Slashdot Mirror
Inside Intel's Core i7 Processor, Nehalem
MojoKid writes "Intel's next-generation CPU microarchitecture, which was recently given the official processor family name of
'Core i7,' was one of the big topics of discussion at IDF. Intel claims that Nehalem represents its biggest platform architecture change to date. This might be true, but it is not a from-the-ground-up, completely new architecture either. Intel representatives disclosed that Nehalem 'shares a significant portion of the P6 gene pool,' does not include many new instructions, and has approximately the same length pipeline as Penryn. Nehalem is built upon Penryn, but with significant architectural changes (full webcast) to improve performance and power efficiency. Nehalem also
brings Hyper-Threading back to Intel processors, and while Hyper-Threading has been criticized in the past as being energy inefficient, Intel claims their current iteration of Hyper-Threading on Nehalem is much better in that regard."
Update: 8/23 00:35 by SS: Reader Spatial points out Anandtech's analysis of Nehalem.
You obviously haven't run Vista (smart move). It is going to take more cores than an Apple orchard to get that OS off the ground. In this fat world of ours, Vista has a BMI of a googleplex.
Nehalem is really the realization of what many slashdotters have claimed before - the typical user doesn't need that much more performance. Both datacenters and laptop users ask for the same thing - power efficiency - and Intel delivers. The Atom is another part of the strategy, even though it's current coupled with a very inefficient chipset.
True. The users have jet engines on Volkswagen chassis right now. For Vista? Wowa, that is nuts. I want more performance in the new processors without the OS baggage thank you.
The thing is, today we have the knowledge and complexity to fire up kilowatt systems and more - but they're costly running. Certainly there's the extreme hardcore gamers who won't mind running the hottest, most powerhungry quad crossfire system, but they're few and far between. Laptop users think battery life. Desktop users think electricity costs. The result is Nehalem, which promises to deliver a lot more performance per watt.
If you are a laptop user, a X2 (AMD) is by the far the best. Video chipset aside, get NVidia, as ATI sucks. Mind you, I haven't bought ATI for awhile, with their anti-open source and poor driver support for products like ATI Video Blunder.
If the practise is as good as the theory, AMD is unfortunately in deep shit. They've always been good at delivering ok processors at an ok price, but power efficiency has really only been their strength compared to the Netburst (PIV) processors, not P3 or the Cores. If it amounts to "yeah your processors are cheaper but they cost more to operate" things will fall apart, which is sad since ATI is really doing fine. The 48xx series are kick-ass cards, I just hope they can keep up the competition against Intel...
Actually, I think AMD produces good processors and blundered with acquiring ATI. ATI while real good last century, they lost it. They became anti-Linux, support in OSes like BSD and Solaris dwindled and they wouldn't even say no to emails. ATI Vido Blunder just topped the cake.
I will not buy ATI until it say on the package Solaris, Linux and Windblows supported.
BTW, you should get Firefox, it tells you where your spelling mistakes are and is a safer more portable browser. 3.0 is really a hoot.
shut it up all. It definitely comes from "ne halim" - slang for "we're gonna eat ourselves". Lols if they only knew how that sounds in my language ! ^|^ _