Since I consider myself a computer hobbyist? enthusiast?, I generally try to keep up with trends within the hardware computing industry. There's been a lot of great new stuff around the corner for microprocessing and I'd thought I'd share some of it here:
2010: Release: This year we will see the release of new processors containing 6 and 8 cores from both Intel and AMD. Last week, a
German site has already begun taking preorders for Intel's new 6 core desktop processor Core i7-980 Extreme Edition (codename: Gulftown). (this was also rumored to be named Core i9 because of the 32 nm process but it appears it will keep the i7 tag at least for early releases). This features a new 32 nm process based on Intel's 6 core Xeon 7400 series (server processor) (codenamed: Dunnington) released a couple years ago and will have 12 MB of shared L3 cache . From what I've read, it will also feature
Intel's Hyper-Threading technology activated which will process 12 simultaneous threads as well as 2x QPI (
QuickPath Interconnect). It will still be Socket 1366 compatible (Core i7) and also DDR3 compatible. Here's a screenshot of it in action:
Additionally, Intel will most likely release it's 8 core processor for desktop computring packaged as an i7 (or i9) very soon which is based on Intel's Xeon 5500 series (codename: "Nehalem-EX"). This new octal-core will sport a 24MB of shared L3 cache while processing a whopping 16 threads simultaneously. We should see more information about an official release very soon (within the next quarter)
Of course not to be outdone, AMD has a fresh set of hexa-core processors in the pipeline -- 5 to be exact. These Phenom II X6 processors will be called "Thuban" class of processors and will sport a 6 MB shared L3 Cache and 3 MB (512K exclusive per core) L2 cache.
Said to be launching with a technology known for now as “C-state performance boost,” Phenom II X6s are alleged to be capable of dynamically adjusting core frequencies up to the maximum limit of the chip’s TDP. Those familiar with Intel Turbo Boost will no doubt see the similarities. They will still support the AM3 socket (or AM2+ with BIOS update) and DDR3 memory.
2011 and beyond:There is a lot to write about what's on the horizon and I'll edit this post later when I have more time. For now...
Intel: Replaces multi-core processing with "many-core" processing named by Intel as
SCC (Single-Chip Cloud Computer) sporting 48 "cores". "With this technology you eventually may be able to replace a rack of servers with a single chip" -- Sean Koehl, Intel Tech Labs.
AMD: Mimic's Intel's Larabee project with it's own Fusion processor (codename: Llano) -- an integrated CPU and GPU chip
nVidia: Also working on a CPU/GPU hybrid of it's own for use in it's chipsets and video cards.
