The Consequence of Waking Up a Sleeping Giant: Intel Roadmaps Inside
by Kristopher Kubicki on January 25, 2005 7:44 PM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
Mobility
Although we get real annoyed with paper launches and PR vaporware, the Centrino lineup never struck us as a set of hardware that didn't show up when promised (at least in the OEM sector). In fact, Sonoma based notebooks with Dothan 2.1GHz processors are already shipping from at least two of the Tier 1 notebook manufacturers although the launch was just last week. This gets us particularly excited since dual core, 65nm Yonah processors are scheduled to launch with the third generation Centrino platform, Napa. And given how reliable Centrino's track record has been, it could be very possible for us to review a 65nm, dual core notebook 365 days from now.
| Intel Dual Core Performance Desktop Lineup LGA775 | ||||
| Processor | Speed | L2 Cache | FSB | Launch |
| Pentium M 780 | 2.26GHz | 2MB | 533MHz | Q3'05 |
| Pentium M 770 | 2.13GHz | 2MB | 533MHz | Now |
| Pentium M X50 | ??? | 2MB (Shared) | ??? | Q1'06 |
| Pentium M X40 | ??? | 2MB (Shared) | ??? | Q1'06 |
| Pentium M X30 | ??? | 2MB (Shared) | ??? | Q1'06 |
| Pentium M X20 | ??? | 2MB (Shared) | ??? | Q1'06 |
| Pentium M X48 | ??? | 2MB (Shared) | ??? | Q1'06 |
| Pentium M X38 | ??? | 2MB (Shared) | ??? | Q1'06 |
To quote Bender from Futurama, "... the X makes it sound cool." When Yonah hits the retail market it seems fairly likely that Intel will drop the X in favor of a number - although it seems like all the good ones thus far are used up. Well, X is the Roman numeral for 10...
One of the first things we knew about Yonah when we first saw the preliminary work in Taipei for Computex 2004 was that it uses a shared L2 cache between the two cores. While the Smithfield dual core processors separate their cache per core, Yonah is unique as arbitrating the cache for both processors. We also know a bit about the further enhancements on EIST utilized in the processor, including a technology that dynamically throttles power from unused portions of the cache. Feel free to check out or IDF 2004 coverage for that announcement. Another interesting tidbit on the roadmap reveals that the Napa platform will utilize both the 945 and the 955 chipsets in production models. Why a notebook would need ECC support is beyond me, but perhaps there are some features in 955X that haven't been fully leaked yet.
Unfortunately thermals are a huge piece of the pie, and we don't have any confirmed behind the scenes details on that yet. It looks like you'll just have to wait until launch dates for Prescott 2M, Dempsey and Yonah for that scoop.
Though Intel's roadmap reveals a gung-ho attitude for EM64T, the mobility platform looks completely devoid of any such notion. Even the much famed Yonah doesn't explicitly mention any 64-bit support, which may give AMD the upper hand in that match up. AMD's Turion platform will have 64-bit support - will their competition?
Unannounced Secret Stuff
The very forward looking stuff on Intel's roadmap, Q1'06, shows more promise than we had also originally anticipated. First off - get used to the names Presler and Cedar Mill. We had mentioned Cedar Mill before as a single core Pentium 4 evolution. While probably not a direct NetBurst revision, don't be surprised if some of those wonderful projects scrapped with Tejas show up in Cedar Mill instead. Cedar Mill utilizes 2MB of L2 cache, Socket 775 architecture and a 65nm process. On the enterprise portion of the roadmaps Intel is very careful to separate Cedar Mill from the rest of the Prescott 2M SKUs so perhaps there is more to meets the eye for this little processor.
Presler is a whole different animal. On the roadmaps Intel marks Presler as the eventual dual core replacement for Smithfield albeit with an extra megabyte of cache per core. Since this is the first we have heard of the processor in official circles, details were pretty light.
We talked real casually in the past about Dempsey - the dual core Xeon. From the roadmaps Dempsey doesn't look similar to any Pentium 4 or Xeon processor we know about. For starters, expect 1066FSB, dual core, and HyperThreading. If four logical processors per socket didn't seem to catch your attention the addition of Fully Buffered DIMM (FB-DIMM) and iAMT will also show up on the chip platform. Intel also refers quite often to its "Diamond Peak" technology - which they loosely describe as:
Platform level LAN acceleration based on improvements in processor, MCH and ESB-2
Like the desktop platforms, the next generation server core logic will also feature Vanderpool Technology. This leads to a real lot of promise for those who rely on User Mode Linux or VMWare for their enterprise solutions. Rather than placing separate operating systems in different machines, VT opens the door to putting different operating systems on the same processor. The roadmap stresses this sort of configuration makes sense for high availability; if one OS crashes, its OK because we have 2 running.
"Blackford," the E7520 replacement for Xeon, will utilize ESB-2 and will become Dempsey's chariot in the server market. A cheaper, stripped down version of Blackford dubbed Bensley will perform the task of Dempsey's value platform, Greencreek is the workstation variant.
Final Thoughts
Generally we do not get to write this much about the Intel world, so today's opportunity to look at everything Intel has to offer is quite refreshing. While a lot of people have looked at Intel's recent reorganization as a sign of weakness, we feel the company is just trimming itself back to the main arteries it does best. We are at least optimistic that 2005 will be a better year for consumers than the last one - now we just need to see if AMD has enough up their sleeves to make things interesting.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
74 Comments
View All Comments
phantom505 - Thursday, January 27, 2005 - link
Whoppee, the paper launch king launches a lot more paper.I'll believe it when I see it.
