Itanium finally hits four cores on the one die, while the desktop processors are set to hit prices to die for.
Desktop CPUs often receive technology hand-me-downs from their more expensive server brothers, but it appears that the reverse can also happen. Intel has just announced that its 64-bit server CPU, the Itanium, will move to a quad core model in 2009, trailing the first desktop quad-core by a couple of years. While Itanium has been available in four-core solutions in the past, they’ve been based on four cores spread over two core dies.
The new chip, code-named Tukwila, will incorporate all four cores on a single die. This allows the delivery of powerful eight processor systems, each packing a total of 32 CPU cores. To serve the cache needs of four cores on one die, the chips will include 30MB of cache memory, up from 24MB. Surprisingly, the chip will be manufactured on a 65nm process, shunning the newer 45nm process currently being used for desktop chips. Using this process, the total number of transistors will reach 2 billion, running at a clock speed of up to 2GHz. Due to Itanium’s extremely rigorous error-detection technology, especially in regards to memory, the new platform has been tested with two terabytes of RAM.
News of the new CPU followed some great sales announcements from Intel regarding the existing Itanium lineup. System volume for Itanium had year on year growth of just over 36%, with our neck of the woods, Asia Pacific, having even stronger growth at 45%.
On the desktop side, things are looking up as well, with digitimes.com noting that several motherboard manufacturers are suggesting extensive price drops for consumer level chips in Q3. The ridiculously priced QX9650 (a quad-core Core 2 Extreme running at 3GHz which currently retails for upwards of AU$1000) will drop to US$530, while the 3.16GHz E8500 and 3.0GHz E8400 dual-cores will decrease to US$183 and US$163 respectively. Whether Aussies can wait that long, considering how strong our Aussie dollar is right now, is another matter. Speaking of which, we’re off to Amazon.com for some bargain basement hardware shopping...