Internet: Meet Your New Intel Processor

New Intel® Server Processors Boost Speed, Efficiency, Add More Intelligence, Adapt to Energy Usage Needs

o The news -- Intel Corporation introduced 17 enterprise-class processors today led by the Intel® Xeon® Processor 5500 series. It is Intel's most revolutionary server processors since targeting the market with the Intel® Pentium® Pro processor nearly 15 years ago. The chips can automatically adjust to specified energy usage levels, speed data center transactions and customer database queries, and will play a key role in scientific discoveries by researchers who use supercomputers as their foundation for research, all while delivering great energy-efficiency for reduced electricity costs.
o The context -- The Intel Xeon Processor 5500 series represents a new era in computing. Intel helped spark the Internet revolution with the Intel Pentium Pro processor. Featuring new levels of intelligence and versatility, the Intel Xeon Processor 5500 series will usher in an exciting era of innovation and discovery by enabling customers to tap new growth markets such as cloud computing, high performance computing and embedded systems.
o Why it matters -- As use of the Internet expands towards Intel's vision of 15 billion connected devices, the Intel Xeon Processor 5500 series will also power an upcoming transformation for the Internet's infrastructure. The high-tech industry has rallied around a goal to run applications from optimized processors and computing hardware, which are available on demand and scalable to the masses. Often called cloud computing, this vision could flourish due to the adaptability, capability and intelligence of the Intel Xeon Processor 5500 series.

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• QUOTES •

• "The Intel Xeon processor 5500 series is the foundation for the next decade of innovation," said Patrick Gelsinger, senior vice president and general manager of Intel's Digital Enterprise Group. "These chips showcase groundbreaking advances in performance, virtualization and workload management, which will create opportunities to solve the world's most complex challenges and push the limits of science and technology."
• "Nehalem is a game changer in just about every way, especially performance. It overcomes most, if not all, the potential performance roadblocks associated with multicore configurations. It creates a foundation for future processors, and it resets performance expectations, especially for applications requiring high I/O or memory bandwidth." -- Jim McGregor, Industry Analyst, InStat
• "The London Stock Exchange recognises the importance of both low latency and latency consistency in the operation of efficient markets. We make extensive ongoing use of the Intel fasterLAB in order to evolve our core business applications and to test the effect of processor-level innovation. We have been able to see the immediate impact of the move to 45nm and scaling to the multi-core Intel® Xeon® processor 5500 series and beyond. The fasterlab – being equipped with advanced testing facilities and Intel engineering expertise – is a significant asset to our ongoing software

development programs." -- Robin Paine, Chief Technology Officer, London Stock Exchange
• "As one of the world's largest business and IT consultancy firms, Capgemini is asked by its clients to consult on improving their business performance while reducing costs. One of their primary concerns is the power consumption in the data centre. Capgemini evaluated the new Intel® Xeon® processor 5500 series because the promised performance per Watt could help our clients reduce their concerns. Capgemini noticed an enormous performance increase up to 500%, while the power usage dropped a staggering 65%. As an example queries to a Microsoft SQL* database took just ten seconds, compared to three minutes on a previous generation Intel® Xeon® processor. Even older applications, not designed for multi-core processors are no challenge for this processor. The time for login sequences, went back from 40 seconds to just five. For Capgemini it is without doubt that this processor provides customers with increased performance while reducing energy costs." -- Arnold Verhoeven, Managing Consultant, Capgemini, Netherlands
• "Based on our benchmarks of the Intel® Xeon® processor 5500 series, we expect an increase in performance-per-Watt of about 30% or more, compared to the already very power-efficient combination of the previous generation Intel® Xeon® processors and the Intel 5100 (San Clemente) chipset. The new CPU is a strong candidate for highly demanding Physics applications." -- Helge Meinhard, Coordinator for Server and Storage Procurement at CERN-IT
• "It is a challenge to build a high performance computer that suits the different demands of our many research groups. Our new Sun* blade cluster powered by Intel® Xeon® processors 5500 series is a very well balanced system, tuned to highest performance. With 12 TB memory, a quad data rate Infiniband network and 160 TB fast parallel file system, we will be able to satisfy most of our users' demands for the next three to four years. The Sun* blades with Intel® Xeon® processor 5500 series also satisfied our energy consumption and TCO demands. Compared to our five-year-old cluster, the new platform provides more than 10 times the compute power for less than three times the energy consumption." -- Alexander Godknecht, CTO IT Services, University of Zürich
• "The European Space Agency (ESA) has recently been testing brand new systems based on the innovative new Intel® Xeon® processor 5500 series. Its unrivalled performance enables ESRIN, the ESA establishment in Frascati, Italy, to analyse and share large volumes of data collected by its satellites more quickly and efficiently via its Grid computing infrastructure. Early tests revealed that the new processor technology has reduced critical computational time, for example as requested for mapping of large flooded areas, by 50 percent." -- Luigi Fusco, Senior Advisor of Earth Observation Applications and GENESI-DR project coordinator at ESA

