“Atom is the brand name for Intel’s newly-launched ultramobile processor line, but it could just as well be the name for Intel’s next-generation 45nm microarchitecture. This new core microarchitecture, codenamed Nehalem, forms the basic building block from which Intel will assemble the brains for everything from high-end servers to svelte notebooks. Insofar as Nehalem represents a lot more than just a new processor, it’s a significant shift for Intel at almost every level. In this article, I’ll give a general overview of Nehalem, focusing on the major changes and big new features that the architecture will eventually bring to Intel’s entire x86 processor line. A more in-depth examination of Nehalem from me will show up later in the spring; for now, read on for the highlights. Here’s what you need to know about Nehalem.”
We hardly knew ya.
Yeah, times with good price/performance cpus are lame. Lets have a monopoly again with $300+ CPUs .. those were the days!
But I know .. the world is a complex place…
And how quickly people have forgiven Intel for the sorry mess that was the Pentium4. I still remember back when the early P4 CPUs were getting trounced by similarly-clocked P3s, and the various attempted-justifications (“Oh, but the scaling abilities of P4 will make up for that!”).
300$? You’d wish!
I throw out ~1000$ for my P60 machine… (that was later replaced due to the notorious FP bug)
The clueless OP more-or-less reminds me the idiots that cheer Microsoft’s threats to sue OSS projects. I mean, being a fanboy is one thing – but being a fanboy against your own interests as a consumer is simply childish, if not completely unreasonable. (Unless you’re employed at Intel and/or Microsoft, that is)
Grow up.
– Gilboa
Edited 2008-04-13 20:26 UTC
Don’t count out AMD yet. Ultimately the features Nehalem is bragging about seem to be nothing more than copies of what AMD has been using. AMD has been using an integrated memory controller for a while now. And QPI strikes me as a clone of HyperTransport.
Of course just because a company develops something first doesn’t mean they’ll succeed. And AMD has already made at least one mistake (that bug in the Phenom with a workaround that disables the L2 cache if activated). It will be interesting to see what AMD does to compete. Maybe develop a new technology that Intel will clone a year or two down the road.
I do like the addition of an extra memory channel just because it will allow for more slots. I tend to invest in several low-capacity sticks rather than just one or two high-capacity modules.
Edited 2008-04-10 11:47 UTC
That all depends on where the big money is. Is it having the fastest processor on the market and winning all the benchmarks. Or is it in selling volumes of dull, cheap, solid, low power CPU/GPU combos which are more than good enough for the vast majority of non hardcore gaming home and office users. Whereas Intel has the grip on the first aspect, I can see AMD/ATI doing very well on the second.
Nahalem is set to be a beast, no doubt, with 4 to 8 cores each with hyperthreading it has a lot of execution resources to exploit and it can run a lot of threads to keep them busy. Its a good thing that Intel has gotten back on the horse after the P4 debacle.
On the other hand, AMD ahs been through a rough-patch — The B2 Phenom error, low initial clock-speeds, poor ATI performance after the merger, nothing yet to show for Fusion, and all the uncertainly that’s sure to create with stock-holders… But, AMD has turned the corner: B3 Phenoms, while without the performance crown, provide better performance/dollar than intel’s offerings. The graphics products are competitive again — matching nVidia in the mainstream and performance markets, and falling just behind in enthusiast parts (while being much cheaper.) Together, AMD/ATI are starting to push out some really nice chipset platforms with graphics that match $70 discreet GPUs and have accelerated video decode, making it perfect for HTPCs.
Now they’re streamlining their costs, and its unfortunate that they had to let so many people go, but its a necessary business move to show wallstreet and their stock-holders that they’re back on track.
I think they’ve turned the corner, both in their products and their business. After the inevitable post-merger shakiness the ATI buyout is starting to make a positive showing for itself. The worst is behind them for now. They’ve never really *lost* the value/mainstream market edge they’ve had, and they’re starting to make up lost ground.
That new Intel architecture can be obviously compared with AMD, there are also some striking parallels with the future ‘corenet’ multiple core PowerPC architecture from Freescale.