[Reprinted from NetbookTech] Intel officially began shipping their new dual core Intel Atom processor last week known as the Intel Atom Processor 330. The new processor model is designed specifically for nettop systems and feature:

• 1.6GHz processing core
• 1MB L2 cache
• 8W TDP
• Support for DDR2 667MHz memory

According to the Intel PR Chip Shots blog, the new processor is available as part of new Intel Desktop Board called the D945GCLF2. The specs for the D945GCLF2 include:

• Mini-ITX form factor
• Integrated 45nm Intel Atom Processor 330
• Intel 945GC Express Chipset
• Realtek ALC662 audio codec
• Gigabit Ethernet
• Eight USB 2.0 ports
• Two SATA ports
• One parallel ATA IDE interface
• One serial and parallel port
• Once PCI bus connector

Even though these new dual core Atom processors are designed for nettop systems, it’s not far fetched to imagine someone deciding to use these processors for netbook systems. Let’s hope so!

[Check it out via NetbookTech, DailyTech]

Technorati Tags: Intel Dual Core Atom Processor 330, Intel Desktop Board D945GCLF2

Intel also announced today that shipments of their new Solid State Drives (SSDs), the X18-M and the X25-M Mainstream SATA SSDs, have begun. These new drives are based on multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash technology with the X18-M a 1.8 inch drive and the X25-M a 2.5 inch drive. Both drives are currently available in 80GB capacities with a 160GB version to be sampled in the fourth quarter of this year.

Spec wise, the 80GB drive can hit read speeds of up to 250MB/sec with an 85 microsecond read latency and write speeds up to 70MB/sec. With the drives now shipping, Intel also announced the pricing to these new 80GB SSDs. The 80GB drive will be selling for %595 in quantities of up to 1000.

Intel also plans on introducing a new line of single-level cell (SLC) SSDs for the server, storage, and enterprise markets within the next 90 days. The new SSD will be called the Intel X25-E Extreme SATA SSD and according to Intel are designed to maximize the Input/Output Operations Per Second (IOPS).

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Intel, X25-M, X18-M, Mainstream SATA Solid State Drives, SSD

Intel continued their 45nm push with the announcement of their first four halogen-free Intel Xeon processors today. These processors utilize their new Hafnium-based high-k metal gate formula which in turn helps to reduce the environmental impact these processors make. The new Xeon processors include three quad core 5400 series processors - the X5492, X5470, and L5430, as well as a new dual core Xeon X5270 processor. The specs and prices are as follows:

• Quad core Intel Xeon processor L5430 - 2.66GHz 1333MHz 50 Watts - $562
• Quad-core Intel Xeon processor X5470 - 3.33GHz 1333MHz 120 watts - $1386
• Quad-core Intel Xeon processor X5492 - 3.4GHz 1600MHz 150 watts - $1493
• Dual-core Intel Xeon processor X5270 - 3.5GHz 1333MHz 80 watts - $1172

Intel also announced that all previously launched versions of the Xeon 5200 and 5400 series will now be halogen-free. To make life easier for hardware manufacturers, these new processors are drop-in compatible with existing Intel dual processor platforms that been in the market since 2006.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Intel, Xeon, Hafnium-based high-k metal gate formula, Xeon X5492, X5470, L5430, X5270

Since we’re on the topic of the Intel Atom processor, I thought I’d pass along this report from DigiTimes.com which states that Intel expects to ship around 20 million Atom processors this year. Not bad for a processor designed for low end mobile usage. The article also states that both Sony and Fujitsu are expected to launch netbooks in the fourth quarter while BenQ, Lenovo, and ASUS will launch mobile Internet devices (MIDs) in the fourth quarter.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Intel Atom

As mentioned earlier, Intel announced the Intel Media Processor - CE 3100 - the first in a new family of System on Chip (SoC) processors designed for Consumer Electronics (CE) devices. Intel is hoping that the CE 3100 will allow the company to successfully penetrate the CE market and become a dominant supplier of system components - something Intel has failed to do thus far. The CE 3100 Media Processor, formally known as “Canmore” combines an IA processor core, multi-stream video decoding and processing hardware, 3 channel 800MHz DDR2 memory controller, dedicated multi-channel dual audio DSPs, a 3D graphics engine and support for multiple peripherals including USB 2.0 and PCI Express into a single package.

The CE 3100 features Intel’s Media Play Technology which leverages hardware based decoding for broadcast TV and optical media playback while using software decoders for Internet-based content.

In conjunction with the introduction of the Media Processor CE 3100, Intel announced the formation of the Intel Consumer Electronics Network - a collection of hardware, software, and service providers, who together aim to facilitate the development of Internet-connected CE devices based on Intel SoC platforms.

Intel’s ability to succeed in the CE market ultimately hinges on whether hardware manufacturers will adopt their platform. Plus - don’t expect competing chip manufacturers to sit idly by.

