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mike@mikeshardware.co.uk

Q4 2007

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10

AMD Opteron 23xx (Barcelona) CPUs are expected to be released in October with the following specifications:

Opteron 2352 - 2.1Ghz, 95W, $450
Opteron 2354 - 2.2Ghz, 95W, $610
Opteron 2356 - 2.3Ghz, 95W, $795
Opteron 2358 - 2.4Ghz, 120W, $1180

11

nVidia G92 GPU is expected to be released in November on a 65nm process. G92 is the mid range successor to G84, featuring support for PCI Express 2.0 and utilising a 256-bit memory interface. The performance of this part is expected to be between a GeForce 8600 GTS and an 8800 GTS.

nVidia C72 chipset for Intel CPUs is expected to be released in November. C72 is expected to support the 45nm Yorkfield and Wolfdale processors and will feature support for a 1333FSB, DDR2-1066/800 and PCI Express 2.0. C72 is expected to be released in two forms:

nVidia C72 XE - 3 x16 PCI Express 2.0 ports
nVidia C72 P - 2 x8 SLI

nVidia MCP72 chipset for Phenom is expected to be released in November. MCP72 features support for PCI Express 2.0.

nVidia MCP78 chipset for Phenom is expected to be released in November. MCP78 is an integrated graphics chipset, featuring integrated GeForce 8 DX10 graphics with Hybrid SLI technology - utilising on-board graphics for SLI, resulting in an approximate 40% speed increase when pairing up with a mainstream discrete graphics card, ~20% with a performance card and ~5% with enthusiast card). MCP78 is also expected to feature support for PureVideoHD, HyperTransport 3.0 and PCI Express 2.0. MCP78 is expected to be released in three forms:

nVidia MCP78 U - 3D performance similar to entry level DX10 cards. $70-80.
nVidia MCP78 S - Low performance 3D graphics. $55-65.
nVidia MCP78 D - No integrated graphics. $55-65.

12

nVidia C73 chipset for Intel CPUs is expected to be released in December. C73 is expected o feature support for 45nm Yorkfield and Wolfdale processors and offer a 1600FSB and DDR3-1600 memory. C73 will also support PCI Express 2.0.

AMD Radeon R680 GPU is expected to be released in December, with availability in January 2008, and is expected to be based on a 55nm process. The R680 is the successor to the Radeon HD 2900 (R600) GPU and is expected to be based on an updated version of that architecture. R680 is expected to feature support for PCI Express 2 and will contain a hardware UVD engine.

AMD Radeon RV660/670 GPUs are expected to be released in December, with availability in January 2008, and is expected to be based on a 55nm process. The RV660/670 is intended to fill the gap between the Mainstream and Enthusiast classes. Like the high-end R680, RV660/670 is expected to feature support for PCI Express 2 and will contain a hardware UVD engine.

AMD Radeon RV635 GPU is expected to be released in December, with availability in January 2008, and is expected to be based on a 55nm process. The RV635 is the successor to the Radeon HD 2600 (RV630) GPU and is expected to be based on an updated version of that architecture. RV635 is expected to feature support for PCI Express 2 and will contain a hardware UVD engine.

AMD Radeon RV620 GPU is expected to be released in December, with availability in January 2008, and is expected to be based on a 55nm process. The RV620 is the successor to the Radeon HD 2400 (RV610) GPU and is expected to be based on an updated version of that architecture. RV620 is expected to feature support for PCI Express 2 and will contain a hardware UVD engine.

Q4

Intel 45nm process is expected to come online in Q4.

Intel Penryn architecture CPUs are expected to be released in Q4 on a 45nm process. Penryn is an update to the Core 2 architecture, designed for both mobile and desktop CPUs. Enhancements to the Penryn architecture include larger L2 caches (6MB for dual-core CPUs and 12MB for quad-core), faster division operations (twice the speed), improved cache management, enhanced power management including a C6 'Deep Power Down' state, support for up to a 1600Mhz PSB, Enhanced Dynamic Acceleration technology, and SSE4 support with an enhanced SSE engine. Intel's Enhanced Dynamic Acceleration technology allows heavily utilised cores to increase their clock speed whilst staying within a specified thermal and power envelope. SSE4 introduces 50 new instructions to the core for streaming operations, enhancing the performance of media and high performance computing applications.

Intel's performane metrics suggest roughly a 20% increase in gaming performance (3.2Ghz Penryn vs 2.93Ghz Core 2) and up to 40% with codecs that utilise SSE4. Virtual machine transition performance is also improved by 25-75%.

Intel Yorkfield Extreme Edition CPU is expected to be released in Q4. Yorkfield is a Quad Core processor built around the Penryn core. The initial Extreme Edition CPU is expected to clock at around 3.33GHz with a 1333FSB.

Intel Seaberg chipset for Xeon Penryn CPUs is expected to be released in Q4. Seaberg is expected to feature a 1600Mhz PSB, up to 128GB of FB-DIM memory, a 16MB+ Snoop filter and 10Gb Ethernet.

