Intel formally debuts 45-nm Penryn processors

By Ann Steffora Mutschler, Senior Editor -- 11/12/2007

Using for the first time what Intel Corp. co-founder Gordon Moore calls one of the biggest transistor advancements in 40 years, the chip giant Sunday released formal details on the long-awaited server and high-end PC “Penryn” processors, which use the company’s hafnium-based high-k metal gate (Hi-k) formula.

The hafnium-based Hi-K transistor formula is meant to decrease electricity leaks, Intel noted.

In addition to aiming to increase computer performance and saving energy use, the 16 new processors are lead-free, RoHS-compliant and will be halogen-free next year.

Intel said these Core 2 Extreme and Xeon processors are the first to be manufactured on its 45-nm manufacturing process to further boost performance and lower power consumption.

Combining these advancements with new processor features allows Intel to design products that are two-thirds the size of previous versions and thus more cost-effective, as well as the ability next year to pursue new ultra mobile and consumer electronics SoC opportunities, the company claimed.

“The intellects, physics and designs that went into solving one of the industry’s most daunting challenges are awe-inspiring," Paul Otellini, Intel president and CEO, said in a statement. "This feat, coupled with our industry leading architectures, means faster and sleeker computers, longer battery life and better energy efficiency. Our objective is to bring consumers a new class of computers delivering a full Internet experience in ever smaller and more portable form factors.”

Aimed at hardcore gamers and media enthusiasts, the Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 quad core processor has been upgraded. Intel says this is the world’s first 45-nm Hi-k desktop processor, which includes a larger L2 cache and support for new Intel SSE4 media instructions.

New to Intel’s line-up of server processors are 15 dual-core and quad-core 45-nm Hi-k Intel Xeons. Twelve new quad-core chips boast clock speeds ranging from 2 GHz up to 3.2 GHz, with front side bus speeds (FSB) up to 1600 MHz, and cache sizes of 12 MB; three new dual-core chips claim clock speeds of up to 3.4 GHz, an FSB of up to 1600 MHz, and cache sizes of 6 MB.

The Xeon processors are compatible with server platforms containing the Intel 5000 chipset family.

Intel is also launching three platforms to support 45-nm processors, including the Intel 5400 chipset-based platform (previously codenamed “Stoakley”), optimized for high-bandwidth applications such as high performance computing (HPC); the Intel 5100 Memory Controller Hub chipset and Intel ICH-9R I/O controller (previously codenamed “Cranberry Lake”), which are cost-optimized solutions that support either one or two processors and are meant to reduce power consumption using native DDR2 memory; and the Intel 3200 chipset-based platform (previously codenamed “Garlow”), which is specifically designed for single-processor entry servers.

Intel asserted that this move from 65-nm to 45-nm involves more than just a shrink of chip designs: The processors include additional features such as Streaming SIMD Extensions 4 (SSE4), which are 47 new instructions meant to speed up workloads including video encoding for high-definition and photo manipulation, as well as key HPC and enterprise applications.

Additional features of the new processors include:
-- Improved virtualization technology: Virtual machine transition (entry/exit) times are improved by an average of 25% to 75% through hardware with no changes to software required.
-- Fast division of numbers: A fast divider roughly doubles the speed over previous generations for computations used in nearly all applications through a technique called Radix 16. The ability to divide instructions and commands faster increases a computer’s performance, Intel noted.
-- Super shuffle engine: By implementing a wider 128-bit shuffle unit, Intel says performance improves for SSE-related instructions that have shuffle-like operations; this feature is expected to increase performance for content creation, imaging, video and high-performance computing.

Pricing ranges from $177 to $1279 in quantities of 1,000. The Core 2 Extreme QX9650 quad core processor is priced at $999 in quantities of 1,000. Depending on the model, these processors are available today or within 45 days.

For commentary on this news, see "Intel's Penryn goes public: Pricing and performance statistics," from EDN's Brian's Brain blog.

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