Intel® Turbo Boost Technology

Performance on demand

Intel® Turbo Boost Technology is one of the many exciting new features that Intel has built into latest-generation Intel® microarchitecture (codenamed Nehalem). It automatically allows processor cores to run faster than the base operating frequency if it's operating below power, current, and temperature specification limits.

DYNAMICALLY INCREASING PERFORMANCE

As an independent and complimentary feature, Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology (Intel® HT Technology) along with Intel Turbo Boost Technology increases performance of both multi-threaded and single threaded workloads. Intel Turbo Boost Technology is activated when the Operating System (OS) requests the highest processor performance state (P0).
The maximum frequency of Intel® Turbo Boost Technology is dependent on the number of active cores. The amount of time the processor spends in the Intel Turbo Boost Technology state depends on the workload and operating environment, providing the performance you need, when and where you need it.
Any of the following can set the upper limit of Intel Turbo Boost Technology on a given workload:
• Number of active cores
• Estimated current consumption
• Estimated power consumption
• Processor temperature
When the processor is operating below these limits and the user's workload demands additional performance, the processor frequency will dynamically increase by 133 MHz on short and regular intervals until the upper limit is met or the maximum possible upside for the number of active cores is reached. Conversely, when any of the limits are reached or exceeded, the processor frequency will automatically decrease by 133 MHz until the processor is again operating within its limits.

Intel® Graphics Technology

Making the most of your visual experience
Get stunning visual results from your mobile or desktop PC with Intel® Graphics Technology, including the full Microsoft Windows Vista* experience¹, beautiful video playback, and excellent mainstream gaming performance.
Intel Graphics Technology is built right onto your PC's motherboard, so you get excellent speed and functionality at low cost, compared to typical add-in graphics cards.
You want rich, vibrant color. You want smooth, crisp images. You want to play high-definition content at full resolution. You want cool realism when you play games on Microsoft Windows Vista.
Thanks to Intel Graphics Technology, that's not a problem. Whether you're shopping for a new notebook, a desktop PC, or a motherboard for a build-it-yourself system, make sure your PC integrates Intel Graphics Technology.


INVIGORATE YOUR VIDEO

High-definition video has revolutionized entertainment, and you shouldn't have to settle for playback that looks less than stunning. Intel® Clear Video Technology, a suite of video enhancements built into Intel Graphics available on select chipsets², means you don't have to.
Intel Clear Video Technology brings you enhanced video playback, sharper images, precise color control, and advanced support for the latest HD displays. This outstanding video experience is available without an add-in video card.

ENERGIZE YOUR GAMING SESSIONS
Make the leap into compelling game realism and life-like effects, enabling a cost-effective PC solution with built-in Intel® Graphics Technology.
Intel Graphics Technology supports the latest Microsoft DirectX* and 3D features such as Microsoft Shader Model 3.0* to enable stunning visual effects in games, such as object deformation, motion blurs, and complex animations with realistic shading, lighting, and textures.³
These 3D features are supported by the latest Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator (Intel® GMA) software drivers.

