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Intel Plans for Dual-Core Prescott CPUs in 2005

scapermoya writes "X-Bit Labs is reporting that Intel is planning to step up their introduction of dual-core processors, with the first chips to hit the market in late 2005. Intel announced this plan at the Technology for Business Today seminar, held in Washington, D.C. Looks like NetBurst is sticking around, despite what we have heard lately about a move toward the 'M' architecture. Supposedly, thanks to HyperThreading, the OS will see 4 installed processors. Snazzy."

181 comments

  1. Windows Licencing by Neophytus · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The sticker on the bottom of this here laptop says Microsoft Windows XP Professional 1-2 CPUs. Will this mean that Microsoft will have to reconsider their licencing policy for CPUs if people are going to have "four" from one chip? I've never needed to run more than two (through hyperthreading) so if someone could shed some light on what happens if you give a "2-licence" four processors it would be appreciated.

    1. Re:Windows Licencing by afidel · · Score: 5, Informative

      XP Pro understands hyperthreading fine, and in fact will work with a machine with dual hyperthreading CPU's. What won't work is 2k Pro. Also note that 2k3 server standard reduced the max number of physical CPU's to two for standard edition whereas it had been 4 in previous iterations of NT. Btw don't use hyperthreading on win2k even if you have enough processor licenses because it will balance evenly across the hyperthreading CPU's not realizing that they are really there for spare capacity and hence trash the instruction cache.

      --
      There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
    2. Re:Windows Licencing by slash-tard · · Score: 1, Informative

      Currently they license based on physical cpus, not the logical number. They had to make some minor changes when Intel introduced hyperthreading.

      My guess is initially it will count as 2 cpus and as it becomes more widespread they will revert to it being counted as 1. A true dual system (4 cores, 8 logical) would be counted as 2.

      Of course in another few years they will be feeling more pressure from linux so they may change the licensing a lot.

    3. Re:Windows Licencing by SamiousHaze · · Score: 2, Informative

      Windows XP handels Hyperthreading, so you can have 2 physical processors and 4 logical processor according to microsofts hyperthreading document.

    4. Re:Windows Licencing by Short+Circuit · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The same arguments were abound when Intel introduced HT. And Microsoft didn't touch the licensing.

      My guess is XP Home will continue to only use one logical processor, while XP Pro will use two. (Now, whether the "second" logical processor is HT on the first core, or primary use on the second core, remains to be seen.)

    5. Re:Windows Licencing by qodfathr · · Score: 5, Informative

      Licensing is for physical processors only. So, even today, if you have 2 physical CPUs with hyperthreading, you are compliant. Task Manager will show 4 CPUs, but the OS can determine that only 2 are physical.

      I suspect, however, that a dual-core CPU will be treated as 2 physical cpus...(+2 virtual CPUs)

      --
      Yes, it's true. This man has no dick.
    6. Re:Windows Licencing by Morgahastu · · Score: 0, Redundant

      Windows XP only supports 2 procesors so it's likely that it wouldn't install on a machine with 4 visible processors.

      You'd have to turn off hyper threading to get down to 2 processors. Who needs 4 processors in a non server environment anyway? It's annoying enough having two processors with one barely getting used since most apps are not multi processor away and Windows XP being quite dumb about load balancing.

      I wonder if you can turn off hyper threading for the install and then turn it back on after you've run XP once, would it notice the extra processors and cease to work or would it see the 4 and not do anything, after all it's not like your changing mother boards so it might not notice enough to trigger the licensing check.

      I don't see a need for hyper threading one dual core chips. It's redundant.

    7. Re:Windows Licencing by AliasTheRoot · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Weren't MS recently touting recommended specs of Longhorn to include dual core chips? I somehow can't imagine them insisting on people buying a dual CPU license to run it - i'd imagine they will stick to the amount of physical cpu's on a motherboard.

      Hell, if it weren't so complicated to deal with, they'd probably go for something based on the overall performance of the CPU(s) in the system, as Oracle did (do they still do this? haven't dealt with the licensing in a while)

    8. Re:Windows Licencing by AliasTheRoot · · Score: 2, Informative

      XP 2003, aka server supports more - if multi cpu setups were at all common in the desktop workstation market then this would be rolled up into XP Pro, but it isn't.

      Pretty much the same thing has applied throughout the NT Lifecycle, with Workstation sticking to single / dual setups and Server handling 1/2/4/8 setups.

    9. Re:Windows Licencing by RMH101 · · Score: 2, Informative

      2k server does, mind. i've got six DL380's in front of me with dual HT xeons, and task manager shows them as 4 CPUs.

    10. Re:Windows Licencing by Asprin · · Score: 4, Interesting


      My six dual-Zeon IBM xServer 225's correctly see four processors as well. One of them also has MSSQL2K and it also understands the two of the processors are hyperthreaded non-physical CPUs and does not complain that we only have two processor licenses installed.

      It was a surprise to me when I installed Windows on them a couple of months back because I didn't even think Win2K supported hyperthreading. w00t!

      Perhaps any hyperthreading-related issues that may have existed with Win2K were patched in a service pack?

      --
      "Lawyers are for sucks."
      - Doug McKenzie
    11. Re:Windows Licencing by Kris_J · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Why do they care? What possible legitimate reason would Microsoft have for reducing the number of CPUs that XP can run on, if it's based on code perfectly capable of running on more? This is the same crap you have to fight if you want concurrent sessions. MS's licensing is by far the worse thing about their products.

    12. Re:Windows Licencing by Morgahastu · · Score: 1

      If only my typo check + preview before submitting was redundant.

    13. Re:Windows Licencing by AliasTheRoot · · Score: 4, Funny

      I think they will stick to physical CPU's tbh, the low hanging fruit for chip makers in terms of performance seem to be multiple cores rather than increasing clockspeed, i just dont see MS saying to Joe Consumer "well your single CPU has 8 cores so you need to buy 8 copies of Windows."

      Licensing may be different for Server installs, but for consumer/desktop Windows I doubt it.

    14. Re:Windows Licencing by afidel · · Score: 4, Informative

      Yes, but if you had a 4 ways system with HT enabled you would really only be using the first two CPU's and their HT units, the other two physical processors would be doing nothing. Not to mention that the OS and older apps will naively balance across all 4 'CPU's' evenly despite the fact that the HT units are not fully capable processors and in fact can easily degrade performance by trashing the contents of the instruction and more importantly data cache. MS claims that windows 2000 will properly use the physical processors before the logical ones if the system is written to Intel BIOS specs but my real world experience says that there aren't a lot of correctly configured systems because I've had to restage 4 way servers from Dell, IBM, and HP and 2 way workstations from HP and Dell.

      --
      There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
    15. Re:Windows Licencing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm doing some testing with a DL580 at the moment, it has four hyperthreadded Xeons in it. When W2K server was installed you see just the first four instances of the processors (which are the physical ones) when w2k Advanced server was installed you see all eight instances. When w2k3 server is installed you see all eight instances, unless we are using some weird and wonderfull version of w2k3 server there is no limit to two processors.

      Processor instances are assigned as all the physical ones first, then all the HT/virtual ones next. I proved this with some 'what is your cpu' type util, whose name I can't remember. I also spoke to the HP server design guys and they confirmed this.

