but if it is functional why not integrate it? Compared to current technology, the Nehalem should provide support with less intervention by the OS but we do not know anymore as Intel did not want to go too much into detail. Neither did they elaborate on the maximum authorized frequency for this "overclocking" even if on some samples that are in current circulation, it consists of increasing the multiplier by one unit in going from 4 to 2 active cores and then another unit by going to a single active core. For example, with a Nehalem running at 2.93 GHz with a multiplier of 22, each increase consists of a supplementary 133 MHz. Therefore a Nehalem at 2.93 GHz will go as high as 3.2 GHz in load on a single core. However despite everything, Pat Gelsinger gave us one other detail: Extreme versions of the Nehalem will still have an unblocked multiplier as much in base frequencies as in those in Turbo Mode. It will therefore be possible to specify maximum levels in the bios.

IDF 2008: Intel unveils its SSDs   Posted on 20/08/2008 at 18:32 by Damien

	It’s probably the most important product announcement of this IDF: Intel’s SSDs. The company is taking advantage of flash memory production capacities to enter a market that is currently exploding. Several products were announced based on NAND ONFI 1.0 chips and an SATA 2.6 3 Gb/s interface. The first versions, called the X25-E Extreme, involve the performance line that is based on SLC version flash chips with 10 channels in parallel. This enables sequential speeds of 250 MB/s in reading and 170 MB/s in writing with an access time of 75 µs. This product line is also optimized for a server type use and capable of very high performances when there is a high level of iops. The X25-E will be available in 32 GB versions before the end of the year and a 64 GB version in early 2009. The second line, the X25-M and X18-M, differ in their format (2.5" or 1.8"), will be based on MLC chips and have lower performances in writing. Thus, while reading speed will remain at 250 MB/s, it drops to 70 MB/s in writing. Otherwise, access time slightly increases to 85 µs although this adds very little. They will be available in 80 GB versions starting in September and in 160 GB in early 2009. As for the reliability of these SSDs, Intel speaks of the different technology put into place in order to improve reliability and longevity and announces an MTBF of 2 million hours for the X25-E and 1.2 million for the X25-M and X18-M. No figures were given in terms of the number of writing cycles.

IDF 2008: The Larrabee on top   Posted on 20/08/2008 at 18:29 by Damien

	At a round table conference, Pat Gelsinger, Senior Vice President of Intel’s Enterprise Group, clearly reaffirmed Intel’s ambitions for the Larrabee: to take the high end part of the GPU market. He also specified that this indeed involves surpassing the performances of Nvidia and AMD GPUs which will be available at that time – and this in Direct3D and OpenGL! And obviously, this is where the biggest issue with the Larrabee lies because it involves a CPU emulating a GPU. Intel therefore does not seem to be worried about the performance levels of this emulation and moreover specifies that once used in native mode will quickly outdistance GPUs. When asked about the Larrabee’s enormous announced energy consumption, Pat Gelsinger was very clear: it's a high end chip and it not supposed to be low power. We are in agreement with this even if it goes against current “green” trends and related problems (cooling) will have to be mastered as it is no longer acceptable that a high end product be overly noisy.

Nvidia also moves over to ACC (OC-Phenom)   Posted on 20/08/2008 at 14:18 by Nicolas

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