Liberty's Blog

Intel Doubles Up

Intel is releasing a dual core processor that will require no special software to take advantage of its multithreading capabilities. This will give added speed and reliability to those of us that run multiple demanding programs simultaneously.

All of today's desktop processors are single-core, which means each processor only has a single processing core. Dual-core processors have two processing cores on each chip, which allows the processor to handle more processing "threads" at the same time. You'd think that dual-core processors can do twice the work of a single-core CPU, but the overhead associated with dividing the processor workload makes it difficult to achieve that kind of efficiency.

The real benefit of multicore processing is that it allows you to run multiple processor-intensive tasks at the same time. You could, for instance run a game and a PVR program at the same time and experience minimal performance degradation. Running those programs on a single-core processor will likely result in choppy frame rates or poor video recordings.

This progression is not without cost.

Documents released to system builders specify the Thermal design power (TDP) of Smithfield processors at 130 watts. This represents an increase of more than 13 percent over today's Pentium 4 5xx (Prescott) and the upcoming 6xx (2 MByte L2 Cache), which post 115 watts. Maximum supply current climbs from 119 ampere to 125 ampere. The new chips also consume more power than Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 3.46 GHz processor (116.7 watts) and Intel's most demanding chip: The Itanium 2 1.6 GHz consumes 122 watts.

Considering that Smithfield chips integrate two processor cores, a power consumption of 130 watts may sound acceptable. But the fact that the Pentium 4 560 (3.6 GHz, 115 watts) already runs at the processor's thermal limits, it is likely that Smithfield processors at least will require more powerful cooling solutions than the conventional cooling fans we are used to at this time.

This puppy is hot, and consumes a lot of current. John Dvorak thinks this might not only be the firt dual proccessor but the first dual purpose processor.

The big drawback to these things is that the power required for the chip may be around 130 watts! This is an awful lot of heat to dissipate. I'm thinking that the best design would have the chip on the outside of the box on top where it could serve as a coffee warmer. A true dual processor—as in dual use. And practical, too!

posted by Liberty @ 10:15 AM