Just checked macosrumors. They've got a rumour there that Apple has developed a new chip with Intel that will make use of 4 cores, and that they will initially be exclusive in use of the chip (and will make licensing fees from pc makers that use the chip). This is the first I've heard of any of this.
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Rumor: Quad Core Chip?
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Unlikely.
I think macosrumors.com has a sketchy reputation as far as reliability is concerned. It sounds silly that "Apple's semiconductor design team", if such a thing exists, would have useful input for any Intel project..
EDIT: ...I mean unlikey that the macosrumors.com story is true. Of course, EVERYBODY knows that 4 and even eight core chips are in the works - it's pretty likely that some or all of these will come to the Mac as they are released.
I think macosrumors.com has a sketchy reputation as far as reliability is concerned. It sounds silly that "Apple's semiconductor design team", if such a thing exists, would have useful input for any Intel project..
EDIT: ...I mean unlikey that the macosrumors.com story is true. Of course, EVERYBODY knows that 4 and even eight core chips are in the works - it's pretty likely that some or all of these will come to the Mac as they are released.
I'm trying to figure out why the largest chip maker on the planet would need any help designing a quad core chip from apple, a company that doesn't design chips at all. They may listen to apple in some cases, but the idea of apple being so involved in the process as to get royalties seems absurd to me.
But a quad core chip....bring it on. I'm not holding my breath but it would be cool.
But a quad core chip....bring it on. I'm not holding my breath but it would be cool.
Not so much a rumor says toms hardware - in the road map 4 core and 8 core in '07
See thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/172909/
Most to the point, the link in that thread to the Tom's Hardware report - 4 cores by early to mid 2007. The 45 nm process in '07 with 8 core chips. 20 new processors over the next 8 quarters (06 / 07). The quad core is named: kentsfield. Tom's reports that this chip marries two dual core chips. The first single die quad is: Whitefield
Allright - to save the effort of clicking on that link - here's the relavant post:
By LG:
For those wanting to learn more about what lies ahead, the following overview, reporting 20 new Intel processors over the next 8 quarters:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/12/04/top_secret_intel_processor_plans_uncovered/
I have to say that I like seeing down the road a little further with Intel. The IBM roadmaps never seemed to give much guidence. I did find the PPC announcements being made by Apple to be a bit frustrating. That seemed to end with the dual cores that took awhile to make it into the new G5 PMs, but otherwise, we would all wait with much anticiapation for a MW or WWDC to see what speed the latest PPC was up to.
This also caught my attention:
"The big news for the end of next year will be the first desktop processor product with four physical cores - although these are not going to be on a single die. Kentsfield is expected to hit the market in early or mid 2007. And yes, the code name is intended to be somewhat similar to Smithfield, since the target market segment is the same."
and then this server chip:
"The next chip on Intel's 65 nm menu is Whitefield, a server product with 8 or 16 MB of L2 cache and four Merom architecture type cores on a single piece of silicon. Whitefield has already been around on several Intel roadmaps."
Then things go to a frenzy with 45nm chipsthat the article reports will appear in 2007 and 2008:
"The climax of Intel's move to 45 nm will obviously be processors with as many as eight cores on a die. Technically, the Yorkfield and Harpertown cores are pretty similar, while Yorkfield steps into the desktop space and Harpertown harpoons the enterprise customer. Both will be 45 nm parts, with four cores and as much as 12 MB L2 cache. We can't say how the geometry of this chip is going to be and we suppose Intel is not entirely sure yet either."
An additional note from the Tom's article:
"Obviously, a quad core processor with a decent amount of L2 cache would increase the transistor real estate by a tremendous amount. In order to avoid low yields due to huge die sizes, Kentsfield is referred to as coming in a multi chip package. This enables Intel to fit two or even more processor dies into a physical package while being able to select the particular parts beforehand. At the same time, the company will be able to answer changing demand highly flexible. Yet we could not get an answer on the question whether the Kentsfield's multi chip package will carry four Millville cores or two Allendale type chips."
"The real surprise about the Kentsfield quad core product is the fact that is taped out already, which means nothing less than all the manufacturing parameters were provided to a manufacturing facility for first silicon. This, by the way, also happened with Allendale already."
On Whitefield:
Whitefield, The First "Real" Quad-Core
"The next chip on Intel's 65 nm menu is Whitefield, a server product with 8 or 16 MB of L2 cache and four Merom architecture type cores on a single piece of silicon. Whitefield has already been around on several Intel roadmaps."
See thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/172909/
Most to the point, the link in that thread to the Tom's Hardware report - 4 cores by early to mid 2007. The 45 nm process in '07 with 8 core chips. 20 new processors over the next 8 quarters (06 / 07). The quad core is named: kentsfield. Tom's reports that this chip marries two dual core chips. The first single die quad is: Whitefield
Allright - to save the effort of clicking on that link - here's the relavant post:
By LG:
For those wanting to learn more about what lies ahead, the following overview, reporting 20 new Intel processors over the next 8 quarters:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/12/04/top_secret_intel_processor_plans_uncovered/
I have to say that I like seeing down the road a little further with Intel. The IBM roadmaps never seemed to give much guidence. I did find the PPC announcements being made by Apple to be a bit frustrating. That seemed to end with the dual cores that took awhile to make it into the new G5 PMs, but otherwise, we would all wait with much anticiapation for a MW or WWDC to see what speed the latest PPC was up to.
This also caught my attention:
"The big news for the end of next year will be the first desktop processor product with four physical cores - although these are not going to be on a single die. Kentsfield is expected to hit the market in early or mid 2007. And yes, the code name is intended to be somewhat similar to Smithfield, since the target market segment is the same."
and then this server chip:
"The next chip on Intel's 65 nm menu is Whitefield, a server product with 8 or 16 MB of L2 cache and four Merom architecture type cores on a single piece of silicon. Whitefield has already been around on several Intel roadmaps."
Then things go to a frenzy with 45nm chipsthat the article reports will appear in 2007 and 2008:
"The climax of Intel's move to 45 nm will obviously be processors with as many as eight cores on a die. Technically, the Yorkfield and Harpertown cores are pretty similar, while Yorkfield steps into the desktop space and Harpertown harpoons the enterprise customer. Both will be 45 nm parts, with four cores and as much as 12 MB L2 cache. We can't say how the geometry of this chip is going to be and we suppose Intel is not entirely sure yet either."
An additional note from the Tom's article:
"Obviously, a quad core processor with a decent amount of L2 cache would increase the transistor real estate by a tremendous amount. In order to avoid low yields due to huge die sizes, Kentsfield is referred to as coming in a multi chip package. This enables Intel to fit two or even more processor dies into a physical package while being able to select the particular parts beforehand. At the same time, the company will be able to answer changing demand highly flexible. Yet we could not get an answer on the question whether the Kentsfield's multi chip package will carry four Millville cores or two Allendale type chips."
"The real surprise about the Kentsfield quad core product is the fact that is taped out already, which means nothing less than all the manufacturing parameters were provided to a manufacturing facility for first silicon. This, by the way, also happened with Allendale already."
On Whitefield:
Whitefield, The First "Real" Quad-Core
"The next chip on Intel's 65 nm menu is Whitefield, a server product with 8 or 16 MB of L2 cache and four Merom architecture type cores on a single piece of silicon. Whitefield has already been around on several Intel roadmaps."
You bet your a$$ there will be a quad core. Infact intel has a 32 core xeon chip on its roadmap. Making cpus faster via clock speed is dead. They have reached their limit. Notice how intels great new processors are only at 2.13ghz but are somehow faster? Thats because the only way to increase speed now is to pile on larger L2 Caches and increase the cores. Ofcourse software developers now have to get onboard to make code multiprocessor aware. You won't ever see a 5ghz chip from anyone ever unless they increase the pipelines like the P4 did. No, a real 3ghz chip does not exist and never will. P4 does not count, that chip was designed to fool the consumer. A 2ghz Dothan is just as fast as a 3ghz P4.
The future of the CPU is larger L2 cache and multiple cores.
The future of the CPU is larger L2 cache and multiple cores.
I'm typing this on my new Quad G5 I just got today and its sad that the thought of dual 8 core machines makes me want one - and I haven't even rendered a single 3D scene on this machine yet 
But 2 years is enough time for me to start thinking about replacing the slow quad g5
D
But 2 years is enough time for me to start thinking about replacing the slow quad g5
D
Mr. Anderson said:I'm typing this on my new Quad G5 I just got today and its sad that the thought of dual 8 core machines makes me want one - and I haven't even rendered a single 3D scene on this machine yet
But 2 years is enough time for me to start thinking about replacing the slow quad g5
D
Dude, don't rub it in. I WANT THE QUAD. Waiting for the price to come down.
Mr. Anderson said:I'm typing this on my new Quad G5 I just got today and its sad that the thought of dual 8 core machines makes me want one - and I haven't even rendered a single 3D scene on this machine yet
But 2 years is enough time for me to start thinking about replacing the slow quad g5
D
That must have been exciting! - were you able to not hug the fedex guy?