    16. Re:Windows Licencing by afidel · · Score: 1

      That's cool but it's not true for all four way systems. Like I said there are a good number of systems that don't report their CPU's correctly and hence you end up with the situation I described. Trust me I've worked as a tech for some of the world's largest companies including IBM Global Services so I see a LOT more systems then your typical IT person.

      --
      There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
    17. Re:Windows Licencing by sufehmi · · Score: 4, Informative
      I don't see a need for hyper threading one dual core chips. It's redundant.


      Well, a few weeks ago I had to install 3 test servers - but turned out we have only 1 available server.

      I almost freaked out - but then I realised that it's a dual-Xeon box ---> 4 CPUs (to the OS). Using an obscure switch in VMware config file, I manage to assign each CPU to a (virtual) Server. The fourth CPU is assigned to the host OS.

      Everyone was very happy with the result, and looking forward to utilise more of this feature (and this kind of CPU) in the future.
    18. Re:Windows Licencing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Windows licensing is such a contrived constraint anyway; if it works with 2 processors, it will work with more, the only thing stopping it is code to check for the number of processors.

      If you are really concerned about Windows processor licensing, switch to Linux which has no such artificial constraints!

    19. Re:Windows Licencing by RMH101 · · Score: 2, Informative

      that's how it works. 2k server doesn't support over 4 CPUs, advanced server does - it's one of the reasons it's called advanced...

    20. Re:Windows Licencing by pedrop357 · · Score: 2, Informative

      XP Home also sees it as two processors. I used a Sony computer at Sam's Club that had a P4 3.06 HT. I was really surprised when I saw it was XP Home. Task Manager did show two processors and allowed me "set affinity" and everything.

    21. Re:Windows Licencing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Win2k will work with hyperthreading, it just doesn't work well. You'll probably see better performance if you turn it off, since Win2k doesn't realize there's only one physical CPU and thus doesn't balance the loads properly.

    22. Re:Windows Licencing by pedrop357 · · Score: 2, Informative

      I should have read the post a little better.
      I was referring only to HT capable single CPU setups, not dual CPUs or a single CPUs with dual cores.
      Of course, Intel/MS could do something to make XP Home treat one dual core CPU the same way it treats a HT CPU now.

    23. Re:Windows Licencing by TheRealMindChild · · Score: 1

      Rediculous. The POINT of hyperthreading is to LOOK like 2 CPUs... be USED like 2 physical CPUs. The operating system SHOULD NOT even CARE whether its hyperthreaded single cpu or, in fact, 2 CPUs. Then you would be defeating the point (except for the per-cpu licensing, which I feel is silly anyway).

      --

      "When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
    24. Re:Windows Licencing by Sloppy · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Who needs 4 processors in a non server environment anyway?
      I heard that nearly same question a few years back, but it was, "Who needs a 386 in a non server environment anyway?"
      --
      As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
    25. Re:Windows Licencing by afidel · · Score: 3, Informative

      No, the point of hyperthreading is to expose functional units that are not being used by the main process('s) running on the physical CPU. If you naively schedule everything across both 'CPU's' you will end up with stupid things like running parallel versions of a tight integer loop which is already maxing out the integer calculation units thus polluting the data cache and stalling the pipe MUCH more often which is a BAD thing on the P4. For more info on scheduler tweaks to accomodate HT I suggest you see this LK post by one of the Linux scheduling gods =)

      --
      There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
    26. Re:Windows Licencing by pla · · Score: 2

      What won't work is 2k Pro.

      Sure it will! It just does a check at startup. It compares that check to a simple registry key. So, while you can't install with more than two CPUs active, you can install on two (to make sure it uses the multiCPU kernel), tweak the registry (try Google, I don't remember the key off the top of my head), then enable the rest of the CPUs. Not even a real hack, more like turning on LargeSystemCache. "Max CPUs? Why, I think I'll take 32, please!".

      Gack. The thought of needing to "upgrade" to XP to run more than two CPUs makes me want to stay with only two, as nice as four (or eight, for two dual-core HTs) virtual CPUs sounds... No way will I put up with XP for that. Such a requirement might well give me the incentive to deal with Linux as my primary desktop machine, moving away from Windows entirely. ;-)

    27. Re:Windows Licencing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't know about that. Have you looked at the licensing info on their Virtual PC software? You need to have a separate OS license for every virtual PC you create, even if you only run one VPC at a time. Maybe they'll eventually just start pushing volume licenses.

    28. Re:Windows Licencing by NanoGator · · Score: 1

      "Rediculous. The POINT of hyperthreading is to LOOK like 2 CPUs... be USED like 2 physical CPUs. The operating system SHOULD NOT even CARE whether its hyperthreaded single cpu or, in fact, 2 CPUs."

      Wrong. HT is not as fast as having a dual, not by a long shot. It needs to have some smarts in there or you end up with a machine that is often slower with HT.

      --
      "Derp de derp."
    29. Re:Windows Licencing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What are you, some kind of Intel whore? The operative prefix of hyperthreading is "hype".

    30. Re:Windows Licencing by Shippy · · Score: 1

      That refers to 1-2 physical processors. You're allowed as many logical processors as you want. That only applies to WinXP and later, though. Back in the Win2k days, they counted logical processors toward your limit. Sure, there's ways of getting around the Win2k limit (as others have said), but out of the box, that's how processor count behaves.

      --
      -Shippy
    31. Re:Windows Licencing by IPFreely · · Score: 1
      I always thought there should be something in between HT and multicore.

      How about a single core that had a lot more units, more integer units, more floating units, more execution units, more register sets, more of everything. Then you could configure it to support one to eight threads similar to hyper threading. If you want raw speed, configure it for one or two threads. Each thread will have plenty of resources. If you want throughput, configure it for eight way, and keep as many pipelines full as you can.

      The real bitch will be the scheduler. That's probably the main reason something like that hasn't been done.

      --
      There is nothing so silly as other peoples traditions, and nothing so sacred as our own.
    32. Re:Windows Licencing by Quikah · · Score: 1

      Actually you should test your application in 2k with HT on to see if there is a problem. I have run a boatload of apps in 2k with HT with improved performance.

      --
      Q.
    33. Re:Windows Licencing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, Sun is planning to stick _4_ cores on a chip for their upcoming ultra sparc line. And, obviously, Oracle has something to say about that.

    34. Re:Windows Licencing by IPFreely · · Score: 1

      I wasn't too far off the mark. But it looks like Andy Glew thought of it first.

      --
      There is nothing so silly as other peoples traditions, and nothing so sacred as our own.
    35. Re:Windows Licencing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      My six dual-Zeon IBM xServer 225's correctly see four processors as well. ... I didn't even think Win2K supported hyperthreading.
      You moron! Tsk. Tsk.
  2. It's not even real?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    UPDATE: A representative for Intel Corporation told X-bit labs the company had never released any precise details in regards the dual-core strategy. The information published herein should not be considered as based on official statements.

    WTF?

