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Intel Readying Dual-Core Desktop Chip

sunisha.shah4eva writes "CoolTechZone is reporting that Intel is planning on introducing a dual-core Dothan chip for desktop computers. According to the article, Intel has plans to turn the performance table around with AMD. From the article: 'Finally, it looks like Intel has learned from its mistake and secretly prepping a surprise for the rest of the industry. According to the information we received, Intel is currently working on a desktop, dual-core Dothan microprocessor with SSE3 instruction set that Intel plans to launch sometime in the future. Whether the launch will take place this year or in 2006 is currently unknown.'"

26 of 280 comments (clear)

  1. 2006? by Tokerat · · Score: 3, Interesting


    ...just in time for the Apple switch to Intel products?

    I'm still kind of miffed about that but if they run new dual-core chips it might not be so bad.

    --
    CAn'T CompreHend SARcaSm?
    1. Re:2006? by dsginter · · Score: 5, Interesting

      ...just in time for the Apple switch to Intel products?

      There is something curious in the Apple deal and it is big.

      Apple emphasized that they believed Intel's processor roadmap to be more impressive than any alternative. Now, Intel's current chips use boat loads of power because they haven't entered into a silicon-on-insulator deal with IBM, who owns the patent. AMD uses silicon-on-insulator to get their power consumption numbers wayy down relative to Intel's numbers.

      Without getting into the details on why Intel doesn't have silicon-on-insulator (IBM wants to "trade" instead of license...), one would think that AMD would have been a *much* better choice for Apple. But Apple's emphasis on the future processors leads me to believe that Intel has something *big* up their sleeve. Probably something to compete with the Cell processor, but on a much broader scale (i.e. - not focused so much on gaming performance).

      I know that Intel have been developing Ovonyx memory technology for some time now (since 2000). It is interesting to note that in the process of developing the memory, they found that it has nonbinary processing capabilities.

      Is Intel going to drop a bomb?

      --
      More
    2. Re:2006? by Tokerat · · Score: 3, Insightful


      Because of intelligence-insulting comments fromthe PC peanut gallery, we've all become trained to want nothign to do with your crowd. Make sense now?

      You'll be the first to bitch when you can't run OS X on any x86 machine you want, too.

      --
      CAn'T CompreHend SARcaSm?
    3. Re:2006? by masklinn · · Score: 4, Informative
      Apple emphasized that they believed Intel's processor roadmap to be more impressive than any alternative. Now, Intel's current chips use boat loads of power because they haven't entered into a silicon-on-insulator deal with IBM, who owns the patent. AMD uses silicon-on-insulator to get their power consumption numbers wayy down relative to Intel's numbers.
      You've failed to notice that TFA was about dual cores dothans (aka last Pentium-M core) haven't you?

      The power hungry shit processor is the regular Pentium using the Netburst architecture, high clock rates, low efficiency per cycle, fucking radiator, the dothan on the other hand is another story, much closer to AMD's approach: lower clock rates (and upper limit of the architecture) but better efficiency per cycle and MUCH LESS power hungry (while latest PIV crank out above 130W peak out of the box, dothan are rated under 27W)
      --
      "The way we can tell it's C# instead of Haskell is because it's nine lines instead of two." -- wadler
    4. Re:2006? by ciroknight · · Score: 3, Insightful

      While I'm sure there are hundreds of technologies Intel could possibly use to get a lead, they don't need to. Intel is refactoring for the Pentium M to take over the general computing market, the Xeon line to inheirit the Pentium 4 and all of its mess (hey, it's not too bad if you're gonna run it in an environmentally controlled room eh?), and the Itanium line is still continuing for the extreme high end (how the fuck??) and is soon to see its third iteration.

      Besides, I'm sure Intel has a great memory for trying rash proceedures. I'm sure the Pentium M was long on the table before they greenlighted the Pentium 4; it was the next logical progression of the P6 family tree. The Pentium 4 was probably someone's pet project used to drive the industry to a frenzy, feeding off of increased clock cycles. And it worked.

      Now that IPC is important again, Intel's baby P6 has grown up to a working man.

      --
      "Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is." G.W.Bush
  2. I've said it once... by LegendOfLink · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'll say it again, I LOVE competition. Ever since AMD became a threat to Intel, we've seen outrageous processor wars and benchmarking tribunals. I can buy a P4 3 gig processor for about $150 now.

    Most likely, Intel will take that performance throne with their "secret". They have a way of doing that (like HT); but, we'll see something better come from AMD. And so the cycle continues...and we all benefit!

    1. Re:I've said it once... by LehiNephi · · Score: 4, Informative

      The funny thing is that AMD is planning on releasing Quad Core chips in Q1 2006. Intel's DC Dothan may be too little, too late.