BTW, where is that 4GHz CPU? SOI anyone? They need 65nm to keep from cooking. AMD has PLENTY of headroom on frequancy, something Intel doesn't (obviously). Now how about more cache, it will fix it, right?
Any word on Intel figuring out how to make a good FPU yet? Who needs that? The rest of world minus the internet... because it takes a monster machine to crunch full screen video?
How about a bus that can handle the data? 1066FSB? Isn't there something about AMD going 1.4GHz plus with HyperTransport II?
How about that slapped together dual P4? Wasn't the K9 being considered even during the design of the K8?
How about that DDR2 junk? Rambus part deux? At least AMD is going to watch Intel sink or float before you jump on that boat. I'd bet they would prefer to go to DDR3 directly.
Folks, I see a desperate company trying to fend off from something that is 1/8th of its size. And you think that's happens by chance? It's called screwing up.
AMD fanboy am I? Sure, at least they are going somewhere, other than down. (look at the Intel stock prices for 5 years).
Peter - Thursday, January 27, 2005 - link
EIST maturity? *laughs to tears*If one of the two contenders does have maturity and experience with processors capable of scaling their clock speeds and supply voltage on the fly, then it's AMD. Remember K6-2+? First one to do this on the x86 stage, even before Transmeta iirc. Mobile Athlons had it, all Athlon-64 have it, Opterons will get it soon.
Intel? They had nothing but the clunky original SpeedStep (which required a high latency sleep-wake cycle to change speed, and had only two steps, slow and fast) before the Pentium-M showed up. Now that technology is getting retrofitted to P4 core. Good move, but the innovation was invented elsewhere ...
Live - Thursday, January 27, 2005 - link
As for the release date and availability I don’t know, but you could always speculate a bit :)The article mentions an NDA coming up and launch next month. So launch in February it is, which coincides with CeBIT Hanover 10-16 March. So we can expect launch in conjunction with that. Then we know Intel will release its new 64 bit ready CPUs to be ready for the launch of Windows 64 that is supposed to be in April. So at the latest by May we should have it all in retail.
So if February is launch then I guess March would be the optimistic and April the pessimistic and May if Intel or M$ stumbles and summer if they screw up.
danidentity - Thursday, January 27, 2005 - link
Is there any more detail on a release time frame for the 945/955 chipsets, other than Q2?footballfan - Wednesday, January 26, 2005 - link
I forget...how big of a gap was there between the official announcement of 915/925 chipsets and being able to actually buy a motherboard based on those chipsets?I'm putting together an Intel system and I don't know if I should get an 925XE motherboard or wait it out for a 955.
Hmmmm
JarredWalton - Wednesday, January 26, 2005 - link
28 - The comment in regards to AMD vs. Intel is that AMD is keeping dual-core backwards compatible while Intel is not. From a performance standpoint, that means Intel can potentially improve aspects of the chipset. AMD is in a sense more limited in that they're constrained to the original S939 specifications. Neither approach is *better*, per se, although a lot of people like the AMD approach simply because it doesn't require a new motherboard. As far as we're aware, *all* S939 motherboards will be capable of running Toledo.When will we see all the new hardware? That's the big question. :) AMD and Intel both tend to be a bit better about avoiding the "paper launch syndrome", but there have been instances in the past where availability lagged far behind the official launch.
Live - Wednesday, January 26, 2005 - link
Always a real treat to read these top insider stories, good work!This makes buying/upgrading decisions at least a little bit easier. I want more ;D
One question tough. You mention that AMD plans "to enable existing hardware (nForce4, K8T890, 8xxx) to run multiple cores."
Those this exclude earlier s939 chipsets? I was under the impression that both nForce3 and K8T800 Pro would be compatible with dual core Toledo.
If you read here (Registration required): http://www2.amd.com/us-en/protected/Weblets/1,,783...
"AMD’s dual-core processors are being designed with today’s infrastructure in mind. System integrators will have no problem incorporating AMD Opteron processors into existing platforms and any desktop motherboard supporting a 90nm AMD Athlon 64 processor will accommodate dual-core descendants of the chip as well."
Toledo is a dual-core descendant of the current crop of 90nm AMD CPUs is it not?
I’m contemplating either nForce3 or nForce4 and I believe future Toledo support would tip the scale.
RockHydra11 - Wednesday, January 26, 2005 - link
I'm quite interested in what kind of response nVIDIA will have to the barrage of new chipsets.footballfan - Wednesday, January 26, 2005 - link
How long from launch to being able to actually buy a motherboard with one of those new chipsets will it be?JarredWalton - Wednesday, January 26, 2005 - link
945 and 955 are scheduled to launch in Q2'05, right along with Smithfield. Smithfield will *not* work on 915 or 925 chipsets - it may also have a new socket, although that wasn't indicated on the roadmaps.As far as what the Prescott 2M will bring, I expect more than a 5% performance increase in most applications, but probably less than 15%. It's difficult to say where it will actually land relative to the P4EE Gallatin cores, since it uses L2 instead of L3 cache, but it also has the longer pipeline. Certain applications perform better on Prescott than Northwood already, so in those instances the lead will increase. Will it catch up to AMD in gaming? Not likely, but it will close the gap. 2MB of cache might also improve HyperThreading performance a bit - that will be interesting to see.