    1. Re:It's not even real?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A few years ago Sun was talking up this strategy. Intel and IBM both ridiculed it. The dual core SPARC has been out now for several months. The idea works fine and now Intel is paying attention. As soon as the Wintel marketers get ahold of this and spin it, all the PC worshipers out there will proclaim another great innovation from the Intel / Microsoft camp. I've seen this happen way too often now.

    2. Re:It's not even real?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And IBM's dual core Power CPU has been out for years. Somehow I doubt they were ridiculing Sun for anything other than being late to the party.

  3. Damn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Two core dumps for each segmentation fault.

    1. Re:Damn by DigiShaman · · Score: 1

      But with HT enabled, that would be a Quad dump..damage...errr....

      Too much Quake guys. Sorry. My mind is blown.

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    2. Re:Damn by ongeboren · · Score: 1

      correct me if i'm wrong but a code dump is make from the memory.. you got 2 processors, not 2 memories..

      --
      First I wanted to be a chef. Then I wanted to be Napoleon. My ambitions have continued to grow ever since.
  4. Heat? by Sir+dies+alot · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Isn't it a llittle soon to claim to put 4 processors in one chip by 2005, especially sinse last I had heard, one processor was causing a heat concern. Have they fixed this or is this Intel making predictions and setting dates that will only get pushed back anyway?

    --
    The stupidity of your average American is just about the same as the average European, we simply show it off better.
    1. Re:Heat? by mobiux · · Score: 4, Funny

      Intel...

      Fighting the next Ice Age since 1968.

    2. Re:Heat? by funkytwig · · Score: 1

      1 processor is causing heat consernes in thin core. The point is as the core gets thinner the power required to stop lekage across a ever thinner insulation layer increses. A couple of jumps thinner and we would have chips that require the power of a houshold iron. Multi-core is a solution to this problem, maybe Intel are not using very thin core technology to reduce heat in there multi core processors. There was a very interesting article about this in New Scientist but I dont think it was one they put on the web for free ;-(.

    3. Re:Heat? by Fweeky · · Score: 2, Informative

      2; you only get 4 by a bit of extra hardware to virtualize one as two. Hyperthreading is just exploiting the already superscalar architecture a little more.

      HTT has a transistor count overhead of ~5%; dual core is over 100% :)

    4. Re:Heat? by AliasTheRoot · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I'm oversimplifying for sure, but aren't the heat issues (and other more difficult quantum effects) primarily due to the ever increasing demand for clock speed?

      As a layman it kind of makes sense to put 2 lower speed cores on a die rather than one faster one, and get lower power consumption and more importantly less heat production, and let the software deal with utilising it?

      Anyone that actually knows about this care to comment?

    5. Re:Heat? by Kris_J · · Score: 2, Funny

      Intel: You down with Entropy? (Yeah, you know me.)

    6. Re:Heat? by jadel · · Score: 1

      These chips are going to be based on the PIII-m core which is already a low power design.
      A quick google reveals a typical heat dissipation of 22W for a PIII 1.2GHz, doubling that for two cores would still be half of the 100W that a high end PIV would dissipate.

    7. Re:Heat? by LordKazan · · Score: 2, Informative

      Yes

      Modder processors use MOSFET transitors in CMOS arrays (Complimentary PMOS and NMOS networks in each gate)

      This which means the only time power is expended (And therefore heat created) is when a gate transisions (if a gate stays the same across multiple clocks heat is only produced at the transition into that state).

      So the more clock cycles you have the more often it's probably going to be switching states - each gate creates miniscule heat and power dissipation, but there are a lot of gates.

      It is true that if you have two cores you have twice the heat - but that heat is also spread out across twice the area, less concentrated heate is easier to cool. Why do you think heatsinks spread the heat out all over the place.

      A dual core processor running at 2Ghz would be roughly equivilient to a single core at 4Ghz - so the demand on clock rate increase is reduced and heat created/time is lower.

      --
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    8. Re:Heat? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You'll have to wait till the day after tomorrow to see your results.

    9. Re:Heat? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Let X=heat dissipation of Prescott at some high Ghz
      let x=heat dissipation of Prescott at some lower Ghz

      2x X
      2x = X

    10. Re:Heat? by marcosdumay · · Score: 1

      Another important (maybe, because I don't understand the subject very well either) is if there aren't something better to do with the additional transistors used than an entire second core. Microprocessors today are so greatly optimized that there is no need for additional transistors in their core? And yeld is so low that is cheapper to achieve a certain performance level with a single huge silicon chip than with two smaller single core chips?

    11. Re:Heat? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      I'm oversimplifying for sure, but aren't the heat issues (and other more difficult quantum effects) primarily due to the ever increasing demand for clock speed?

      For the most part, yes. Power density is a problem. Increasing L2 cache sizes is an easy way to increase performance without adding much in terms of high power density... it's mostly static power consumption. But, this is changing too as leakage power increases with shrinking dimensions.

      By going dual core, you save power with pads and you can share the L2. There's also the reduced cost of motherboards by not having extra sockets, pins, VRMs, caps, etc., and increased computing density, yadda yadda.

      As a layman it kind of makes sense to put 2 lower speed cores on a die rather than one faster one, and get lower power consumption and more importantly less heat production, and let the software deal with utilising it?

      Very good point. One thing to keep in mind, though, is Amdahl's Law... single-threaded performance still matters even for parallizable code, and parallel programming is a pain in the ass.

      But, as Power 4 and 5 decided to put two complex cores onto a single die, there was an old project by Compaq/Alpha called Piranha that used 8 simple cores on a die (I believe they were Alpha 21164s, when 21264s were the hot thing). It was optimized for database/transaction code, since there's a ton of parallelism in db code and you can get a lot of performance improvements by reducing communication misses (and communication miss latency) and increasing L2/L3 caches (which reduces communication misses). Here's the link to the paper.

  5. Longhorn won't see 4 by frs_rbl · · Score: 5, Funny
    Thanks to patented HyperSlowing(TM) technology, Longhorn won't see 4 processors but 1.

    ''And not a very fast one'' a company exec was quoted saying

    --
    This is not my opinion. Actually, it's not even an opinion. And I'm nowhere to be seen near it
    1. Re:Longhorn won't see 4 by Loconut1389 · · Score: 1

      Who needs those applications to slow your machine down for playing old 286/386/486 games? Just install XP!

    2. Re:Longhorn won't see 4 by TheRaven64 · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Actually, this would be more in keeping with Intel's strategy with the x86 line. x86 chips take superscalar architectures to extremes, and the idea behind a superscalar chip it to implement parallelism without forcing the compiler to know about it. A logical extension of this would be to make a number of physical processors appear as one logical processor.

      The Itanium goes in the opposite direction, requiring the compiler to explicitly parallelise instructions. While this approach has the potential to allow much more scalability, it requires a much cleverer compiler. The combination of EPIC/VLIW chips with JIT compilation and run-time profiling could create some very high speed applications.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  6. Ars by ViceClown · · Score: 5, Informative

    Ars is covering this too. Ken Fisher makes it a point to mention that the person who made the claims is in marketing. He also speculates, quite logically, that bringing out dual core Prescotts in '05 would be a feat even for Intel. Worth reading for a more sobering take on the situation.

    --
    Have a Happy.
    1. Re:Ars by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hell at this rate, Intel will have to be using dual processorss to keep pace with AMD's single chip. Intel has to do something about AMD being faster and cheaper.

