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View Full Version : After Penryn comes Nehalem (LGA1366)



kilroy0097
04-13-2008, 06:09 AM
It figures that the year I want to build a new computer that at the end of the year Intel would be introducing a new CPU chip that is en entirely different socket from 775. Grrr. I hate transition years sometimes. Certainly they are coming out with the transition Nehalem which will be 45nm however after that initial release the new socket comes on board. Damn just when I was getting used to 775 after almost 3 years. The longest running socket in Intel's line honestly.


Soon Intel's first 45nm CPUs will be available but the firm is also working hard on the next generation - Nehalem.

Nehalem will brings lots of new features including a DDR3 memory controller and integrated graphics and that's one of the reasons why LGA775 will no longer cut it. According to some rumours Intel will have to introduce a new socket called LGA1366.

The first Nehalem desktop processors are expected in the fourth quarter of 2008.



Intel is known to change sockets and platform approximately every 18 months. But LGA 775 seems to have gone longer than expected. If I'm not making a mistake then, the Pentium4 released in Q4'04 was the first LGA 775 and till date we have the LGA775. To be released next month on 11th November, Intel's new processor-Peryn will also use LGA 775 (may be some extra power requirements). This means that Intel has lasted the LGA 775 for 3 years and that's odd considering Intel's past socket changes.

But Intel's next major change to processor architecture will come in the form of the much-awaited Nehalem line of processors. The Nehalem will be released in Q4 2008 and will use a new socket 1366. That's actually the "number of dots" that connect the processor with the motherboard... The increase in the pin count is actually because of the integrated memory controller. The Integrated Memory Controller from Intel may be a copy of AMD's architecture, but Intel surely will bring lot of enhancements along. Among other things inside Nehalem, Intel also copies a point-to-point interconnect called CSI (now called QuickPath) from AMD (Hypertransport).

Nehalem will also be the first processor to support DDR3 memory and it'll be the first time that the motherboard's northbridge won't decide the memory to be used for an Intel system.

The desktop version of Nehalem will be called "Bloomfield", probably to depict the cash flowers that have bloomed in intel's field. The mobile version "Gilo" and "Becton" for server version... All will be a 45nm fabricated chip and Intel already has a few early samples and has demo'd it to people at IDF a few weeks back.

The Nehalem processor may also be the first native 8-core processor. Integrated GPU may be another reason for the increase in the pin count in Nehalem, but that's another topic altogether. The first generation of Nehalem processors which Intel demo'd at IDF did not have the integrated GPU, so when it releases in Q4 2008 don't expect it to start with an integrated GPU.


More Readings on the new socket...

http://www.hardware.info/en-UK/news/ymickpqTwpaaaZY/New_Nehalem_LGA1366_socket_is_stronger/

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/cpu/display/20071128224521_Intel_s_Mainstream_Nehalem_Chips_Ex pected_to_Eliminate_North_Bridge_Necessity.html

Yes there is a built in GPU in this next line... interestingly enough.

This next one is a bit confusing. So many different socket types. It kinds of explains why though.

http://www.beyond3d.com/content/news/540



Desktop CPUs

* Bloomfield: Socket 1366, Quad-Core, Ultra-High-End.
* Lynnfield: Socket 1160, Quad-Core, High-End.
* Havendale: Socket 1160, MCM (CPU+GPU/IMC), Dual-Core, Mid-Range.
* ?Havendale?: Socket 715, Dual-Core, Low-End. Northbridges can use DDR2.



It seems to imply there is going to be different socket types for different computing power. So let's make computer hardware even more difficult to figure out by adding 3 different socket sets for the same chip or something like that. Very odd. Let esspecially point out the 4th line for the Socket 715 Havendale. It's the only one that uses DDR2. So basically everyone with DDR2 memory is hosed and has to buy new memory if they want the new chip at middle level or higher. However this also means the DDR3 memory should go down in price I would think.

Regardless, people who are building systems this year, like myself, will be immediately behind the curve once again at the end of the year. &#$*@

Aeromotor1
04-13-2008, 06:39 AM
Thank you Moore's law...nice info kilroy

Lord ALF
04-13-2008, 01:21 PM
intel is on a road plan that dictates 3 years for major platform/chip life expectancy with yearly revisions between major releases.

just FYI.

-alf

kilroy0097
04-13-2008, 01:32 PM
Check this article out. More info on that discrete GPU utilizing CPU cores. The new integrated graphics solution.

http://www.dailytech.com/NVIDIA+CEO+Were+Going+to+Open+a+Can+of+Whoop+Ass/article11448.htm

Bonez
04-13-2008, 01:56 PM
and a major mud match between intel and nvidia.

"how much faster can you render the blue screen of death ?"

Uncle_Ho
04-13-2008, 03:07 PM
This is why there are some people that are rich and some that are poor and some that are pissed off:bolt:

If you wait long enough to upgrade you can have a HAL 9000 for your desk top........

you would think since Al Gore invented the internet he could have made the equipment upgrades free

kilroy0097
06-30-2008, 09:49 AM
Intel To Launch Three Nehalem-based Processors By The End Of Q4


Intel plans to launch three Nehalem-based quad-core processors (Bloomfield) at the end of the fourth quarter this year targeting the company’s new LGA1366 socket, according to sources at motherboard makers. Although official model names have not yet been set, the CPUs are currently identified by the codenames XE, P1 and MS3 with core frequencies of 3.2GHz, 2.93GHz and 2.66GHz, respectively.

More Info: http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20080624PD208.html

And older article earlier this month but still informative.

AnandTech Article: The Nehalem Preview: Intel Does It Again (http://anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/intel/showdoc.aspx?i=3326&p=1)