Intel Announces New Chips, Chipsets

Saud Hakim writes "Intel showed a prototype of an IEEE 802.11a wireless LAN transceiver created by using a 90-nm CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor) fabrication. The chip can switch between different networks and frequencies; it is capable of tuning and tweaking itself. It is also capable of detecting what kinds of wireless networks are available nearby and shifting to the frequency that is most appropriate." Reader serox sends more: "Intel has two big news releases today and IntelFanboy has it covered. First up is the new Xeon processors have been released with a list of improvements. Second, Intel has revealed two significant milestones in the development of extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) lithography that will help lead to developing the next generation chip technology."

Comments

Story is incorrect.

[mlyle]

It's new Intel server platforms based on the Xeon that have been release; not new Xeons.

That being said, this really bulks up the low-intermediate end of the Intel enterprise offering.

hot hot

[scaaven]

now I can fry an egg on my LAN card too!

Re:hot hot

[b374]

I won't get one of those 'till they bundle it with a shiny cooler whith a neon (rhymes with xeon) led fan...

Leakage Current and Heat

[macklin01]

But the leakage current problems have been increasing with process shrinks (not just at Intel, but also at IBM and AMD). So they can use even smaller lithography. Great. Will the leakage current and associated heat suck even worse than Prescott?

Re:Leakage Current and Heat

[Short Circuit]

According to the article, they can use less power, due to the feature shrinkage.

I won't pretend to understand the relationship of power and leakage wrt feature size, though.

Re:Leakage Current and Heat

[nelsonal]

My very basic understanding of the relationship is this, it takes less power to cause a smaller semiconductor to switch states, however as you move wires closer together you start to have capacitive leakage and inductive effects from the wires. Up until a few years ago, you the former was signficantly larger than the latter, but in recent years they have become more equal in magnitude of effect.
I like to think of semiconductors (and most electrical things) in terms of fluid flow (not ideal but you can get the picture better). Imagine a water valve with both hot and cold water entry and leaving (they share a mixing area). When water arrives some processing is done that assigns it a path and when it hits the gate the force of the water opens the gate, after the water leaves it closes. If we shrink the valve down it will require less water arriving before it opens, however as we move the hot pipe closer to the cold pipe some undesired heat is transfered. This is something similar to the effects designers (and manufacturers are dealing with on semiconductors).

Re:Leakage Current and Heat

[mytec]

I read somewhere today that Intel engineers have developed a new compound to use for the insulating layer on the gates, to replace SiO2

Yeah, it's called "high-K". Here is a link.

Re:Leakage Current and Heat

[haroldhunt]

> But the leakage current problems have been increasing with __process shrinks__ [my emphasis] (not just at Intel, but also at IBM and AMD).

Not really true. Leakage current doesn't increase significantly with just a process shrink; rather, it tends to be associated with process shrinks because one of the main reasons for a process shrink is to rev the clock rate up. In this case there is little reason to rev the clock rate on an 802.11a/b/g chip that is processing signals at pre-defined frequencies. In other words, they have held all other things equal and shrunk the die; leakage current should not dramatically increase.

You'll also notice that the article mentioned power savings as a result of the shrink: so the answer was already in the article. If the leakage current and heat were going to be worse than Prescott they would only have touted the cost savings of the smaller die, not the power savings as well.

Harold

Can't wait for EUV lithography!

[dFaust]

It's just like Ultraviolet lithography.... TO THE EXTREEEEEEME!!!!!

Hey, at least they didn't spell it "Xtreme"

Re:Can't wait for EUV lithography!

[SharpFang]

Extreme ultraviolet? They SHOULD have used the X... After all it's called X-rays.

Cool - I'm going to get an x86-64 Dell (dude)

[Virtual PC Guy]

Yay - now it will be easy for guys like me (lazy people who don't feel like assembling machines by hand anymore) to get an x86-64 box from Dell:

http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/compare.a spx/precn?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd

Or should I say 'Intel® Extended Memory 64 Technology' (whatever guys - everyone knows that it is just AMDs tech)

Re:Cool - I'm going to get an x86-64 Dell (dude)

[hpa]

No, it's not. EM64T, or IA32e (make up your mind, guys) is Intel's clone of AMD64/x86-64.