    2. Re:Ars by paitre · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Exactly.
      And -PRESCOTT- cores?
      What, do they think we're nutty enough to have a desktop system that needs to dissipate 200+ watts of heat?
      Please. I don't think so.

    3. Re:Ars by gr8_phk · · Score: 4, Interesting
      "bringing out dual core Prescotts in '05 would be a feat even for Intel."

      Did he point out that it's easy for AMD? The K8 architecture has had dual cores built into the design from the start. Apparently they actually chopped one off for the first couple years. I've read that they have them running in simulation with both cores and I'd speculate they've even made sample chips with two. I've been wanting to know if AMD will go dual core at 90nm or wait for 65nm. I suppose it all depends on what Intel does. IMHO AMD needs to start acting like a leader instead of a follower - their 130nm parts are actually competetive with Intels 90nm ones in terms of performance.

    4. Re:Ars by Cleveland+Steamer · · Score: 1
      It'll probably happen when it is most cost effective, not when Intel decides to do it.
      IMHO AMD needs to start acting like a leader instead of a follower...
      AMD is acting like a leader instead of a follower. They announced their plans to support dual cores at day one. They introduced the AMD64 technology long before Intel followed them. They were the first to design an x86 processor with an on-die memory controller. They introduced Hypertransport, a technology for directly connecting processors together.
    5. Re:Ars by gr8_phk · · Score: 1

      AMD is acting like a leader instead of a follower. They announced their plans to support dual cores at day one. They introduced the AMD64 technology long before Intel followed them. They were the first to design an x86 processor with an on-die memory controller. They introduced Hypertransport, a technology for directly connecting processors together. And they use a processor labeling scheme that rates performance in terms of Intel-equivalent clock speed. That holds Intel as the gold standard against which everything should be measured - not exactly the behavior of a leader is it? They have been quite innovative, and produce great products but they are only starting to see what it means to be out front. I expect them to have problems with speed ratings on the new 90nm parts, as there is no intel equivalent yet.

    6. Re:Ars by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And they use a processor labeling scheme that rates performance in terms of Intel-equivalent clock speed.

      They would claim, and to a degree they'd be correct, that they've done no such thing. They would claim that the ratings you find similar to Intel are actually relative to previous AMD processors.

      And if you look at Opteron this is clearly not the case, unless Intel's releasing 244 mhz processors. Not that Opteron's naming scheme is great or anything...

      What AMD needs to be a leader is to have a majority market share (and large profits!). Nothing more, nothing less... They're doing everything they can, and their execution has been quite good. I would say their current weakest link is not having a "stable" Windows OS yet. Not that the betas are bad...

    7. Re:Ars by peterxyz · · Score: 1

      "What, do they think we're nutty enough to have a desktop system that needs to dissipate 200+ watts of heat?"

      It sounds like a great idea - combined CPU and espresso machine.

  7. Linux support? by JessLeah · · Score: 0, Interesting

    Will Intel actively support Linux on these chips? Or will the specs be "secret" and left to DMCA-baiting reverse engineering?

    1. Re:Linux support? by G-funk · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Worst. Trol. Evar.

      Because intel's always so reticent in giving out the instruction sets and specs for their processors. That'd be a really smart business move, and the #1 way to attract developers.

      --
      Send lawyers, guns, and money!
    2. Re:Linux support? by Short+Circuit · · Score: 1

      I don't think active support will be required.

      With hyperthreading, the OS recognizes one physical processor as two CPUs, with nothing more than standard SMP behavior.

      In fact, the Linux scheduler had to be tweaked in order to weaken restrictions on passing processes from one logical CPU to another, if both were on the same chip. Otherwise, hyperthreading actually caused a performance loss when treated as an SMP system.

    3. Re:Linux support? by Anarke_Incarnate · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Ask them for the specifics of their new EFI "BIOS" so you can work with it.

    4. Re:Linux support? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You mean this?
      http://www.intel.com/technology/framework/s pec.htm

    5. Re:Linux support? by Anarke_Incarnate · · Score: 1

      No, I mean the source code without an NDA. I occasionally talk to a developer with the Linux BIOS group and he is the actual person who has been trying to get that information. I don't believe he has gotten it. One would hope they would love to have more people able to use their CPUs, but they want the control more.

    6. Re:Linux support? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Worst. Trol. Evar.
      Most. Absent. Spalchecker. Evar.

    7. Re:Linux support? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Coz it would never be done on purpose?

  8. Start saving now, kids! by dynoman7 · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm sure they are going to be eSpensive

    --
    Blarf.
    1. Re:Start saving now, kids! by BlackHawk-666 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Lot's of their old ones, all the ones I needed, are free and available in PDF format.

      --
      All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.
    2. Re:Start saving now, kids! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow! You have processors in PDF? What version of Acrobat do you have?

    3. Re:Start saving now, kids! by 10101001+10101001 · · Score: 1

      Don't you mean eXorbitantly eXtreme & eXpensive CPU?

      --
      Eurohacker European paranoia, gun rights, and h
  9. To meet Longhorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    These dual core processors are needed for Longhorn which is going to released in 2006.

    1. Re:To meet Longhorn by Eu4ria · · Score: 1

      Why is the parent a troll ? The supposed minimum spec for longhorn suggested needed a dual core processor - story was slashdot a few weeks back - too early to find the link i havent had my coffee yet.

    2. Re:To meet Longhorn by cens0r · · Score: 1

      Those weren't minimum specs. Those were what Microsoft believed the average computer was going to be.

      --
      Jack Valenti and Orrin Hatch will be first up against the wall when the revolution comes.
    3. Re:To meet Longhorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Those weren't minimum specs. Those were what Microsoft believed the average computer was going to be.

      Average computer == minimum specs (solitaire compatible). That means the 'Microsoft Recommended Configuration' configuration will be four x 2.0 terahertz vector smashers with four petabytes of ram to run pinball effectively.

  10. Prescott? by lachlan76 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The article doesn't actually say that Prescott will be a very promising architecture to use for a dual core configuration...imagine 200W of heat coming from a single dual-core processor.

    Having multiple cores will make the already-present high heat requirements increase, while the processors in laptops get faster and faster, but not necessarily much hotter. The P6 architecture is the way to go, I think.

    1. Re:Prescott? by Jeff+DeMaagd · · Score: 1

      This may just be a hold-over while Intel readies the P6 version of a dual core architecture. This particular iteration might only show up in workstations. I think this may have been one of those projects that were far elong enough to justify keeping it so that there isn't a big gap in the CPU line-up when compared to AMD.

    2. Re:Prescott? by aunitt · · Score: 1

      or
      "Prescott" as in fat bastard who deserves a good slap?

      Overweight and generates lots of hot air, I think that's much more appropriate.

    3. Re:Prescott? by shizzle · · Score: 1

      I don't know for a fact, but my guess is that it's Prescott, OR... not too far from Hillsboro where the Prescott CPU was designed.

  11. Dancing Techs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    What happened to the days of the intel dudes dancing around in bunny suits?

    1. Re:Dancing Techs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      What happened to the days of the intel dudes dancing around in bunny suits?