I do have one product suggestion which could be ideal for the CE 3100. I would love to see a set-top box that acts as both a Windows Media Center Extender and as a way to deliver the newly announced Widget Channel.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Intel Media Processor CE 3100, System on Chip

Intel and Yahoo! are looking at new ways to bring Internet content and services to the television environment with the announcement of the new “Widget Channel”. The Widget Channel is a television application framework powered by the Yahoo! Widget Engine, and optimized for TV and related CE (Consumer Electronics) devices utilizing the Intel Architecture platform. Developers using the Widget Channel framework can utilize standard web programming languages and technologies to create widgets that bring together television content with interactive Internet-based services from a variety of sources. Yahoo! also plans on releasing their own branded TV Widgets that utilize their own services.

It sounds nice but how does this really pan out? The basic idea is as follows - developers create TV-based Internet applications in the form of widgets (powered by Yahoo! Widgets). These widgets then run on Intel architecture devices.. ah but what kind of devices are these? Since we’re talking about the television market, they have to be either HDTV sets, or set-top boxes (or perhaps standalone CE portable devices some day). This is why Intel is in the picture - they’ve been trying to break into the consumer electronics market and the Widget Channel is the perfect opportunity to do so.

Now why would Yahoo! want to be in this picture? Once software developers are on-board with their TV Widgets and set-top boxes get distributed to the masses, Yahoo! can 1) spread their influence via Internet services and 2) generate additional revenues through advertising - this time via televised content. Consider the possibilities of Internet based advertising delivered alongside television content!

The key to making this all pan out will be the hardware manufacturers of CE devices - the folks who manufacture HDTV sets, set-top boxes, and portable consumer electronics. If there’s wide-spread adoption, then Yahoo! and Intel could be on to something. If no one bites, then well.. this one will just drift off into space.

The two companies plan on releasing a software development kit to developers, advertisers/publishers, as well as hardware manufacturers of TVs and consumer electronics. The Widget Channel will also include a Widget Gallery where developers can publish their TV widgets across multiple devices.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Intel, Yahoo!, TV Widgets, Widget Channel

Yes it’s that time of the year again - IDF time that is. Not familiar with the term? IDF stands for Intel Developer Forum and this is when developers (and apparently press) come together to hear what’s coming down the road from Intel. It’s a good deal of marketing hype combined with some low level developer sessions. It’s funny how IDF has changed over the years. I remember my first IDF conference way back in 1997 when Intel was still a small 80,000 person company (Ha..). Back before blogs, before Twitter.. the only people who really cared about IDF were in fact the developers - both hardware and software. Yes, there was a good deal of marketing mumbo jumbo too but heck.. it was still a great way to meet other engineers in the field (and yes.. it was a great time to get away from work and party it up with fellow Intel engineers. Yes.. Geeks Partying away!). Ok.. enough of my walk down memory lane.. here’s some of the big juicy tidbits from IDF.

First off, on the processor side of things, Intel will be releasing several new processors during the last four months of this year. Thanks to this News.com posting, I’ll try and highlight some of the major details.

On the nettop/netbook front, Intel plans on releasing a dual Core Atom processor targeting the nettop market. This new Atom processor will have a slightly higher thermal envelope than current generation Atom processors (which are single core yet have hyper-threading).

On the server front, Intel will be releasing a new six core Penryn based processor code-named Dunnington. Not much else on this one..

The majority of the details were focused of course on Nehalem which Intel will begin releasing during the fourth quarter of this year. The company released additional information regarding Nehalem including:

• Nehalem comes with a “Turbo mode” which is a power management feature that allows unused idle processing cores to be powered down for power conservation. More on Turbo mode below (and why it’s called Turbo mode). This will be available in both Nehalem-based notebooks/laptops and servers.
• Turbo Mode is based possible thanks to an integrated microcontroller which handles the core power management
• Nehalem-EX is an 8 core Nehalem chip (which was showed off at IDF)
• Nehalem-EP (Efficient Performance) is a quad-core chip for servers and workstations
• Intel Core i7 is for the desktop market (I never did talk about the i7 naming announcement.. but I’m sure all of you know this already). As is standard for current Core processors, there will be desktop ones as well as Extreme processors for those who need that extra umph for the desktop.

Intel also announced that they are planning to integrate graphics directly into the main processor chip. Future processors without integrated on-die graphics will include Lynnfield and Clarksfield while Havendale and Auburndale will have integrated on-die graphics.

