Forget 45nm core chips

superbill · #1 (**permalink**) 03-05-2008

Just when I was starting to think 45nm core chips it seems Intel are cooking up a fundamental change in design philosophy that will deliver a leap in performance as soon as this Summer.
Codenamed Nehalem , processors will be offered with up to 8 execution cores, about double today's most complex CPUs. It is touted that Nehalem chips will be offered with built-in graphics, which means that the day will soon arrive when a full system could be got on a chip. It will shunt data around faster which would translate into the best multi-core performance scaling yet.
This thing is going to fly according to a Tech Brief!!!
And I was thinking that my rig updated in December was the greatest thing since "slice pan"
No doubt when I start thinking Nehalem, something else will already be in the pipeline.
Anyone have any thoughts on this???????????????

kemical · #2 (**permalink**) 03-07-2008

Hi superbill,
Do you think that having an integrated graphics is better than having a stand alone GPU? Personally I don't, but I'd like to read the material that you mentioned.. AMD have touted the fact they will be producing chips called 'Fusion' which will be of a similar nature.. Like you I'm upgrading come November/December as I think the time will be right and my hardware will then be at least two production cycles old. The 45nm by AMD sound great and hopefully coupled with a good graphics solution (not sure what yet) I think the system will really fly..
Thoughts?...

More food for thought....:
Fudzilla - Nvidia claims GPU matters more than a CPU

superbill · #3 (**permalink**) 03-07-2008

Hi Kemical

The Tech Briefing article is in Issue 209, January 2008 of PCFormat Magazine.
It also mentions AMD's introduction in 2009 of Bulldozer a new CPU execution core that will be a ground-up, clean sheet design(whatever that means). Although details are "thin on the ground", AMD state it will deliver a major boost in clock-for clock performance as well as a deeper instruction pipeline.What makes this design decision surprising that the two don't normally go hand-in-hand.
Like Intel's Nehalen, Bulldozer based processors will be offered with optional integrated graphics (thanks to the merger with ATI) and will have many more cored than today's CPU's
If you can get a copy of that issue of the magazine there is plenty more info. and well worth a read.

kemical · #4 (**permalink**) 03-08-2008

Thanks for the heads up superbill.. I'm going to see if I can find the issue online.. I know the magazine well, it's a bloody good read! I'll post back if I find it....

Update:
Yup found it... Its here :
PC Format

Just to ask your opinion on something.. No doubt you'll know of the section in the magazine called 'Ask Luis', where people write, or send e-mails in, with their pc related problems. Usually Luis will reply back with some sarcastic and at times vicious reply depending on how stupid the question is... I have to admit at times he is funny and quite a educated guy for all of his sarcasm although at one time I very nearly wrote in myself.. Luis it seems swears by two maxims in using pcs.. One, Defragging your HDD is a total waste of time and achieves nothing. Two, Anti-Virus software, again, is a total waste of time.. He believes that it's not really needed and you can easily get through life without using it to protect your pc... Thoughts? (if anyone else reading this has any thoughts on this subject please post)

superbill · #5 (**permalink**) 03-08-2008

Hi Kemical

Did you get the full article from the back issue?
I had a look at the website and found the issue but only got a brief description on what was in the January 2008 edition. There are two pages 100-101 written by Jeremy Laird in the magazine but I could not access them online.
I will hold onto my copy and its your's if you want it.
As for our friend "Luis", likes to cause a stir doesn't he???
I think its part of the image he wishes to get over that he doesn,t suffer fools gladly particularly the less than mortal kind like us who sometimes need assistance with our pc problems.
I do not subscribe to his thoughts on HDD defrag or security software and I would not be prepared to put the latter to the test.
However someone out there might think differently!!!!

kemical · #6 (**permalink**) 03-08-2008

Hi superbill,

same here I'm afraid, although I could find the copy you mentioned I couldn't access the article....bummer! What I'll do is buy a recent copy in the next few days and hopefully order the back issue (I'm pretty sure you can do this). Thanks very much for the kind offer of your issue, although I have an idea.. Do you have access to a scanner? If so, could you scan the article and post? Just a thought..
I totally agree with you concerning Luis's loony ideas concerning HDDs and anti-virus.. I remember a while ago buying a copy and he was spouting off how in the previous issue he had explained his theories behind his thoughts on the defrag ideas Apparently it was quite a large article, man did I try to find that issue lol .. One day we really must take him to task about his crazy ideas and send in a letter stating what a loon he really is..

kemical · #7 (**permalink**) 03-09-2008

Hi superbill,

thanx for the article, some of it I'd read in different articles and some of it was new to me.. It sounds very interesting and I have to admit I've read the same sort of stuff written about the 'Bulldozer' chip for AMD. These fusion chips, will as you've mentioned, have 8-16 cores although I don't think they'll do 16 cores until they reach 32nm node. Intels idea for the onboard memory controller sounds in theory great although the proof will be in the pudding as they say. It must be a real thorn in Intels side with AMD having sorted that particular problem of chip design so early. I'm not sure they will be able to get rid of all that cache though, as memory continues to get faster and faster information getting fed to the chip is already getting huge it's got to be stored somewhere before the chip can deal with it. I know they're getting better at prediction but thats only with certain software either way the future looks bright..

Here's a small section from an interview with AMD currently on the web pages of Tomshardware:

Tom’s Hardware: Unlike the competition, AMD equipped its integrated graphics solutions with HD video / H.264 support early on. The 690G chipset already offered hardware acceleration and decoding for HD content from HD-DVDs and Blu-ray Discs. AMD’s new 780G chipset, which we already tested in our article AMD 780G Chipset- Full-HD Playback with a Sempron and found to be quite the impressive product, goes a step further. What’s next?
Polster: That would definitely be the integration of a CPU, chipset and graphics processor in a single chip, a project we call Fusion. However, this is still a few product generations away.

The full interview is here:
Triple Core in Stores this April : [CeBIT 2008] – Interview with AMD

superbill · #8 (**permalink**) 03-10-2008

Hi Kemical

Thanks for the link to Tom's Hardware, it seems the battle between Intel & AMD is hotting up and it's difficult to decide what way to go in the future.
Another article just out today gives more views and facts on what will be coming out in the near future. You can read it AMD vs Intel: The future of desktop CPUs News - PC Advisor

kemical · #9 (**permalink**) 03-10-2008

Hi Superbill,

thanx for the links. I also saw this today and instantly thought of our discussion:
Intel 6-core Dunnington die shot - VR-Zone IT & Lifestyle Forum!
It doesn't really say that much but the pictures are pretty cool.