      Once they introduce dual core processors, they should bring them back, only with TWO HEADS! I'd love to see brightly-colored two-headed bunny-suit guys dancing around. It'd be a hoot.

  12. 4 CPU's by Deliveranc3 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I remember when Hyperthreading came out there were serious performance problems in many apps. This lead many reviews and I must assume educated consumers to disable this feature.

    Other than tollerance for spyware does this have any real advantages?

    Didn't we hear some rumblings on this count from AMD? When does their roadmap state this stuff'll be ready to go?

    1. Re:4 CPU's by Kris_J · · Score: 1

      There's a utility out there somewhere that lets you leave hyperthreading on for the OS, but only show physical CPUs to the applications. Can find a link though -- didn't realise when I found it before how important it might be. (I use AMD myself, but mostly because I like the nForce2 chipset.)

    2. Re:4 CPU's by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's a shame that cpu vendors never improve their features over time.

    3. Re:4 CPU's by RMH101 · · Score: 0

      what are you smoking?

    4. Re:4 CPU's by TheRaven64 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      SMT (HyperThreading) provides the OS with two CPUs whose capabilities vary (the first one can do anything, and the second one can do anything the first one is not doing). If you use a classical SMP scheduling algorithm on these virtual CPUs then you are likely to get a performance hit, since it may schedule (for example) two integer intensive threads to one physical CPU, which will generate resource conflicts. If the scheduling algorithm is SMT aware then this problem goes away.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    5. Re:4 CPU's by mrm677 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Actually I believe you are wrong here. Intel split the reorder-buffer in half, split the physical register file in half, and fetches from each thread every other cycle. If I am not mistaken, the latter point means that each thread gets equal execution resources as once instructions have been fetched and decoded, dispatch and execute don't care which thread an instruction belongs too. Like I said, I think this is the case but am not sure.

      From my friends in the architecture community, Intel's SMT implementation is sort of half-assed.

      On the other hand, IBM's Power5 also fetches from each thread every other cycle, however it shares a reorder buffer physically (but of course not logically).

    6. Re:4 CPU's by Kupek · · Score: 1

      It's actually Symmetric Multithreading. HyperThreading is Intel's marketing term.

    7. Re:4 CPU's by Kupek · · Score: 1

      D'oh. Make that Simultaneous.

  13. Cool :) by execom · · Score: 4, Funny

    I mean, Hot !

    Will it come with the Prescott Survival kit ?

    --
    I need a Sino-Logic 16. Sogo-7 data-gloves, a GPL stealth module...
  14. IBM chugging along by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I've heard that IBM already has ridiculous 8-core POWER5 prototypes. You'd think by late 2005 they'd have knocked out an Altivec-enhanced, dual-core POWER5 derivative for Apple. Though, given their troubles at 90nm on the PPC970, maybe we should be waiting until early to mid 2006 to see that.

    1. Re:IBM chugging along by GlobalMind · · Score: 4, Informative

      Yes, meanwhile IBM is on their second generation dual core chip, POWER5 -- now available in eServer i5 systems -- shipping TODAY.

      The way POWER4 was packaged for the higher end boxes, you have what they call a Multi-Chip Module (MCM) with 4 POWER4 processors on-board. This means each MCM was an 8-way.

      Now, for POWER5, they have added the Dual-Chip Module or DCM. With the i5 model 570, you can get a 1/2 way or 2/4 way box. If you buy the 1/2 way, you have one DCM installed...and if you buy the 2/4 then you get two DCMs.

      POWER5 has what IBM calls Simultaneous Multithreading -- SMT, which is the same type of idea as Hyperthreading. Essentially if the application supports multithreading, it will functionally see twice the processors...but this is a logical thing...a 4 way is still a 4 way...not an 8 way.

      Now, having said all that....never underestimate IBM development labs. I hear POWER6, 7 and maybe 8 are already out in development.

      TGM.

    2. Re:IBM chugging along by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm an IBM employee. Power6 is planned for 2006-ish and will be dual and triple core variants. Clock speeds are 4.5 to 5ghz.

    3. Re:IBM chugging along by CommieOverlord · · Score: 1

      And Sun already has dual-core UltraSparcs. Ramping up to 32-core chips in a couple years.

  15. But you should see the heatsinks by Groo+Wanderer · · Score: 5, Funny

    I caught a pic of the heatsink for this beast at Computex, so it must be real.

    http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=16426

    -Charlie

    (for the humor impared, think humor - haha, not humor - I don't get it)

    1. Re:But you should see the heatsinks by sm0ke · · Score: 0

      that is a nice heatsink... will it fit in laptops though? ;)

    2. Re:But you should see the heatsinks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Mod parent up. That be some funny shiznit.

    3. Re:But you should see the heatsinks by Groo+Wanderer · · Score: 1

      No, it is clearly for 1U servers you troll. The laptop one is almost a cm shorter. There is also a new line of fitted luggage to go with the thin and light versions.

      -Charlie

  16. 200 Watts? by ahfoo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Well clearly this demonstrates that Intel really does get the best smoke on the market today. That shit has got to be pricey, because the whole joint is stoned out of their heads.

    Let's do some math for them. If we leave our PCs on all day --and that is why we have 24/7 broadband connections isn't it-- that's 5KW/Hrs a day.
    At 15cents KW/Hr it now costs seventy five cents a day to have an Intel CPU. That's twenty bucks a month.
    But do you get 15cents per KW/Hr lately? Check your bill, you might be closer to twenty cents. A buck a day. Hey, I running the Intel PC costs almost as much as broadband. Perhaps they should include free broadband connections with these things.

    1. Re:200 Watts? by gunix · · Score: 1

      Power consumption is a very important thing, and I'm not only talking about the heat. 200W, and all you make are a few word documents, send a few emails. And the machine is turned on 24 hours per day.

      But on the other hand, they claim making love consumes over 300W (per individual), so it might acctually be a good power saving thing to surf for porn instead.

      --
      Evolution of Language Through The Ages: 6000 BC : ungh, grrf, booga 2000 AD : grep, awk, sed
    2. Re:200 Watts? by NubKnacker · · Score: 5, Informative

      You seem to be forgetting the fact that your CPU takes that much power only when it's actually working, and not when it's sitting idle. So unless you got SETI running, your power bill shouldn't be that high. Ofcourse if you have SETI running, then it could also be the aliens drawing power from your computer.

    3. Re:200 Watts? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well that's for a one PC household. I have four. Look what I'd be paying if I upgraded all of them to this. There's no way it would make sense economically. That's serious bucks. I'd be paying more to run my PCs than I pay for gas for my car! That really is ridiculous.
      It looks like Intel is handing the reigns over to the likes of Via. Who could have possibly imagined.
      We should have seen this coming though when the marketing department took over the CEO position. They don't know what else to do but stick with the game plan even though the plan isn't working.

    4. Re:200 Watts? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You seem to have not read the article. It specficially stated that the 200watt consumption was primarily the result of leakage current which is current leaking any time the CPU is on.

    5. Re:200 Watts? by Wedge1212 · · Score: 2, Funny

      that silly halt command throws everyone for a loop :)

      --
      See Sig! See Sig Zig! Zig Sig Zig!!!!!
    6. Re:200 Watts? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There is no command to stop leakage current. That aint how it works. You're breaking the laws of physics and I'm placing you under arrest.

