China's BLX takes Godson-2 processor to 1GHz
614393
(InfoWorld) - China's BLX IC Design Co. has produced a prototype version of its Godson-2 processor that runs at a clock speed of 1GHz. "Technology-wise it's a step forward," said Eddie Zeng, the chief executive officer of BLX, in Beijing. Called Godson-2E, the new chip is currently in the early stages of manufacturing, and will enter mass production before the end of this year, he said. While pricing has not been decided, the chip will not be expensive. "It should be cheaper than the Pentium 4," Zeng said, Like other chips in the Godson family, the Godson-2E was designed by the Chinese Academy of Science's Institute of Computing Technology (ICT) and was produced using 90-nanometer process technology.Â Earlier versions of the Godson-2 chipÂ were produced using a 180-nanometer process and ran at clock speeds up to 500MHz. The numbers used to describe chip-production processes refer to the size of the smallest feature that can be created on a chip. Smaller numbers indicate a more advanced process. Moving to production with a more advanced process offers several advantages. It means the chip can be made smaller, which reduces per-unit production costs, and allows designers to produce chips that are faster and consume less power. Unlike processors from Intel, Advanced Micro Devices, or Via Technologies, the Godson-2E is not based on the x86 instruction set. Instead, the chip uses a modified version of the MIPS instruction set that replaces proprietary instructions with ones developed by ICT. This means the Godson-2E cannot be used in PCs running Microsoft's Windows XP operating system. But that does not worry Zeng. "The Godson is not meant for traditional PCs," he said, noting that efforts are underway to produce computing devices based on the Godson, including computers running the Linux operating system.ADVERTISEMENTMAKE SOA REAL WITH IBM WEBSPHERE PODCASTStreamline processes and maximize efficiency within a proven service oriented architecture. Take back control of your business processes with IBM WebSphere.
633253
(InfoWorld) - Intel plans to unveil a version of its Xeon processor on Wednesday that's designed for high-end servers with multiple processors -- setting the stage for a showdown with rivalÂ Advanced Micro Devices' upcoming quad-core Barcelona chip. The Xeon 7300 chips, called Tigerton, are the first quad-core processors from Intel designed to be used in servers with four or more processors, a relatively small but lucrative segment of the server market. Previously, the Xeon processor for this segment of the market had two cores, despite the availability of quad-core Xeon chips for single-processor and two-way servers. The new chips offer significantly better performance compared to their predecessors,Â Intel's Xeon 5300 chips, said Adesh Gupta, regional platform architecture manager at Intel Asia-Pacific's Server Platforms Group. "Across the spectrum of different applications, we're seeing really, really good performance," Gupta said. Benchmarks run by Intel showed significant gains for many enterprise applications, including SAP's ERP (enterprise resource planning) software, Gupta said. The 7300 series chips can handle roughly 82 percent more ERP users and 92 percent more database transactions than the 5300 chips, he said. The 7300 is part of theÂ Caneland chip package, which also includes Intel's 7300 chip set, known as Clarksboro. The new chip set has four 1,066MHz interconnects that are linked to an individual processor, helping reduce latency between the processors and main memory. Caneland is the last release expected from Intel before AMD announces the availability of its Barcelona server chips on Sept. 10. Barcelona is widely expected to offer significant performance increases over AMD's existing dual-core server chips, and should mean tighter competition with Intel in the server space. Intel will initially offer six versions of Tigerton. At the top of the range is the X7350, a 2.93GHz chip designed with 8MB of shared on-chip cache and a thermal design power (TDP) of 130 watts. TDP is the highest sustainable level of power for applications that Intel expects to be run on the chip, and the number describes how much heat a system must be able to dissipate from the chip. Intel is also offering several Xeon 7300 chips with a TDP of 80 watts. The E7340 runs at 2.4GHz and offers 8MB of shared on-chip cache. The E7330 also runs at 2.4GHz, but has 6MB of cache. The E7320 and E7310 both have 4MB of shared cache and run at clock speeds of 2.13GHz and 1.6GHz, respectively. Intel will also release a 50-watt version that runs at 1.86GHz. The L7345 has 8MB of shared on-chip cache and is designed for blade servers and high-density rack servers. Two dual-core versions of the Tigerton chip, the E7220 and E7210, will also be available, running at speeds of 2.93GHz and 2.4GHz with a TDP of 80 watts. Both chips have a shared on-chip cache of 8MB and are designed for high-performance computing applications. Tigerton's improved performance doesn't come cheap. The processors are priced from $856 to $2,301 per chip in 1,000-unit quantities, a standard measure of processor pricing. The 7300 will also be the last server chip announced by Intel, before itsÂ upcoming Penryn chipsÂ are made available later this year. Made using a 45-nanometer process that will allow more cache to be put on each chip, the first Penryn server chips are expected to be released in November. Those chips are intended for use in single-processor and two-way servers. The Penryn server chip for multiple-processor servers is called Dunnington and will not be available until late 2008, Gupta said.