You're thinking of PAE.

Re:Cool - I'm going to get an x86-64 Dell (dude)

[Slack3r78]

Actually, EMT64 is an incomplete clone of x86-64 by most reports, and doesn't appear to be binary compatible with x86-64. The x86-64 bit Linux distros are having to hack in support for the CPUs that essentially still does paging in software.

On top of that, all the ALUs on the CPU are still 32 bit, and it does not support the NX bit. There's a reason why Intel is only touting it as an "extended memory" architechture. It's an incomplete hack on top of the existing 32 bit chips that seems like nothing more than an attempt to save face by Intel.

Re:Cool - I'm going to get an x86-64 Dell (dude)

[Anarke_Incarnate]

except that AMD64 has 40 bit memory addressing while the EM64T shite has 36bit memory addressing. Read the stuff Redhat had to do to make it work with their kernel. Intel kludged this one.

a? wtf?

[rokzy]

isn't 802.11a the old one that had a few benefits in certain situations over 802.11b, but is now superceded by 802.11g?

Re:a? wtf?

[hpa]

Not really. 802.11a operates in the 5 GHz band, and can thus coexist with 802.11b without suffering degradation, unlike 802.11g which does degrade when .11b devices are present -- if nothing else because the .11b devices hog the channel for 5 times as long.

Thus, heavy-use WLANs like corporate installations are frequently A+G, and a lot of current wlan client chips are also A+G.

In the current wlan market, 802.11a is the premium solution; unfortunately both in terms of cost and performance.

Re:a? wtf?

[ElForesto]

It's worth noting that 802.11a has a significantly shorter theoretical maximum range when compared to the 2.4GHz (802.11b/g) solutions.

Re:a? wtf?

[Jeff DeMaagd]

It's worth noting that 802.11a has a significantly shorter theoretical maximum range when compared to the 2.4GHz (802.11b/g) solutions.

That is true but it is also far less crowded, with five or eight available channels in most countries. With the recent FCC posting, "a" is considered an indoor technology. I get pretty good range with "b" - something pretty close to the claimed 1000ft with the equipment I have, but that is with no obstructions. I really don't need that sort of range. The range problems a lot of people have with APs typically involve poor location and nothing more.

In other news...

[SharpFang]

Texas Instruments released a new microcontroller based on the revolutionary TTL ( Transistor-Transistor Logic) technology!

10 GHz?

[Pusene]

Too bad this type of wireless sytem is not allowed to use in better parts of the world, due to the regulation of radio frequencies. Why not use this adaptive frequency model in CPUs. Let the clockspeed scale with the load on the processor! (I meen scale in 30 MHz increments or something, not step between two speeds like it does now on some CPUs!)

Re:10 GHz?

[Short Circuit]

Why not use this adaptive frequency model in CPUs.

They do. It's called SpeedStep or LongRun.

Re:10 GHz?

[IPFreely]

Too bad this type of wireless sytem is not allowed to use in better parts of the world, due to the regulation of radio frequencies.

That's OK. I don't live in the better parts of the world. I live in the US.

Wake me when

[wowbagger]

Yawn. Wake me when Intel has released real, production ready (NOT 0.2) drivers for Linux for this, or any other modern wireless network chip.

Re:Wake me when

[Anonymous Coward]

The specs are publically available. Instead of sitting around whining, why don't you get off your ass and write the drivers yourself?

Re:Wake me when

[debilo]

Uhm. I think one could expect a vendor to provide drivers themeselves. You actually have to pay for their products, remember? You give them money, you make them rich. I really don't feel like giving money to a company just to find out that I also pay them for limiting my choice.

Grandparent was right, you are wrong.

Press Release links

[mobby_6kl]

why would somebody link to a forum reposting the official press release? (well ok I think I know)

New Server Platforms
EUV Lithography

Mesh This!

[lofi-rev]

Now if everybody would just carry around one of these devices and cooperate in a mesh network then I could finally achieve my dream of....

Well, it would be really cool.