ExtremeTech has an excellent article detailing low level architectural details of Nehalem that were announced by Intel at IDF. Here are the major highlights:

• Think of Nehalem as two pieces - the “core” and the “uncore”. The core contains all the computational units as well as the caches (L1 and L2). The uncore contains all the communication interconnects - things like the integrated memory controlls, the QuickPath links, L3 cache etc.
• Turbo mode as mentioned above is part of Nehalem’s ability to be “dynamically scalable” - basically deliver the performance when it’s needed and power down cores when it’s not needed. Note also that Turbo Mode also means that when cores are powered down, more power can be given to the cores that are available which means cores can actually scale up in clock frequency (hence the Turbo mode)
• Nehalem will have three caches (L1 to L3). Each core will have an L1 and L2 cache. L1 is a split cache - 32KB for instruction and 32KB for data. L2 is a 256KB unified cache. L3 cache is shared and much much larger (8MB on desktop Core i7 versions)
• Of course, we all know there’s an integrated memory controller too. The controller will operate synchronously with the CPU now
• Nehalem comes with a high speed point-to-point interconnect called QuickPath which connects CPUs to each other, CPUs to memory, and CPUs to I/O hubs (the southbridge).
• Finally, don’t forget that Hyper-threading is rearing it’s head again in Nehalem. A quad core Nehalem can actually have 8 threaded performance with Hyper-threading (2 threads per core).

As you can see, things are certainly getting exciting when it comes to Intel processors. There’s a lot coming down the pipe and it’s actually getting me pumped up about building a new computer again. It’s ironic considering I decided to opt for pre-built computers last year. I’m still envisioning an 8 core Nehalem system running Media Center at home. Yum.

Technorati Tags: Intel, IDF, Nehalem, Atom

I have to admit - I haven’t been following processor technologies as closely as I used to. Ever since Intel released the Core 2 micro-architecture, I’ve pretty much lost interest in CPU architectures. The world was going multi-core but really now.. what else was going on? Well if Intel stays on track with its development schedule, we’ll soon find out that the future is indeed bright when it comes to CPU architectures. Behold the upcoming Intel Nehalem architecture.

Those of you not familiar with Nehalem (such as I), should definitely give this article a read over, as well as the official Intel info page on the architecture. Let me try and summarize the major points of what is different about Nehalem.

Nehalem is designed from the ground up to the hafnium-based 45nm hi-k metal gate silicon technology developed at Intel. Smaller dies.. less heat.

Nehalem will have support for 2 to 8+ cores.. yes.. 8+ cores.. and on top of that, it can have up to 16+ threads with simultaneous multi-threading (or in Intel lingo - hyperthreading).

The architecture introduces Intel’s QuickPath technology which includes: a memory controller integrated into the processor die (a la AMD), high speed point-to-point interconnects, and dedicated memory for each processor (as well as shared memory). The platform will also support DDR3 memory as opposed to the current DDR2 memory for the Core 2 platform.

Nehalem will introduce new instructions into the mix with SSE4.2.

One of the first desktop processors to come out for the Nehalem micro-architecture is code-named “Bloomfield” and the folks at Maximum PC managed to build a system around a pre-production version. You can read more about the system at their website here.

Finally, a mobile version of Nehalem will be known as “Calpella” though there isn’t much else on that end of the spectrum.

In short, Intel is addressing some of the key weaknesses of the Core 2 architecture - primarily memory speeds. As the company continues to crank up processor speeds and add more cores to the mix, fast memory and fast interconnects become ever more important. Your processor might be fast on paper but if it can’t access data fast enough, then all the clock speed in the world won’t help you. Nehalem looks to change all of that.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Intel, Nehalem

ExtremeTech ran an interesting article comparing the new VIA Nano processor against the Intel Atom processor here on their website. Both processors (and their respective platforms) are geared towards mobile devices aiming to deliver good performance, good battery life, and low heat dissipation. Since the Intel Atom supports hyper-threading one would assume that the Atom would do better than the Nano at multi-process/multi-threaded oriented benchmarks.. and guess what? It does. However, benchmarks that are single-threaded show the performance to be somewhat of a wash between the two processors. Ultimately what the deciding factor might boil down to is the power consumption of these processors - with the Nano and it’s platform consuming slightly more than the Atom and it’s platform. Of course, having been manufactured on a 45nm process certainly helps the Atom’s cause.

For more details, check out the ExtremeTech article.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Intel Atom, VIA Nano, ExtremeTech, Performance Benchmarks

There’s a pretty interesting article over at ExtremeTech.com detailing how they put together an Intel Atom-based PC. Why put one together to begin with? Well aside from saying “Why not?”, an Atom processor based system (with the right peripherals and components) would be a very power efficient system and a very inexpensive system too.

ExtremeTech chose the Intel D945GCLF motherboard (which comes with an Intel Atom processor) as the heart of their system. After building the system, they had this to say:

The D945GCLF is more suitable for vertical applications or experimentation, than for most users.

As expected, the system failed to deliver mind blowing performance, but it’s more than adequate for reading/writing email, browsing the web, or working with Office documents. Heck, forgo Windows altogether, and you can probably have a sweet Linux system too. Another thought.. turn an Atom based system into a Windows Home Server box.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Intel Atom Processor, Intel D945GCLF