AMD Phenom X4 (Agena), previously known as Altair, is expected to be released in Q4 (September/ October samples and November / December boxed availability) and is built on a 65nm process. The Phenom X4 is a Quad Core Barcelona CPU running on a Socket AM2+ platform with HT3.0, 4x512MB L2 cache and 2MB L3 cache. The first members of the Phenom X4 series of CPUs are as follows:

Phenom X4 GP-7100 - 2.2-2.4Ghz, 3.6Ghz HT, 89W TDP
Phenom X4 GP-7000 - 2.0-2.2Ghz, 3.2Ghz HT, 89W TDP

AMD Phenom X2 (Kuma), previously known as Antares, is expected to be released in Late Q4 and is built on a 65nm process. Kuma is the Dual Core version of Agena, featuring 2x512MB L2 cache and 2MB L3 cache. The first member of the Phenom X2 series of CPUs is as follows:

Phenom X2 GS-6550 - 2.0-2.4Ghz, 3.6Ghz HT, 65W TDP

AMD Opteron (Deerhound) is expected to be released in H2 2007 on a 65nm process and running on a Socket F platform. Deerhound will be a 4 core CPU featuring a shared L2 cache and interfacing to Dual Channel Registered DDR2 memory.

Windows Server 2008 (Longhorn) RTM is expected to be occur in Q4.

Windows Vista SP1 is expected to be released in Q4 alongside Windows Server 2008 RTM. SP1 is expected to feature a number of enhancements as well as security updates, and is expected to update the kernel to bring it up to date with that found in Windows Server 2008. Enhancements include the support for UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface), which will replace the current BIOS architecture of new PCs, and an updated version of Media Center.

Intel Tolapai system on a chip CPU is expected to be released in Q4 on a 65nm process. Tolapai will feature a Pentium-M derived CPU core alongside a north and southbridge (but no GPU) on a single chip. Tolapai will also feature hardware accelerated security encryption and decryption functions, similar to those found on VIA's C7 and C3 Nehemiah processors, including AES, 3DES, RC4, MD5, SHA-1, SHA-224, SHA-256, SHA-384, SHA-512, HMAC, ESA and DSA. The core will feature 256KB L2 and will run at 600Mhz, 1066Mhz or 1200Mhz with a 13-22W TDP. The chip will support up to 2GB DDR2 400-800 and up to 3xGb ethernet ports (with a PHY). Also supported by the built-in southbridge is FDD support, Parallel & Serial ports, PS2 ports and 2xSATA and 2xUSB2 ports.

2007

Intel Millville desktop CPU is expected to be released in Q1 2007. Millville is expected to be a single core version of Allendale, containing 1MB of L2 cache.

Intel Xeon 54xx (Harpertown) is the server version of Yorkfield expected to be released on Q4 on a 45nm process. Harpertown is expected to feature 2x6MB L2, and run on a 1333Mhz FSB. The initial members of the E54xx series are expected to be:

Xeon E5405 - 2.16 GHz, 80 W - $209
Xeon E5410 - 2.33 GHz, 80 W - $256
Xeon E5420 - 2.5 GHz, 80 W - $316
Xeon E5430 - 2.66 GHz, 80 W - $455
Xeon E5440 - 2.83 GHz, 80 W - $690
Xeon E5450 - 3.0 GHz, 80 W - $851
Xeon X5460 - 3.16 GHz, 120 W - $1172

Xeon L5410 - 2.66GHz, 50W - $320
Xeon L5430 - 2.66GHz, 50W - $519

Intel Tukwila (formally known as Tanglewood, possibly cancelled) IA64 CPU is expected to be introduced in 2007. Tukwilla is the multi-core (4 core) successor to Shavano (now probably successor to Montecito) built on a 65nm process. Tukwila is expected to contain 32Mb L3 cache.

Intel Dimona IA-64 CPU is the Dual Processor only version of Tukwilla, expected to be released in 2007.

Intel Gilo Mobile processor, successor to Merom, is expected to be released in 2006/7 built on a 65nm process. Gilo is expected to be a multi-core CPU.

Sun Rock CPU is expected to be released in 2007 on a 65nm process. The successor to Niagara, this processor is expected to be extreme CMT design with performance expected to be up to 30x more throughput than a 1Ghz USIII processor.

Sun Niagara 2 CPU, the successor to the UltraSPARC T1 (Niagara), is expected to be released in 2007 on a 65nm process.  It will be the cheaper version of Rock and an evolution of the Niagara processor. Niagara 2 is expected to feature 8 cores, as did Niagara, but the architecture is significantly redesigned. Each core will be able to execute up to 8 threads (compared to 4 in Niagara) with up to 2 instructions per cycle (compared to 1 instruction per cycle in Niagara) and there will be one FPU per core rather than having one FPU for all 8 cores as seen in Niagara. The FPU capabilities of Niagara 2 will additionally be helped by significantly reduced latencies, with raw floating performance increased by up to 50X in practice. The CPU will also feature enhanced support for cryptographic functions, with Niagara 2 being able to assist with many more types of cryptography, such as elliptic curve cryptography, in addition to the DSA and RSA support featured in Niagara 1. The CPU will also feature on-die PCI-Express connections for general I/O, multiple on-die 10Gbit ethernet connections with TCP/IP offloading and a simple SMP interface, allowing for low-end SMP scalability. The CPU will interface to FB-DRAM via a 50GB/s+ memory interface.
Niagara 2 is expected to run at a clock speed of around 1.4GHz, compared to 1.2GHz for the UltraSPARC T1, with overall performance expected to be at least double that of Niagara 1.

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