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Intel Spills More Beans on Nehalem Microarchitecture at IDF
Posted by Kit Eaton at 9:39 PM on August 20, 2008
At the Intel Developers Forum Intel itself is turning the spotlight on the upcoming Nehalem chip microarchitecture. The chips will have integrated memory controllers built directly into the processor, as we mentioned before, which will allow three-times faster memory read-write speeds than previous generations.
The chips also feature a "turbo mode" design that dynamically switches multi-cores into a "higher gear" for better performance without generating extra heat, and also allows throttling-down of unused cores to reduce power consumption when processing demands are lower. From 2009 every Intel processor will be using the Nehalem architecture, with server products being the first Nehalem chips, followed by "Havendale" and "Lynnfield" desktop chips and then "Auburndale" and "Clarksfield" mobile versions later. [Reuters, Intel and NZHerald]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
avconsumer2
Posted 10:36 PM 20/8/08
They should reconsider and see if they can scale that sucker down a bit... and round? Why a round one?!
But seriously... anybody know where they get those names? Sounds like a law firm. *deep voice - "...You can count on Havendale-Lynnfield-Nehalem."
avconsumer2
Arlips
Posted 10:50 PM 20/8/08
@avconsumer2: The actual CPU isn't round. The picture above is a full silicon wafer, which will be divided into lots of CPUs once etched.
Arlips
avconsumer2
Posted 11:24 PM 20/8/08
@Arlips: Your sarcasm detector is running low on fuel - please adjust your oxygen/caffeine intake mixture.
avconsumer2
Shub-Niggurath
Posted 11:16 PM 20/8/08
..."Havendale" and "Lynnfield" desktop chips and then "Auburndale" and "Clarksfield" mobile versions later... then soon after that, the "Pittsburgh" chips will come out, making all computers that use this architecture slow, boring, and unable to work during the gloomy winter months.
Shub-Niggurath
hkmp5n
Posted 11:44 PM 20/8/08
Mmmmmmmmmmmmm.......wafers.....
Anyone else hungry now?
hkmp5n
rockntrumpet
Posted 11:41 PM 20/8/08
Yeah but seriously, why a make them on a round wafer? They are going to discard all the stuff around the edges since processors are square. I never understood that. You could potentially make a lot less waste if you used a square wafer. Though potentially you could run into problems with uneven sputter deposition. Hmm, jury is still out on this one...
rockntrumpet
rockntrumpet
Posted 11:39 PM 20/8/08
@Shub-Niggurath: HEY! I live is Pittsburgh and I agree with that!
rockntrumpet
reddingofish
Posted 12:20 AM 21/8/08
@thewarm: I think it was a fake. They gave him a bad waffer. I had a coworker who used to work in a chip fab plant and he said that a 6 inch waffer of DSPs was worth $45,000. Imagine what a waffer of Core 2 Duos would be worth.
reddingofish
pharago
Posted 12:13 AM 21/8/08
bloomfield for me please
pharago
thewarm
Posted 12:04 AM 21/8/08
Did anybody watch the episode of "American Chopper" where they built the Intel Quad bike, and Mikey dropped one of these wafers on the floor... there went 300 + Intel Core2Duo Quad CPUs... what an idiot!
thewarm
araddatz
Posted 11:58 PM 20/8/08
@rockntrumpet: They double as excellent breakfast plates or (if punched correctly in the center) toilet seats...
Maybe my sarcasm detector was set too high.. If someone knows more in depth, that would be interesting to know actually... I think that there is some sort of a "growing" process that takes place, like they aren't just put together like microscopic Legos, but they are formed with some percentage of failure rate and the circle gives you maximum surface area for potential good chips... Somebody smarter could give us the low-down.
araddatz
Log1c
Posted 12:27 AM 21/8/08
@rockntrumpet: The silicon blank is round, that is why. First they melt a shit ton of silicon (high purity sand) then they take a single crystal and secure it to a rod. They then dip said crystal into the molten silicon and spin it to create a 300mm wide cylinder. Then they cut said cylinder into the blank wafers that they deposit semiconductors on.
And ta da! That is how you get a cpu (and any ic actually).
Log1c
Duc
Posted 2:17 AM 21/8/08
@Arlips: Yeah, he knows...
@rockntrumpet: Cause when they grow the silicon ingot it is round (^read Log1c post). Real-estate is paramount in IC production so you don't trim it down. If you were to trim it it would cost 1. to actually perform the trimming 2. You lose a percentage of real-estate that you can get a few chips out of, and 3. You are going to cut it in the end anyway so why cut twice.
Each ingot is worth something like 50-100k depending on size and purity.
Duc
rockntrumpet
Posted 3:07 AM 21/8/08
@Log1c: Thankee, now I am learn-ed in the ways of silicon kung fu. It'll be useful when I start working at Intel next year.
rockntrumpet
nimblesquirrel
Posted 8:51 AM 21/8/08
On chip memory controller? Hasn't AMD been doing that for years now?
I'm dubious of the "turbo mode" that supposedly doesn't generate any extra heat.
nimblesquirrel