GET MORE FOR YOUR MONEY

With the dramatic improvements in Intel® Graphics Technology and Intel® processors, it's no longer necessary for most users to buy expensive add-on graphics cards. Users can pocket the difference, or spend the extra money instead on system enhancements like a more powerful CPU.
Intel Graphics Technology is an especially smart choice if you're looking for a value platform for Microsoft Windows Vista, because you get a great built-in graphics adapter capable of the full Microsoft Windows Vista experience.¹ Plus, this cost-effective solution is ideal if you're a mainstream PC user who needs broad, modern feature support.
Intel's solution allows the PC to connect to the latest digital display interfaces, including the High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI). HDMI carries uncompressed HD video and uncompressed multi-channel audio in a single cable.◊
Intel Graphics Technology powers the next generation of PC display technology. When you buy a PC with Intel Graphics, you get a cost-effective solution with the performance you need.

Intel® Desktop Boards

Featured product

The Intel® Desktop Board DX58SO is designed to unleash the power of the all new Intel® Core™ i7 processors


Intel®
Desktop Board Intel® Express
Chipset Socket Form Factor
Extreme Series
DX58SO
Intel® X58 Express Chipset LGA1366 ATX
DP45SG
Intel® P45 Express Chipset LGA775 ATX
D5400XS
Intel® 5400 Express Chipset LGA771 eATX
DX48BT2
Intel® X48 Express Chipset LGA775 ATX
Media Series
DG45FC
Intel® G45 Express Chipset LGA775 mini-ITX
DG45ID
Intel® G45 Express Chipset LGA775 Micro-ATX
DP35DP
Intel® P35 Express Chipset LGA775 ATX
Executive Series
DQ43AP
Intel® Q43 Express Chipset LGA775 MicroATX
DB43LD
Intel® B43 Express Chipset LGA775 MicroATX
DQ45CB
Intel® Q45 Express Chipset LGA775 MicroATX
DQ45EK
Intel® Q45 Express Chipset LGA775 Mini-ITX
DQ35MP
Intel® Q35 Express Chipset LGA775 microATX
DQ35JO
Intel® Q35 Express Chipset LGA775 microATX
Classic Series
DG41MJ
Intel® G41 Express Chipset LGA775 Mini-ITX
DG41TY
Intel® G41 Express Chipset LGA775 microATX
DG43NB
Intel® G43 Express Chipset LGA775 ATX
DP43TF
Intel® P43 Express Chipset LGA775 ATX
DG35EC
Intel® G35 Express Chipset LGA775 microATX
DG31PR
Intel® G31 Express Chipset LGA775 microATX
DG33BU
Intel® G33 Express Chipset LGA775 microATX
DG33FB
Intel® G33 Express Chipset LGA775 ATX
Essential Series
D945GSEJT
Intel® 945GSE Express Chipset N/A Mini-ITX
DG41RQ
Intel® G41 Express Chipset LGA775 microATX
D945GCLF2/D945GCLF2D
Intel® 945GC Express Chipset N/A Mini-ITX
D945GCLF
Intel® 945GC Express Chipset N/A Mini-ITX
DG31GL
Intel® G31 Express Chipset LGA775 microATX

Intel X-25M solid-state drive (80GB)

Intel's X-25M solid-state drive enjoys several advantages over both conventional disk drives and other SSDs, including improvements to data throughput, boot time and notebook battery life. If you can forget about the cost, this is by far the fastest data drive available.
Intel's X-25M solid-state hard drive represents a major leap forward for the solid-state drive category. Although we've heard about the benefits of solid-state hard drives for years — faster access and boot times, improved notebook battery life — Intel's drive raises expectations for the category as a whole. You will most definitely have to pay more for it. Intel's official pricing is US$595 (in quantities of 1,000 units) for our 80GB model — Australian pricing is currently unavailable. However, using the US price for comparison this gives drive the highest cost per gigabyte among competing products. But if improving performance is your main concern, the Intel X-25M is the clear winner, and we recommend it to those for whom price is unimportant.
Instead of storing data on traditional hard disks, solid-state drives use large blocks of flash-based NAND memory, which means these drives have no moving parts to malfunction over time. With no physical platter to spin like traditional hard drives, SSDs are faster at accessing data; they also use less power and generate less heat — something of particular benefit to notebooks.





