A geeky post by Maynard

On November 17, Intel’s Nehalem processor will hit the market. This is a big leap in technology, and will be of interest to anyone contemplating the purchase of a high-end PC in the coming year.

“Nehalem” is the codename used during development; you’ll see it called “Core i7” in product literature. The suite of Nehalem chips, which will be rolled out over the coming year, will have from 2 to 8 processors; the initial desktop PC chip will have 4. Due to Intel’s “hyperthreading” feature which lets each processor to serve double duty (sort of), it will appear that there are 8 processors instead of 4. In any case, this is a step up: In current (pre-Nehalem) computers, your basic desktop PC has 2 processors.

Intel’s long-term roadmap of processor improvement has two elements: New designs on one hand, and refinements of existing designs combined with shrinking the size of the transistors on the other. Intel calls this their “tick-tock” strategy, and each cycle runs for about 2 or 3 years. The last “tick” was the introduction of the Penryns, which shrank the die of the existing processor from 65 nm (“nanometers”) to 45 nm and added additional refinements; now the “tock”, Nehalem, is an all-new 45 nm design. The next “tick”, a year down the road, will shrink the Nehalem to a 32 nm process. The smaller transistors use less power and allow for more components to be added.

Do you need a brawnier PC? Not necessarily. There’s no pressing reason to rush out and buy a Nehalem. But eventually, this power will be required.

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6 Comments | Leave a comment
  1. SunSetSam says:

    Now we just need to get a decent operating system the run on this hardward platform…

  2. marleed says:

    Maynard,

    I’ve got a nice dual core dual processor Opteron that produces 4 penguins at boot time! It’s been able to do everything I’ve asked it to so far… I’m hoping I won’t need to upgrade for a couple of years. But the lure of new computer hardware is difficult to resist, isn’t it?

  3. I guess Our Betters in Redmond will soon find a way to make thorough use of this new processor capacity.

  4. KWH says:

    Actually, Hyperthreading isn’t new at all (Google P4) but the real performance feature is the integrated memory controller Intel will be using. It’s basically the same feature AMD’s have been running for years, the same technology that allowed AMD to whip the P4’s.
    Core2 is already the fastest CPU out and the integrated memory controller will allow even faster performance, IIRC up to 30% faster.

  5. mrfixit says:

    I have a now ancient duo-core that perks along fine on XP. I’m sure Microsoft will come up with a new OS to bog down the new beast and force everyone to upgrade. After much frustration getting my wife’s new laptop to function with VISTA, (had to re-buy several applications that offer vista compatability to replace perfectly fine apps that were great on XP, but glitchy with vista) I would like to contribute a name for the new Windows memory hog, whatever it is: Let’s call it “Windows Proctoscope” Ad slogan: “See What’s Inside”

  6. marleed says:

    I’ve never had a Windows problem because I’ve never run Windows. Linux does everything I need… and it does it VERY well! I’m not too terribly anxious for Microsoft to fix all their Windows problems as I make money fixing broken Windows … so to speak!

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