    7. Re:200 Watts? by timeOday · · Score: 1
      Ah, but only for half the year. In the winter my PC is just taking some of the load off my central heating.

      Then again, in the summer I have to pay once to power the PC, then again for the AC to pump out the waste heat. That sucks.

    8. Re:200 Watts? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes there is. . .

      shutdown now!

    9. Re:200 Watts? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you're a PG&E customer, leaving one of these machines on for a month would represent half your monthly baseline. For PG&E residential customers, what happens is that your rate goes up porportionately as you deviate from the baseline. So, with four Intel PCs you'd already be at double basline and paying a seven percent penalty for being in that category in addition to your bill. With your other utilities added in, you'd easily hit triple or quadruple baseline where the penalties start to get steep. You could be paying more in utility bills than your mortgage.

    10. Re:200 Watts? by Reziac · · Score: 1

      Methinks you meant "halt and catch fire" ;)

      --
      ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
    11. Re:200 Watts? by Reziac · · Score: 1

      Someone I know, who lives in the chilly Seattle area, actually heats one room of her house with nothing but an AMD-based box, I kid you not. It puts out enough heat that the room is warm even in winter.

      Compared to an electric space heater, it's probably pretty cost-effective!

      --
      ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
    12. Re:200 Watts? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      But do you get 15cents per KW/Hr lately? Check your bill, you might be closer to twenty cents.
      I pay 6.3 c/KWh in Texas, USA. Where do you live?
    13. Re:200 Watts? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yep. Texas. Mmmhmm. Say no more.

    14. Re:200 Watts? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't know where you live, but I'd recommend you move.
      The US average is just under $0.10/KWH, and many areas pay even less. Around here we pay just over $0.08/KWH, and we're one of the 10 largest cities in the US, and NOT in Texas.

    15. Re:200 Watts? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, that's a plan. Okay all seventeen million people in Southern California get up right now and move to some other warm coastal region.
      Man, you're a fuckin' genius. No, really.

    16. Re:200 Watts? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are three ways to reduce power consumption imn CMOS chips and none of them depends on the instruction currently executing. Powering the clock tree alone uses 60% of the device power.

  17. Stare of play in CPU design. by funkytwig · · Score: 4, Insightful

    1 processor core technology is causing heat consernes in thin core. The point is as the core gets thinner the power required to stop lekage across a ever thinner insulation layer increses. A couple of jumps thinner and we would have chips that require the power of a houshold iron. Multi-core is a solution to this problem, maybe Intel are not using very thin core technology to reduce heat in there multi-core processors. There was a very interesting article about this in New Scientist but I dont think it was one they put on the web for free ;-(. (sorry I posted this as a reply to someone elses article but am hanging it of the original post as it seems relevent).

    1. Re:Stare of play in CPU design. by leperkuhn · · Score: 1

      The extra power is because of wasted electrons that leak.

      --
      http://www.rustyrazorblade.com
  18. Moderators: WTF? by trezor · · Score: 1

    Troll or joke, that's really a subjective matter, but the guy who modded this "Informative" should give up moderating priveleges ASAP.

    --
    Not Buzzword 2.0 compliant. Please speak english.
  19. Multi-Processor boards by Apocalypse111 · · Score: 1, Redundant

    I am curious what the maximum number of processors that WinXP supports is, or for that matter Longhorn. The reason I ask is because, with this technology, seeing 1 proc as 4, then logically it would see 2 proc's as 8. 8 processors? Sounds a little rediculous, but how exactly would XP handle it? Will we have to wait until SP3 or something? Would it see only 4? Would you have to turn of hyperthreading? Will there be boards built to support multiple processors with this new chip type? The more and more I think about this, the more I think this is a distributed computing project in the works. And please, no jokes about Beowulf clusters...

    --
    There is no mod option "-1: Disagree" for a reason. "Overrated" is not an acceptable substitute. Post something instead.
    1. Re:Multi-Processor boards by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you're getting that many processors, they're all going to hit memory pretty hard, so you'll want to go with some NUMA design. And in that case, it's kind of a waste to run something as archaic as Windows XP. Get Linux 2.6 or Solaris or something.

  20. Re:Dancing Techs? thats easy!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    those blue icy cool looking dudes?

    They MELTED!!

  21. They already did. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    486 = 386 X 2 586 = 486 X 2 686 = 586 X 2 ...

  22. Hot. by Silverlancer · · Score: 0

    The current prescotts already dissipate over 100 watts of heat over about a square inch. Something tells me that making a dual core prescott would at least double the number of house fires across the world... ;)

  23. heat issues by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Part of the problem is Intel's new 90 nm process, which reportedly has been fixed. As an aside, IBM is having issues with its 90 nm process as well. Still, as you say, the demand for higher clock speeds means that heat production is going up, just not as much as the first Pentium 4 Prescott chips seemed to indicate.

    As for two slower cores instead of one faster one, that definitely can save power and increase speed. The problem is that most consumer software is single threaded, so will run slower than the single high speed core alternative.

    1. Re:heat issues by AliasTheRoot · · Score: 1

      But thats a Software / OS issue right? It it strikes me if MS realises this with Intel prodding them then in a few years it wont be such an issue.

    2. Re:heat issues by timeOday · · Score: 3, Interesting
      As for two slower cores instead of one faster one, that definitely can save power and increase speed. The problem is that most consumer software is single threaded, so will run slower than the single high speed core alternative.
      But thats a Software / OS issue right? It it strikes me if MS realises this with Intel prodding them then in a few years it wont be such an issue.
      It is not just an integration issue. Sure some things are easily parallelized (like a Photoshop filter that does the same thing to every pixel) but others are not (e.g. use multiple CPUs to make a browser or word processor "snappier"). Anyways, introducing parallelism just to utilitize the hardware complicates the software, increases the prevalance of hard-to-catch timing bugs, and adds the overhead of synchronizing processors and memory.

      As a developer, it's the more difficult programming model that bothers me. I don't have phobia about multithreading - just the opposite, I've done it enough to know that writing correct software is much harder when you have to worry about concurrency.

      Besides correctness, there is performance. Writing software to fully utilize two processors is MUCH harder than to fully utilize one. For instance, you might write a multi-cpu aware game by doing the physics in one thread and the graphics in a second thread. But unless those tasks happen to require exactly the same CPU power, you will not achieve full utilization. So you resort to partitioning the functionality in some unnatural way to make it balance.

      When I discuss this with my office mate he says: "Great! That will keep us in the job." And I guess he's right. I think there will be a lot of opportunities for new language features (or languages) to exploit all this parallel hardware. And of course a lot of education for software developers. (Not that parallel processing is brand new, but networking wasn't brand new when the Internet hit either - broad acceptance changes things).

      So what's the upshot to the consumer? Simple: the whole parallel computer is less than the sum of its parts. If it were easy to make anything faster by throwing more processors at it, multiple processors would have become ubiquitous years ago.