The data and power connectors on the X-25M look the same as those on a traditional hard drive.
At the time of this review, Intel only offers one 80GB-capacity drive, but it's available in 2.5in. and 1.8in. sizes for compatibility with a variety of modern desktops and notebooks. The Serial ATA data and power inputs on the Intel drive mirror those of other SSDs as well as traditional hard drives, so while you may need drive rails to adapt it to a desktop chassis, the physical cable connections remain unchanged.
As exciting as we find SSDs, and in particular Intel's new model, their limitations are not insignificant to the average user. The price-per-gigabyte of a typical 160GB hard drive is around 10 times less than that of previous-generation solid-state drives, and around 20 times less than that of Intel's new model. That makes the value proposition for Intel's new SSD, from a pure cost-per-gigabyte perspective, very hard to stomach.
You should also keep in mind that because of the nature of flash memory technology, solid-state hard drives have a relatively well-defined time before failure. An article at Icrontic.com called The Hows and Whys of SSDs provides a more in-depth, but also accessible, description of the issue. The gist is that you get about 100,000 read/write cycles before the memory will wear out. As the author, Robert Hallock, puts it: 'While 100,000 cycles seems slight, it's more than 100GB of new information written to the disk every day for five years before approaching failure'. Perhaps your drive usage is more demanding: if so, you'd be wise to weigh it carefully before choosing Intel's expensive new drive.
To test the performance of Intel's X-25M drive, we installed it in a Dell Inspiron E1505 notebook with a 2GHz dual-core processor and 32-bit Windows Vista Ultimate. For comparison we used a 200GB Seagate Momentus notebook hard drive with a 7,200rpm spin speed (most traditional notebook drives spin at 5,400rpm) and a 128GB Patriot Warp V.2 solid-state drive.
First, we installed Windows Vista Ultimate separately onto each clean drive and copied over our standard 10GB folder that we use for all hard-drive benchmark tests. Next, we performed a combined read and write test by measuring the time it took for the hard drive to copy all 10GB to another folder on the disk. We also ran our notebook battery drain test, which gauges how long a system will last on battery power while playing a movie. Finally, we subjected each drive to a boot speed test, hand-timing how long it took to go from pressing the power button to a ready-to-go-Windows cursor.


Verdict
The Intel X-25M was the clear winner on every test. Its read/write access speed was just under twice as fast as either the Patriot solid-state drive or Seagate's 7,200rpm notebook hard drive. We're also particularly impressed by the battery drain test, in which the Intel drive kept our Dell notebook running for almost 20 minutes longer than its competition. And although its boot time advantage might be less dramatic, the Intel drive still maintained an observable edge. The verdict is clear, then: the Intel drive is faster, and will keep your notebook running longer, than either a traditional hard drive or its solid-state competition.
It might not be surprising that the X-25M outperformed a traditional hard drive, but we were impressed at the extent to which the Intel drive surpassed the Patriot SSD. Intel attributes its advantage to a ground-up design philosophy that's more thorough than its SSD competitors. If the proof is in the benchmarks, Intel seems to have achieved its goal. However, the prices need to come way down on solid-state drives before they achieve mainstream acceptance. The capacity also needs to increase for them to compete with standard hard drives for the sheer amount of data they can hold. But for travellers, digital media creators, gamers — or anyone for whom performance and/or battery life are the most important factors in buying or building a computer — Intel's X-25M has shown that it is at least the best-performing internal storage device on the market.