      --
      Help find a cure for cancer. Join the [H]orde
    2. Re:I've said it once... by masklinn · · Score: 4, Insightful
      All AMD has to do is shrink to 65 nm and start ramping clock speeds, and they are ensured great performance numbers.
      They barely can, they'd have to change the architecture to get significant improvements of their top frequency, the A64 architecture is at it's limit currently, and can barely be upgraded from time to time...

      This is the very reason why they're pumping more cores/processor
      --
      "The way we can tell it's C# instead of Haskell is because it's nine lines instead of two." -- wadler
    3. Re:I've said it once... by bhtooefr · · Score: 3, Informative

      Hmm...

      "The Consortium is led by founding members Advanced Micro Devices, Alliance Semiconductor, Apple Computer , Broadcom Corporation, Cisco Systems, NVIDIA, PMC-Sierra, Sun Microsystems, and Transmeta." (my emphasis)

      IBM wasn't a founding member. Sure, they're a member, but Apple is higher up in the hierarchy than IBM. If Apple wants HyperTransport on an Intel chip, they can get it, because they've got power to license it, AFAICT.

    4. Re:I've said it once... by hawkbug · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I don't think you're correct - they don't have to push their cpus at all right now, they have the peformance crown - if they have to, they will increase clock speed. Intel can't move the P4 up to 4 GHZ like they wanted, while AMD can move up a bit. Why do a I say this you ask? Have you seen the power consumption and heat dissipation of the new A64s? I have one running right here - 2.0 GHZ, Athlon 64 3200+ and it's only running at 30 C. Under full load, it hits 40 C. That's with stock cooling. That's 90 nm, wait until 65 - AMD has PLENTY of head room right now. They just aren't being forced to use it because Intel can't ramp the P4 at all - the 90 nm P4 actually put out MORE heat than the 130.

    5. Re:I've said it once... by masklinn · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Uh oh, no, temperature is not necessarily the issue. You can have your CPU running at 3C and still be unstable (try extreme cooling mods)...
      Fact is that every architecture has a maximum frequency limit, Netburst has a very high one (intel expected it to be much higher, but they got fucked up), A64 one has a much lower one. Proof is that OC world record is at 6.5GHz for Intel's and 4GHz for AMD's, and that's not with aircooling.

      Every architecture has a maximum frequency, and AMD is already at it's limit for mass production. No core including Winchester was able to reliably break the 2.6GHz frequency on mass market (out of the box), and only Venice core and SOI now allow AMD to plan for a 2.8GHz clocked processor (once again out of the box, not talking about overclocking here but about stable, mass-market ready reliable frequencies).

      Heat is not an issue for A64.
      Nor is it for Dothan processors, actually.

      If AMD could squeeze higher frequency out of their A64, they wouldn't even be considering Dual Core right now... AMD and Intel shifted to dual core because it's the only area of improvement save creating a completely new x86 architecture from scratch to replace the ones they currently have.

      --
      "The way we can tell it's C# instead of Haskell is because it's nine lines instead of two." -- wadler
  3. Yeah sure... by Walkiry · · Score: 5, Funny

    but will it run OS X?

    --
    ---- Take the Space Quiz!
  4. Many Dothans... by MatrixCubed · · Score: 5, Funny

    Many dothans died to bring you this information...

  5. Intel, Intel, Intel...all this talk about Intel... by bc90021 · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...what ever happened to Google? ;)

  6. in the future? by digidave · · Score: 5, Funny

    "that Intel plans to launch sometime in the future"

    This just in: AMD has plans to launch their dual core desktop chip sometime in the past, thus beating Intel to the punch yet again.

    --
    The global economy is a great thing until you feel it locally.
  7. Intel: "AMD, I challenge you to a Duel" by aapold · · Score: 4, Funny

    best 2 out of 3?

    --
    "Waste not one watt!" - CZ
  8. Current Intel Dual Core DOA by the+eric+conspiracy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Sounds like a good idea to me since I have already ruled out current Intel dual core designs because of their outrageous power consumption. AMD Athlon 64's are much better in this department except they are awfully expensive right now. A more economical dual core Dothan design would definitely be something I would be interested in.

  9. Re:Ummmm, by dextroz · · Score: 4, Funny

    And if you all thought you had seen the end of the cow fwds, here is a
    revelation- another one. The last line rings so true...

    INFOSYSism
    You have a thousand poor cows. You put them on a nice campus, and send them one at a time to the US for milking.

    WIPROism
    GE has a cow. You take 49% of the milk.

    DELLism
    Intel has a Goat. Samsung has a Camel. Buy milk from both and sell it as Cow's milk.

    IBMism
    You have old stubborn cows. You sell them as pet dogs to unsuspecting small businessmen.

    MICROSOFTism
    You have a cow. Force the world to buy milk from you. Spend a million dollars to feed poorer cows.