175339
The first official benchmark test results for Intel's Tigerton series and AMD's Barcelona series were released by the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation. From a pure prowess perspective, neither the new quad-core Xeon MPs nor the new quad-core Opterons walk away with an all-around victory, with Intel's X7350 stealing the show in integer throughput, and AMD's 8350 winning the race in floating-point throughput.
23711
Increasing front-side bus speed from 800 to 1,066 MHz addresses crucial bottleneck in system performance.
662501
Company says it will come out with 1-gigabit chip for mobile devices next year.
2762
When Fully buffered DIMMs attack A recent benchmark comparing quad-core chips asserts that Intel Xeon-based servers have an edge in performance but are complete power hogs when compared to the dainty energy appetite of AMD Opteron-based servers.â¦
209047
The world&#39;s largest chip maker, Intel, is changing its approach to making faster computer microprocessors. It has dropped plans to release a four gigahertz version of its flagship Pentium 4 chip.
434779
Upcomimg C7 chips will run at higher speeds, but consumer less power.
624131
(InfoWorld) - Global mobile phone makers including Taiwan'sÂ High Tech ComputerÂ are already testing new processors from Qualcomm with which the chip manufacturer hopes toÂ challenge IntelÂ in the market for ultramobile PCs and mobile devices. Qualcomm has already started sending out SnapDragon chip packages to developers so they can see what kinds of devices might be made around them. The ultra-low power consumption of theÂ Scorpion processorÂ they contain could enable a whole new breed of mobile device, said Paul Jacobs, CEO of Qualcomm, on the sidelines of a news conference in Taipei. The microprocessor currently being sampled is a 1GHz chip that uses between 250 milliwatts and 500 milliwatts of power, he said. Intel's best processor for ultramobile PCs is A110, which runs at 800MHz and uses 3 watts of power. The SnapDragon chip set also contains a 600MHz digital signal processor, and offers connectivity to mobile broadband technologies including CDMA2000 (Code Division Multiple Access 2000), 1xEVDO (Evolution-Data Only), HSDPA/HSUPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access/High Speed Uplink Packet Access), as well as mobile TV, Bluetooth, GPS (Global Positioning System), and WLAN (wireless-LAN). The company is gunning for Intel's business with the new chips, but it's tough to compare processors made by the two companies. Scorpion is an Arm-based processor and has its own instruction set, which offers substantial energy savings but does not share the main advantage of x86 chips made by Intel: software. A lot more software has been developed around the x86 instruction set than any other processor, in fact, the entire library of software for PCs. Alongside Intel's 800MHz A110, the company offers the 600MHz A100, which also consumes 3 watts. Rival Via Technologies recently announced an x86-based processor that runs at 500MHz and consumes up to a maximum of 1 watt, or 0.1 watts in idle mode. The 1GHz version of that chip,Â the Eden ULV, consumes a maximum of 3.5 watts. Still, device makers have a chance to try out SnapDragon now, and its low power consumption and wireless functions could aid in the development of new categories of mobile devices. Â
57566
The Apple-based System X supercomputer at Virginia Tech has been upgraded to run at 12.25 teraflops. The system placed third on the list of the world&#39;s most powerful supercomputers last
60957
IBM's p5-575, a specialized server geared for high-performance computing, has eight 1.9GHz Power5 processors.
512501
AMD Opteron servers prove more power-efficient than Xeon-powered servers in tests.
498970
The BlueGene/L supercomputer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory topped the list of the world&#39;s fastest computers once again, according to the new Top500 list released Wednesday. Built by IBM, BlueGene/L clocks in at 280.6 teraflops, or 280.6 trillion floating point operations per second.
310996
Chip maker plans for smaller, faster, less power-hungry processors.
299633
After 'Barcelona', 'Shanghai' AMD will release 'Shanghai', an "enhanced" version of its recently demo'd 'Barcelona' quad-core Opteron processor family, early on in 2008, the chip maker revealed yesterday when it published a server roadmap that was also notable for the absence of FB-DIMM technology and, indeed, DDR 3.â¦
271908
Intel is shipping a new mobile processor built on 90nm process technology that clocks up to 2.1GHz. The Pentium M 765 includes 2MB of integrated L2 cache and a &quot;power optimized&quot; 400MHz system bus and enhanced &quot;Speedstep&quot; power saving technology.
453310
Processors will feature enhanced power management technology.