Intel® X58 Express Chipset

Intel® X58 Express ChipsetOverview

Desktop PC platforms based on the Intel® X58 Express Chipset, combined with the Intel® Core™ i7 processor family, drive breakthrough performance and state-of-the-art technology to performance and mainstream platforms.
The Intel X58 Express Chipset supports the latest 45nm Intel Core i7 processor family at 6.4 GT/s and 4.8 GT/s speeds via the Intel® QuickPath Interconnect (Intel® QPI). Additionally, this chipset delivers dual x16 or quad x8 PCI Express* 2.0 graphics card support, and support for Intel® High Performance Solid State Drives on ICH10 and ICH10R consumer SKUs.

FEATURES AND BENEFITS

Intel® QuickPath Interconnect (Intel® QPI) at 6.4 and 4.8 GT/s Intel’s latest system interconnect design increases bandwidth and lowers latency. Supports the Intel® Core™ i7-965 processor Extreme Edition, Intel® Core™ i7-940 processors and Intel® Core™ i7-920 processors.
PCI Express* 2.0 interface PCI Express 2.0 delivers up to 16GB/s bandwidth per port, double that of PCIe* 1.0. It provides leading-edge graphics performance and flexibility with support for dual x16 up to quad x8 graphic card configurations or any combinations in between.
Intel® High Definition Audio◊1
Integrated audio support enables premium digital sound and delivers advanced features such as multiple audio streams and jack re-tasking.
Intel® Matrix Storage technology◊2 With additional hard drives added, provides quicker access to digital photo, video and data files with RAID 0, 5, and 10, and greater data protection against a hard disk drive failure with RAID 1, 5, and 10. Support for external SATA (eSATA) enables the full SATA interface speed outside the chassis, up to 3 Gb/s.
Intel® Rapid Recover technology Intel's latest data protection technology provides a recovery point that can be used to quickly recover a system should a hard drive fail or if there is massive data corruption. The clone can also be mounted as a read-only volume to allow a user to recover individual files.
Intel® Turbo Memory◊3 Intel's innovative NAND cache designed to improve the responsiveness of applications, application load times, and system boot performance. Intel® Turbo Memory, paired with the Intel® X58 Express Chipset, also allows the user to easily control the applications or data in the cache using the new Intel® Turbo Memory Dashboard interface, boosting performance further.
Serial ATA (SATA) 3 Gb/s High-speed storage interface supports faster transfer rate for improved data access up to six SATA ports.
eSATA SATA interface designed for use with external SATA devices. It provides a link for 3 Gb/s data speeds to eliminate bottlenecks found with current external storage solutions.
SATA port disable Enables individual SATA ports to be enabled or disabled as needed. This feature provides added protection of data by preventing malicious removal or insertion of data through SATA ports. Especially targeted for eSATA ports.
USB port disable Enables individual USB ports to be enabled or disabled as needed. This feature provides added protection of data by preventing malicious removal or insertion of data through USB ports.


RELATED PRODUCTS

Processors • Intel® Core™ i7 processor
• Intel® Core™ i7 processor Extreme Edition


PACKAGING INFORMATION

Intel® 82X58 Memory Controller Hub (input/output hub) 1295 Flip Chip Ball Grid Array (FCBGA

Dual-Touchscreen Notebooks Might Come Out in 2010

In the future, tech analysts might look back at the Nintendo DS as being responsible for kicking off the touch-screen revolution. Since the DS's debut, we've seen Apple's iPhone take the mobile phone market by storm, Microsoft push its Surface technology, caught glimpses of touch functionality expected to ship with Windows 7, and now it appears dual-touchscreen notebooks may be on the horizon too.
OLPC talked about using dual-touchscreens it its next generation XO-2 laptop. At half the size of the original, former OLPC CTO Mary Lou Jepsen says the XO-2 will employ dual indoor-and-sunlight displays capable of providing "a right and left page in vertical format, a hinged laptop in horizontal format, and flat, two-screen continuous surface for use in tablet mode."
But OLPC isn't the only one working on a dual-touchscreen notebook, and Italian industrial design agency V12 Design actually developed a similar concept as far back as four years ago called the Canova. Valerio Cometti, the founder and managing director of the firm, claims laptop manufacturers showed interest in the original Cometti and his company is now working on a second generation version. While Cometti remained type lipped regarding which U.S. based company is co-developing the dual-touchscreen laptop, he notes the Canova Generation 2 will support multi-touch input with a software keyboard that appears on the screen. Haptic feedbeek might also be included.

