Intel unveiled their next major core processor line today, dubbed Core i7. Once known only by it's infinitely cooler code name, 'Nehalem,' the i7 will be coming out in boxes in the second half of 2009.
As expected, the architecture will further facilitate multiple cores, sporting from 2 to 8 cores. In addition, the features greater graphics processing capabilities, making integrated GPU's redundant, though nothing close to a replacement in power for a good discrete graphics brick. i7 also features an integrated memory controller, lower power requirements, and better multi-threading. The integrated memory management, in particular, is something of a coup de grace to AMD, since at this point pretty much the only differentiator for them now is higher price and inferior product. ^^;
All in all, it looks to be a killer processor for laptops and desktops that will not be shouldering any heavy graphics demands. For the rest of us e-peen fanatics, though, the improved memory handling and further elimination of bottlenecks is also certainly welcome.
I see Intel and Nvidia starting to butt heads in the future. They've collectively put their mutual competitor AMD to bed (unless they pull something drastic out their ass, like what Intel did to reverse AMD's initial onslaught all those years back), and both seem to be inching their way toward integrating one another's functionality.
Anyway, if i7 slips into 775 when it comes out, I might just pick one up.
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2 comments:
I think the whole AMD/Intel supremacy actually goes in cycles along with NVIDIA/ATI and that we'll still be seeing AMD/ATI in the future. In fact, AMD looks like they're beating Intel towards 22nm architecture which will be a few years down the line but still shows that they'll be giving Intel some worthwhile competition. Right now I'm gizzing over the Intel Atom and soon the dual-core Atom. This thing draws 4W at peak aka efficient as shit.
I personally don't care so much about efficiency, or performance for that matter, really; both are more or less bound to progress. The problem I see with AMD is that they've really made no attempts to match the sort of integration currently being seen in Nvidia and Intel's labs; it was more than raw processing power that made the original Athlons a draw, it was the ability to leverage that power more efficiently for targeted apps like graphics. AMD also scored a lead by heading into 64-bit territory first. All of these things were innovations beyond the benchmarks for performance at the time, which blew the market wide open. AMD killed clockspeed as a measure of performance. Now, all they can do is hope to keep up on the processing power front, as you say with the new architecture, but do little to out-zazz its competitors, who are coming up with things that are literally redefining the roles of the CPU and GPU.
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