The Year of the CPU - Intel's Dual Core Plans

A few years back Intel introduced Hyper-Threading. This creates a second, "logical" CPU for the computer to use. There is no actual second CPU anywhere in that CPU. The technology was used for multitasking. In normal CPU operation the queue line was only a single line, so if you had multiple applications that needed information to be processed, then your system would slow down until the CPU caught up. With hyper-threading, two queues were created, and they would both be sent through the CPU one at a time. The second application's work would get done sooner than with non-HT, but total overall time should be around the same.

With a new invention comes a new name; Intel will stop producing the Pentium 4, finally. The dual core CPUs will sport a new name from Intel.  The normal CPUs will be called Intel Pentium D, and the logo will look very similar to the Pentium Mobile’s.  Could this be a peek into the future? 

For the few of you out there who can afford the $1,000 CPUs, don’t worry, Intel hasn’t forgot about you. They will still gladly sell you your CPUs. The other Dual Core is the Intel Pentium Extreme Edition. Will the EE have a bigger cache, or even faster speeds? No, it will only have hyper-threading turned on, while it won’t be on the Pentium Ds. It will have two physical CPUs each with HT turned on. This means that, if the OS supports it, you will see four CPUs and four queue lines, with two actual processors to process the line.

So what is in that CPU?  Intel has put two Prescott P4 1mb L2 cached together. They basically took older P4s and slapped two of them together. Each will have its own cache. The next generation of dual core, the CPUs will be more integrated into each other; they will share the same cache. 

Along with the new CPUs comes new chipsets from Intel. This means that 915/925 chipsets won’t work with a dual core CPU, though the chip will fit. The options for chipsets are better than before, though.  Intel will have the 945 and 955, but Nvidia and their nforce chipset for Intel processors will also support the new dual core CPUs.

Next: AMD's Dual Core Plans >>
 

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