    SUNism
    You have a bull. It doesn't give milk. You hate Microsoft.

    ORACLEism
    You have a cow. You don't know which side to milk, so you sell tools to help milk cows.

    SAPism
    You don't have a cow. You sell milking solutions for cows implimented by milking consultants.

    APPLEism
    You have a cow. You sell iMilk.

    SONYism
    You have a cow. You spend 50 million dollars to develop the world's thinnest milk.

    HPism
    You don't know if what you have is a cow. You sell complete milking solutions through Authorized Resellers only.

    GEism
    You have a donkey. People think you have a 100-year old cow. If someone finds out, that's his imagination at work.

    RELIANCEism
    You don't yet have a cow. You sell empty cans to people for Rs. 501, because Dhirubhai wanted everyone to have milk.

    CITIBANKism
    Welcome to citibank. If you have a cow, press one.
    If you have a bull, press two... stay on the line if you would like our customer care officer to milk it for you...

    TATAism
    You have a very old cow. You re-brand it as TATA Indicow.

    --
    Where's my free iPod!? Until then, I'll settle for a kiss...
  10. Cue speculation about Apple by spyrral · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Before anyone beats me to it (surprise! I'm sure they already have) let's curb speculation about whether Apple will be able to leverage this technology in their upcoming products:
    • Apple switched to Intel for the explicit purpose of benefitting from advances like this
    • Apple will most likely be using a slightly different architechture than wintel(mobo, bios, firmware, etc), so not every hot new Intel chip will make it into an Apple system.
    • Apple will still be offering a limited selection of systems, so they will have to pick and choose what makes it into thier product line
    The first systems are more than a year away (not counting the dev system) so everybody take a deep breath.
  11. Dual-Core Hypervisor 64-bit Intel Macintosh by davidwr · · Score: 3, Funny

    That's what I want.

    Multiprocessor too. Gotta have more than one CPU.

    MacOS, various Linuxes, various non-Apple BSDs, and because I have to :(, various Windows flavors, all running on the same box at the same time. Sweet.

    Hmm, what else do I need, a few dozen GB HD per OS, a GB or two of RAM per OS, a core per OS, 10GHz networking, high-end sound and video, ... oh, and a super-sized power supply and liquid-metal cooling system to make it all work.

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
  12. Re:Didn't AMD shoot down Intel's "dual core" claim by masklinn · · Score: 5, Informative

    Communication efficiency and information sharing between the two cores.

    On AMD Dual Cores, there is a specific bus for communication between cores and with the memory module, while in Intel types they have to use the main bus.

    So intel choice for Netburst dual core lowers the total efficiency (since the cores have to share with the rest of the system, situation akin to regular dual processors) while AMD dual cores have a special bus which is even faster than the regular main bus, lowering latency and increasing communication capacities between the cores, on top of making them compatible with regular mobos.

    But one has to remember that the choice Intel made for Netburst's dual core was more than likely done in a hurry, to release DC faster than AMD.
    They'll probably design a much more specific processor for their Dothan dual cores.

    --
    "The way we can tell it's C# instead of Haskell is because it's nine lines instead of two." -- wadler
  13. Err, ahh, hurray! by SuperKendall · · Score: 4, Funny

    Well, as an Apple user let me say this Intel dual core thing, it looks, ah, mighty good. Go.... Intel? Yes. Go Intel!

    Man this is going to be a rough transition.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  14. ::pop:: by brickballs · · Score: 5, Funny

    "...secretly prepping a surprise for the rest of the industry"

    uh, hate to burst your bubble, but I got this nagging suspicion that somebody from AMD reads slashdot.

    --
    "What does slashdotting mean?"
    "You've never heard of slashdot?"
    "I know it makes websites not work."
  15. Benchmarks by akuma(x86) · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Tom's Hardware has some interesting benchmarks with a Dothan in a desktop system with a halfway decent memory system.

    http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/20050525/pentium4- 21.html

  16. Re:Funny that, I can already buy dual-core chips by orderb13 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And if you actually looked at the performance for those chips you'd see that the pricing for the dual cores actually favors AMD on a performance basis. The difference is that Intel released their "dual core" chips for the low end, while AMD only released them for their high end chips.

    Also you're not comparing the same type of chip. Opteron is AMD's SERVER chipset, which are always more expensive than desktop chipsets.

  17. NOT! by Dcnjoe60 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Yes, you can buy what are called dual core P4s for a third the price of an actual dual-core Opteron, but that's because you get what you are paying for.

    Opterons have their own high-speed dedicated bus for core to core communication. Dual core P4s are really two separate P4s on a single chip and use the regular bus for communications (along with memory, i/o, etc.).

    The dual core P4 you mentioned is operationally no better than dual P4s (single core).