Toshiba A300-177 Intel Core2Duo, Face Detection, 200GB Laptop £499.99

What a bargain people, a Toshiba A300-177 laptop is stunning with great design and sleek looks, the laptop comes with Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T5550, 1.66 GHz, 667 MHz FSB, 2 MB Cache, 2GB Memory, 200GB Hard Drive Capacity, 15.4″ Widescreen TruBrite Display and DVD-SuperMulti Dual Layer.
POSTED BY AWAISSRAZA AT 11:13 AM 0 COMMENTS

Intel® Desktop Board DX58SO

The Intel® Desktop Board DX58SO is designed to unleash the power of the all new Intel® Core™ i7 processors with support for up to eight threads of raw CPU processing power, triple channel DDR3 memory and full support for ATI CrossfireX* and NVIDIA SLI* technology. Today’s PC games like Far Cry 2* need a computing platform that delivers maximum multi-threaded CPU support and eye-popping graphics support.

FEATURES AND BENEFITS

Form factor ATX (12.00 inches by 9.60 inches [304.80 millimeters by 243.84 millimeters])
Processor Click View supported processors for the most current list of compatible processors.
At product launch, this desktop board supports:
• Support for a Intel® Core™ i7 processor in an LGA1366 socket

Memory • Four 240-pin DDR3 SDRAM Dual Inline Memory Module (DIMM) sockets
• Support for DDR3 1600 MHzς, DDR3 1333 MHzς, DDR3 1066 MHz
• Support for up to 16 GBς of system memory
Chipset • Intel® X58 Express Chipset

Audio Intel® High Definition Audio subsystem in the following configuration:
• 10-channel (7.1) Dolby Home Theater* Audio subsystem with five analog audio outputs and two S/PDIF digital audio outputs (coaxial and optical) using the Realtek* ALC889 audio codec
Video • Nvidia SLI* and ATI CrossFire* multi-GPU platform support enables two graphics cards to work together for ultimate 3D gaming performance and visual quality
• Full support of next-generation ATI CrossFire* and Nvidia SLI*
LAN support Gigabit (10/100/1000 Mbits/sec) LAN subsystem
Peripheral interfaces • Twelve USB 2.0 ports (8 external ports, 2 internal headers)
• Six Serial ATA 3.0 Gb/s ports, including 2 eSATA port with RAID support supplied by a Marvell* controller
• Two IEEE-1394a ports (1 external port, 1 internal header)
• Consumer IR receiver and emitter (via internal headers)
Expansion capabilities • One PCI Conventional* bus add-in card connectors (SMBus routed to PCI Conventional bus add-in card connector)
• One primary PCI Express* 2.0 x16 (electrical x16) bus add-in card connector
• One secondary PCI Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x16) bus add-in card connector
• One PCI Express* 1.0a x16 (electrical x4) bus add-in card connector

Intel® Core™2 Extreme quad-core processor

When more is better—with four processing cores the Intel Core 2 Extreme processor delivers unrivaled¹ performance for the latest, greatest generation of multi-threaded games and multimedia apps.

Now with a new version based on Intel's cutting edge 45nm technology utilizing hafnium-infused circuitry to deliver even greater performance and power efficiency. The Intel® Core™2 Extreme processor QX9770 running at 3.2 GHz delivers the best possible experience for today's most demanding users.
• 12 MB of total L2 cache
• 1600 MHz front side bus