    3. Re:heat issues by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      some things are easily parallelized (like a Photoshop filter that does the same thing to every pixel) but others are not (e.g. use multiple CPUs to make a browser or word processor "snappier"

      Using a multithreaded design makes everything slower (from slightly to dramatically) on uniprocessor systems and should in theory make nearly everything faster on multiprocessor systems. If your gui and your rendering library are in separate threads and you have multiple processors you're going to see a speed improvement.

      Unfortunately multithreading seems to still be difficult to pin down. It seems like every OS has a dramatically different method of handling threads, further complicating the problem...

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    4. Re:heat issues by RzUpAnmsCwrds · · Score: 1

      "For instance, you might write a multi-cpu aware game by doing the physics in one thread and the graphics in a second thread."

      Actually, most games are already written like this, but they are not multithreaded. Most games rely heavily on the GPU for - well - graphical processing. More and more of the work has been offloaded to the GPU in recent years. The CPU is for physics and other game functionality.

  24. Dual Core vs. Single core by totoanihilation · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'd take a DUAL dual-core 2.5GHz G5 powermac over a dual single-core 3GHz anytime.
    It would probably be less of a technical challenge as well, and would follow the "GHz doesn't matter" philosophy the POWER(tm) manager said a few days ago.
    The 90nm process encounters problems at high clock speeds. So, bring on more efficiency at lower clock speeds!

  25. Re: Superscalar by Short+Circuit · · Score: 3, Informative

    I prefer Ars Technica's Understanding Pipelining and Superscalar Execution...

    Besides, I feel HT exploits the fact that the processor is pipelined more than its superscalar nature.

  26. NOT snazzy by JamesR2 · · Score: 1

    Be careful with HT. These fake CPU's can actually drag down overall throughput due to the fact that they can't do everything a "real" CPU can. My theory is that I/O is one of them. Caution databases servers.

    1. Re:NOT snazzy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Be careful with HT. These fake CPU's can actually drag down overall throughput due to the fact that they can't do everything a "real" CPU can. My theory is that I/O is one of them. Caution databases servers.

      Nope. It's not a "fake" CPU, it's the underutilized part of the same CPU. Since the ultimate limit to a database server is the speed of it's hard drive (and before that and to a lesser extent, the speed (actually *latency*) of it's RAM), hyperthreading can be very beneficial because thread B can execute while thread A is stalled waiting for RAM or disk. Normally, thread A is wasting it's timeslice waiting for I/O *and blocking other threads* but now while it waits, the CPU resources are available to thread B.

      See This review and compare the HT vs. non HT scores on the same CPU.

    2. Re:NOT snazzy by JamesR2 · · Score: 1

      Ok point taken; I should have said SOME scenarios are no better. From your link: "These tests also show that the performance improvement of Hyper Threading is not always predictable. In the Web and Ad DB tests, the performance change varied from an increase of 3% to a decrease of 5%.". What I am saying is caution - don't assume automatically that HT is better.

  27. Hopefully by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hopefully the OS will be hyper threading aware such that it schedules processes like so:

    Processor 1 - Hyper Thread 1
    Processor 2 - Hyper Thread 1
    Processor 1 - Hyper Thread 2
    Processor 2 - Hyper Thread 2

    I would not want my 2 processes to be scheduled to only one processor and 2nd processor doing nothing.

  28. Re:AthlonXP3800+ vs Prescott? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The cheaper AthlonXP3800+ 2.6 GHz ThroughBred core can outperform Prescott at half power consumption!!!

  29. SMP, HT, HPC, Dual Core -is software multitasking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    multithreading, paralleling, and scheduling keeping up with the hardware, or is it just marketing hype?

  30. Everyone missed the most important news... by dark404 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Intel reportedly said that with the HyperThreading technology enabled operating systems will report availability of four microprocessors into the system when a single dual-core Prescott is installed. Representatives also confirmed that future Prescott products will feature 64-bit capability.

    Didn't intel say previously they weren't going to make 64-bit desktop chips?

    1. Re:Everyone missed the most important news... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They're probably just adding 64-bit registers and support for the AMD64 instruction set, but keeping 32-bit busses. So it'll be the 64/32-bit equivalent of the old 32/16-bit 68000 or 80386SX chips.

    2. Re:Everyone missed the most important news... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No.

    3. Re:Everyone missed the most important news... by Surt · · Score: 1

      It's unlikely anyone officially speaking for intel would say this, as the potential need for 64bit desktops has been clear for long enough that it would look pretty stupid for them to make such a claim. Not that it rules out the possibility, but it would be exceptionally dumb.

      The need for 64bit desktops to deal with multigigabyte multimedia is clearly in our near future. It may be 4-5 years before most desktop users feel the need for a 64 bit system, but it seems unlikely to be much longer than that.

      You may have heard intel claims that they saw no immediate need for 64bit on the desktop. By the time they release 64bit on the desktop, those claims will have been nearly a Moore's Law old.

      --
      "Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
  31. Strained SIlicon issue by charnov · · Score: 4, Informative

    Actually, the big jump in heat for the Prescott cores is from Intel use of only starined silicon in manufacturing. By creating a strained lattice for the silicon, you increase the likelyhood of current leakage (hence more heat). This is why AMD and IBM went with silicon on insulator and added strained silicon later (the SOI process helps to mitigate the leakage in strained silicon).

    Here's a simple primer

    --
    [RIAA] says its concern is artists. That's true, in just the sense that a cattle rancher is concerned about its cattle.
  32. Yeah...the power chip is $20,000 by charnov · · Score: 2, Informative

    The chip all by itself is $20,000 and is about the size of ones hand. It is 4 physical, 8 logical with 144 MB (that's right...megabytes) of cache.

    --
    [RIAA] says its concern is artists. That's true, in just the sense that a cattle rancher is concerned about its cattle.
    1. Re:Yeah...the power chip is $20,000 by Wesley+Felter · · Score: 1

      I think you're talking about the POWER5 multi-chip module (MCM); it actually has four processor chips, each with two cores. It also has four cache chips. Check out a picture.

  33. Mod Parent Up (+5 Slick) by LordKazan · · Score: 1

    Parent deserves to be moded up for slick moves on a multiprocessor system :D

    --
    If you cannot keep politics out of your moderation remove yourself from the Mod Lottery.. NOW!
  34. dual core, hyperthreading by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    4 Nuclear cores perhaps....

    Anyone know where I can pick up a good car radiator? I have to start building a prototype heatsink so Intel will give me the processor for free.....

  35. Not what ars says.... by 222 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I read this on Ars last night, so i would take it with a grain of salt....

    Ars Technica: The PC enthusiast's resource: "Now, your guess is as good as mine, but it sounds like this 'Intel employee,' whom the report identifies as a marketing manager, was talking out the rear, as we say in Beantown. HyperThreading, for what it's worth, might 'take off' in the future but right now what's taking off is the competition. Now, Intel may have some mojo up its sleeve that hasn't made its way through my sources, but I'll be rather surprised to see dual core Prescotts in a year's time unless Intel has managed to patent a dry ice freezer for cooling purposes. The future is quite clearly the Pentium M, unless Intel has solved power leakage problems and not told anyone about it (which is possible, but unlikely). My best guess with the information at hand is that this is Intel marketing speaking, and Intel marketing isn't going to tell you that Prescott doesn't have a future. Designing a dual-core, HT-enabled CPU that won't scale just doesn't make sense, and I can't imagine Intel doing it. "

  36. Re:To J^raxis: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sounds more like someone needs their medication !

  37. Prescott? by jpellino · · Score: 1

    So is this
    "Prescott" as in "our only president's alleged nazi-financier grandfather"
    or
    "Prescott" as in "if we keep naming chips and OSs after stuff in the southwest then the moldy bunch in rain-soaked Washington will keep writing whatever we tell them to on the lure of actually getting dry socks"?