Xeon Nocona / Lindenhurst Embedded Core Available

[starannihilator]

There has been a great deal of discussion regarding the availability of the Lindenhurst chipset, and WIN Enterprises is pleased to offer developers the latest Xeon technology for their embedded controllers and platforms. WIN Enterprises, Inc., a leading designer and manufacturer of customized embedded controllers and x86-based electronic products for OEMs, has announced the availability of the latest Intel 64-bit Xeon core module for developers of high-performance embedded platforms - Nocona / Lindenhurst. WIN Enterprises is pleased to offer leading-edge, long-life solutions based on Nocona / Lindenhurst for everything from embedded single board computers to platform systems. For OEMs looking to incorporate the newest Xeon technology, WIN Enterprises has developed a proven core module for Nocona / Lindenhurst to create custom embedded controllers. "We have spent an extensive amount of time debugging and perfecting this specific core module," said Chiman Patel, WIN Enterprises' CEO and CTO. "This will allow our OEM customers to bring their application-specific Nocona / Lindenhurst embedded products to market quickly and cost-effectively." For more information, please contact WIN Enterprises at 978-688-2000 or sales@win-ent.com. Visit www.win-ent.com to learn more about WIN Enterprises' embedded design and manufacturing services.

Intel wireless is teh sucks

[leathered]

Well I only hope this new wireless performs better than Centrino. It's not like integrating WiFi into a chipset is rocket science as all chipset makers are at it now. Oh and this time, some Linux drivers right off the bat, please.

At the moment Centrino pairs an excellent low power, good performing processor (Pentium M); with the one of the poorest performing Wi-Fi solutions you can get. But look at how they've marketed it on it's poorest facet, with Centrino you can read your email on top of Everest, browse the web while skydiving with no mention of the strengths of the Pentium M. Almost as bad as 'Pentium 4 speeds up your internet experience' campaign. I've had people asking me about getting a new laptop because they think Centrino is the only way to get WiFi, if only they knew they can get a better performing wireless card for the price of a few beers.

Netcraft confirms...

[Bi()hazard]

Well actually Netcraft doesn't confirm it, and Intel may not be dying, but they are going downhill. Does anyone else find these releases underwhelming in light of the recent story about how AMD is pushing ahead while Intel stagnates and delays the releases of 4GHz and 64 bit technology?

Quite simply, Intel took shortcuts to get temporary advantages, and it's coming back to haunt them. The GHz myth is being dispelled and Intel is falling behind in the technologies that really matter. Today's new releases are only stopgap measures-a slight bump in the Xeon and some wlan card that's only going to be a minor player in an area Intel has not been focusing heavily on.

What is Intel focusing on? Branding. Marketing. Getting their stickers on everything and being known to the general public. Intel? "oohh they make computers!" AMD? "Durr is that those missiles in Iraq?" That may be why Intel still has a commanding lead in the processor market, but it will only take them so far. As word of mouth carries AMD to dominance in the hobbyist market, high end buyers will follow the hobbyists' lead. Enterprises will flock to 64 bit technology now that it is maturing on AMD, and still unavailable on Intel. Once AMD has taken control of the high-end market, the midrange will follow along like lemmings. All they know is, they want what the big boys have. And the big boys want AMD to go along with their fancy cars and fast women.

This downward spiral will continue until Intel loses its position as the king of processors and becomes just another hardware company. Nobody will care about what your sticker says is inside, and consumers will win as competition and diversity increase.

A few years out, Netcraft will finally deploy their stunning new technology that can detect your processor type, even through NAT. At that point the truth will become stark and clear, slapping us all in the face with the blinding realization that... Intel IS DYING! You heard it here first, folks: The future belongs to BSD on AMD. Beowulf clusters of BSD on AMD. Wintel is Dying. Wintel is a decrepit artifact of the past, to be fondly remembered in museums along with the 8 inch floppy and "turbo" buttons.

p.s. Netcraft also confirms that the baby-shit BEIGE OF THE END TIMES is spreading like a cancer. Oh god its so horrible, what kind of sadistic bastard is behind this.

Re:Netcraft confirms...

[TrancePhreak]

I don't think 64bit is ready yet in the Windows world, which is probably where most of Intel's purchases come from anyways. Drivers are still lacking, Windows 64 is still not ready, etc.

Re:Xeon Nocona / Lindenhurst Embedded Core Availab

[drinkypoo]

Score 2, Informative? Where's my (-1, Unpaid Advertisement) mod?