No Shabby Tigers
Intel is on track to release its ultra-high-end, quad-core Xeon MP processor, code-named
Tigerton, in the second half of 2007. Officially known as the Xeon MP 7000 Series, the
multi-processor—MP—chip is intended for servers with multiple sockets. Tigerton is the
second quad-core server CPU from Intel—the first being the Xeon 5300 Series
(previously known as Clovertown). While Clovertown is intended for more mainstream
server use, Tigerton is aimed at users needed super-computing power for high-end
development tasks.
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Intel has updated its Intel Xeon processor MP roadmap with the addition of a new
platform in 2007, codenamed “Caneland,” which is planned to include the Tigerton quadcore processor. Caneland is designed to deliver higher performance through an interface
connecting each processor directly to the chipset. In addition, the platform is expected to
implement an upcoming memory technology—fully buffered dual in-line memory
module (FB-DIMM)—that will include four memory interconnects to take advantage of
the increased capabilities of the technology.
x86 Embedded SoC On Its Way?
Intel appears to be preparing a 65nm processor for industrial applications called Tolapai.
Embedded developers keen for the x86 to move into the embedded space can celebrate,
as the upcoming processor is intended for use in embedded systems as well as the
industrial computer market. The Tolapai processor is based on the Pentium M, with
expected clock frequency speed grades of 600MHz, 1.06GHz, and 1.2GHz. It will
support the DDR2 memory interface, operating at data-transfer clock rates of between
400MHz and 800MHz to up to 2GB of off-chip memory. The power consumption is
estimated at between 13 and 22 watts. The processor will have 256K of on-chip cache.
The Tolapai platform includes on-die support and will come with the Intel Architecture
32-bit instruction set, I/O and packet processing, and security acceleration. Also
incorporating support for DDR-2 400-800 with ECC, it will sit in a lead-free, 1,088-ball
FCPGA, in a 37.5mm-by-37.5mm-by-4.5mm package.
Whether Tolapai is a brand-new processor or one being modified for industrial
applications and temperature ranges from an established chip is not yet known. Operating
system support includes Linux, Windows Embedded XP, and FreeBSD, and should offer
optional hardware support for encryption.
Tera-Scale Turns Teraflops into Reality
Intel's researchers have developed a programmable processor that delivers
supercomputer-like performance on a single, 80-core chip. The first teraflops
performance was achieved in 1996 on a computer took up more than 2,000 square feet,
was powered by nearly 10,000 Pentium Pro processors, and consumed over 500 kilowatts
of electricity. Intel's research chip is the size of a fingernail and uses only 62 watts of
electricity, less than many single-core processors currently in production. The chip is a
result of research on "tera-scale computing," which will deliver teraflop—trillions of
calculations per second—performance to future PCs and servers.
[picture ref: 02_Feb_2007_Intel_news_teraflops_chip.jpg]
The chip uses a tile design in which smaller cores are replicated as "tiles," making it
easier to design a chip with many cores. The teraflops chip features a mesh-like
"network-on-a-chip" architecture that allows super-high-bandwidth communication
between the cores and can move terabits of data per second inside the chip. The research
also investigated methods to power cores on and off independently, so only the ones
needed to complete a task are used, giving the chip its high energy efficiency.
[picture ref: 02_Feb_2007_Intel_news_teraflops_chip_actual_size.jpg]
While Intel has no plans to bring this particular chip—designed with floating-point
cores—to market, the company's tera-scale research will power research toward
innovations in individual and specialized processor or core functions, the types of chipto-chip and chip-to-computer interconnects required to best move data, and how software
must be designed to best leverage multiple processor cores. The teraflops chip gives
researchers insight into new silicon design methodologies, high-bandwidth interconnects,
and energy-management approaches.
Core 2 Duo-Based Mini-ITX Board Launched
American Portwell Technologies, a member of the Intel Communications Alliance, has
launched WADE-8056, its Core 2 Duo-based mini-ITX board. This simplified embedded
system board combines its computing power with a smaller footprint, lower power
consumption, and increased product longevity. The WADE-8056 mini-ITX board uses
the Intel Q965 and ICH8DO chipset to support Intel’s Core 2 Duo and Pentium 4 and
Celeron D processors.
[picture ref: 02_Feb_2007_WADE-8056_96dpi.jpg]
[NOTE: I've requested a 300dpi image from the compay—this image FPO only.]
Its features include dual display, a single GbE LAN port, PCI and mini-PCI expansion
slots, four SATA ports, four COM ports, RAID (0,1,5,10), and six USB 2.0 ports in a
compact 170mm-by-170mm form factor that weighs about 0.43Kg. The WADE-8056
mini-ITX board is geared toward developers creating applications for medical equipment,
storage device control, gaming machines, digital signage, kiosks, semiconductor
equipment, and automation control equipment.
Tiny 45nm Transistors Accelerate the Multi-Core Experience
Intel has announced it is using two new materials to build the insulating walls and
switching gates of its breakthrough 45nm transistors. Hundreds of millions of these
microscopic transistors will be inside the next-generation Intel Core 2 Duo, Intel Core 2
Quad, and Xeon families of multi-core processors. Intel has five early-version products
up and running, the first of 15 45nm processor products planned for future release.
Codenamed "Penryn," Intel's next-generations 45nm product family will be targeted at
five different computer market segments. The transistor advance lets Intel keep delivering
increases in processor speeds, while reducing the amount of electrical leakage from
transistors that can hamper chip and PC design, size, power consumption, noise, and
costs. It also ensures Moore's Law, the high-tech industry axiom that transistor counts
double about every two years, continues to hold true.
[picture ref: 02_Feb_2007_Intel_news_penryn_45nm_SRAM_testwafer_1.jpg]
To maintain the pace of innovation, transistors must shrink to ever-smaller sizes. Using
current materials, the ability to shrink transistors is reaching its limit because increased
power and heat issues develop as size reaches atomic levels. The trick, says Intel, is its
combination of new materials that reduce transistor leakage and increase performance.
Transistors are tiny switches that process the ones and zeroes of the digital world. The
gate turns the transistor on and off, and the gate dielectric is an insulator underneath it
that separates it from the channel where current flows. The new material has a property
called "high-k" and is used for the transistor gate dielectric. A new combination of metal
materials is used for the transistor gate electrode. The combination of the metal gates and
the high-k gate dielectric gives the transistors very low current leakage and high
performance.
While silicon dioxide has been used to make the transistor gate dielectric for more than
40 years, continued shrinking has led to an increase in leakage through the gate dielectric,
resulting in wasted electric current and unnecessary heat. Transistor gate leakage
associated with the ever-thinning silicon dioxide gate dielectric is one of the most
formidable technical challenges facing Moore's Law. By replacing the silicon dioxide
with a thicker, hafnium-based, high-k material in the gate dielectric, leakage is reduced
by more than 10 times compared to silicon dioxide.
[picture ref: 02_Feb_2007_Intel_news_penryn_45nm_SRAM_testwafer_close-up.jpg]
The high-k gate dielectric is not compatible with today's silicon gate electrode, so Intel
developed new metal gate materials. While the specific metals that Intel uses remains
secret, the company will use a combination of different metal materials for the transistor
gate electrodes. Intel's 45nm process technology also improves transistor density by
approximately two times that of the previous generation, letting the company either
increase the overall transistor count or to make processors smaller.