    Just wondering.

    --
    "Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
  38. They have to do something... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    IBM's PPC is going to crush them and there's no denying the continued growth of AMD in the market. Intel is on shaking ground and will be for quite some time if they do not react in an intelligent and proactive way.

  39. 500w does not = 5000w by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Let's do some math for them. If we leave our PCs on all day --and that is why we have 24/7 broadband connections isn't it-- that's 5KW/Hrs a day.

    Ummm 5000w (5KW) an hour, not many computers pull that. That would be a 5000w power supply under full load.

    At 15cents KW/Hr it now costs seventy five cents a day to have an Intel CPU. That's twenty bucks a month. But do you get 15cents per KW/Hr lately?

    HUH? there is NO CPU that pulls that much, that I know of. Try 500w at your rate of .15, that is .075 a hour...

  40. amd already announced this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I read on amdmb.com that AMD was doing dual core processers in 2005. In fact they had an interview with someone from the company and had a picture, though I cannot remember if it was of the dual cores. Then about a month after that I read Intel wanted to do it. Now this info surfaces.

  41. The future is now by TimeZone · · Score: 1
    IBM is now selling Power5 boxes. Each Power5 chip is dual-cored and dual-threaded meaning 4 CPUs per chip. They will (soon?) be selling machines with Power5 MCMs, which are 4 Power5 chips on a single module. That's right, a sixteen-way in the palm of your hand. (well, hands, really, they're big. Look at the picture.)

    End of Advertisement

    TZ

  42. How about cache ? by rudolfel · · Score: 0

    I see that Intel keeps increasing the number of "virtual processors" on their chip. But with a 512kB
    cache they will only wait a lot for the data to become available. Has any of you wondered why a PowerPC is better than a Pentium(TM) at the same clock ?
    Because MHz=bullshit when the memory runs at [2-4]00 MHz.

    Increasing the number of processor per chip without increasing the cache is marketing bullshit.

    --
    -- Segmentation fault. Core dumped
    1. Re:How about cache ? by TailGunner · · Score: 0

      Prescott has 1MB of cache.

  43. Re:500w does not = 5000w by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    5KW/Hrs a day.
    See, that last word. That's day. Not hour. Any further questions Miss?

  44. Oh no... by null-sRc · · Score: 1

    ...thanks to HyperThreading...

    yeah thanks hyperthreading for making my games unstable.

    has anyone else encountered this? i've seen two computers with lots of strange bugs and system instabilities; untill you disable hyperthreading and then blam! no crashes since... :| :| :| !!!

    (two different motherboards, one asus, and one intel)

    --
    -judging another only defines yourself
    1. Re:Oh no... by fredhero · · Score: 1

      Sounds like the game might not be particularly thread safe and was probably never tested on a real dual cpu box.

  45. mplayer, however by bcboy · · Score: 1

    ... will still only use one cpu. ;p

  46. Not really a happy ending by sufehmi · · Score: 1

    Heh, thanks; very interesting mod tag :)

    Unfortunately, it doesn't really have a happy ending - originally I installed VMware (and the virtual servers) on Linux. However, turned out our FM [1] (Facility Management provider) doesn't support Linux.

    So I had to reinstall the OS and VMware and run the whole bunch on Windows [2] instead :(

    [1] FM provider is kinda like a co-lo company - you give your servers to them, and they'll take care of them for you. Except that they're much more expensive...

    [2] From my experience, it seems that VMware 4.x workstation is more stable on Linux than on Windows. I've experienced several quirks when running VMware on Windows, so I try to avoid Windows for this whenever possible.

    A side note: Contrary to some believe/comments, VMware 4.x workstation is quite powerful.
    I've heard people saying that it won't run on more than 1 GB of RAM / multiple processors - well, one of our server is a dual-Xeon and have 3 GB of RAM, and VMware 4.x is running happily on it.

    1. Re:Not really a happy ending by SmittyTheBold · · Score: 1

      The RAM limitation was fixed in 4.5, which is a relatively recent release.

      --
      ± 29 dB
  47. Cool. by IPFreely · · Score: 1

    Pretty soon, they'll start making chips with water ducts built in. You put the processor on the MB, attach water pipes directly to the in and out nozzels on the processor itself, and start up the water cooling pump *BEFORE* you turn on the CPU power.

    --
    There is nothing so silly as other peoples traditions, and nothing so sacred as our own.
  48. IBM is already there... by AIXmaster · · Score: 1

    IBM got POWER5 with two processors cores on one
    physical chip; with each core SMT enabled.
    So POWER5 have four "processors" on one chip.

    --
    DisClaimer: My comments do not reflect nor represent anyone else nor my current employer's views or attitudes.
  49. Re:To J^raxis: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    meditation even.

  50. Dual Car Prescott by pommiekiwifruit · · Score: 1
    So sorry, but it had to be said...

    (so is an individual core a Jaguar?)

  51. 1 running, 3 idle by octogen · · Score: 1

    That makes 4 'virtual' CPUs. Anyway, as most PC users are running NT (or one of its successors), and as locking is anything but fine-grained on NT, while one thread running on one CPU will call some NT kernel function which locks a CRITICAL_SECTION, three other threads running on the remaining three CPUs, who call some other kernel function, will wait for the same CRITICAL_SECTION; effectively, only one CPU gets any real work done.

    That's why some other OSs may perform similar on uniprocessor hardware, but may substantially outperform NT on multiprocessor hardware. For example, if you take a look at the SunOS kernel, you'll find much more efficient locking techniques (faster mutexes, lots of rw-locks, more fine-grained structures == better parallellization).

    Multiprocessor hardware performs well with technologically sophisticated software only; I mean: it doesn't make sense to increase the number of processors if you don't use all of them simultaneously.

    1. Re:1 running, 3 idle by drsmithy · · Score: 1
      That makes 4 'virtual' CPUs. Anyway, as most PC users are running NT (or one of its successors), and as locking is anything but fine-grained on NT, while one thread running on one CPU will call some NT kernel function which locks a CRITICAL_SECTION, three other threads running on the remaining three CPUs, who call some other kernel function, will wait for the same CRITICAL_SECTION; effectively, only one CPU gets any real work done.

      What makes you think locking on NT isn't fine-grained ? It was designed from the start for SMP and has had ~15 years of development since. Nothing I've ever read about its design or development would suggest it doesn't have excellent fine-grained locking.

  52. "Intel Corp...never released...dual-core strategy" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "UPDATE: A representative for Intel Corporation told X-bit labs the company had never released any precise details in regards the dual-core strategy. The information published herein should not be considered as based on official statements."

    Article mentioned in the story, top most....

    http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/cpu/display/2004061 01 51158.html