Intel demos first-ever 32nm processors
By Nilay Patel 
posted February 10th 2009 3:22PM
posted February 10th 2009 3:22PM
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Intel Demonstrates First Working 32nm-based Microprocessor
in Both Mobile and Desktop Systems
Feb. 10, 2009 - At a media briefing in San Francisco today, Intel Corporation discussed new milestones for 32nm manufacturing and progress toward future products. Earlier that day, in Washington, DC, Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini disclosed that Intel is making the largest- ever investment in a single process technology in the United States to support upgrades to advanced manufacturing facilities in the country and the move to its next-generation, 32nm chip manufacturing technology. Intel is investing approximately $7 billion in 2009-10 on 32nm manufacturing technology, raising the total by the end of that timeframe to approximately $8 billion (for 32nm investment in the United States).in Both Mobile and Desktop Systems
Below is a summary of the product roadmap news at the briefing in San Francisco:
First-ever demonstration of a working 32nm-based microprocessor:
- Intel is demonstrating the first 32nm working microprocessor in both mobile and desktop systems.
- Great 32nm process and product health are enabling Intel to accelerate 32nm product ramp
- Westmere mobile and desktop processor production in the fourth quarter of 2009
- 32nm enables increased performance and power flexibility
- Intel processors based on Westmere will ramp into mobile, desktop, and server segments over time, as the 32nm process ramps
- Increased performance, smaller processor core size
- New multi-chip package with graphics integrated in the processor
- Repartitioned system architecture, simplified motherboards
- Volume ramp; expect 32nm in server market in 2010
- Intel® Turbo Boost technology
- Intel® Hyper-Threading technology (2 Cores, 4 threads)
- Integrated graphics, discrete/switchable graphics support
- 4MB cache, Integrated Memory Controller (IMC) – 2ch DDR3
- AES Instructions
Intel's strength as an integrated device manufacturer allows the company to continue to deliver new generations of advanced process technology on a 2-year cadence. Intel has developed a 32nm logic technology with industry-leading features:
- Second-generation high-k + metal gate transistors
- 32nm marks the first time Intel uses immersion lithography on critical layers
- 9 copper + low-k interconnect layers
- About 70 percent dimension scaling from 45nm generation
- Pb- and halogen-free packages
In 50 years "Back in the day, we got excited over 32nm processors! You kids have it lucky with your .0001pm doohickeys"
naw in 50 years it would be
"eh what the bloody hell is a processor"
In 50 years people will laugh at us for using silicon!
naww!!! in 50 years Skynet will have taken over!
Not if John Connor defeats Skynet in 50 years.
In 50 years Steve Smith won't care.
There is no processor.
"Back in the day, mice had balls!"
Back in the days I wasn't born.
You can see them running Cinebench in one of the pictures... Can we get the results from that?
Yeah why don't they show it actually running?
i smell more pico-itx boards.
no, actaully in order to develop smaller types of hardware in the pm region, engineers first have to master quantum mechanics and how it affects the hardware at such levels, then we can get going on something better than 32nm chips..... we can get quantum computers!!! thats gonna b something sexy right there!!!
He's talking about pico-itx motherboards, as in the form factor, not picometer processors. Pretty sure Pico-ITX are the motherboards are used for Via CPUs though, not Intel.
AWESOME
And thus Intel continues to use that nasty cooler design.
I would figure that by now they would have cooked up something like a Tuniq Tower or a Xiggy.
My Xigmatek S1283 > ALL
I'm hot for 32nm and all, but man that dude's eyebrows are distracting.
Wow, those eyebrows need a shave.
So it's Arrandale, not Auburndale?
As cool as this is, the video is kinda pointless.
"Hi! I work at Intel! Here's a 32nm processor! Here's a 32nm processor running a desktop! And here's a 32nm processor running Windows! We hope to have these on the market as soon as I've finished trimming my eyebrows (yeah, it'll take a while). Kthxbai!"
Still, awesome news from Intel though.
haha, i was thinking that about the eyebrows too... they should use the same tech that allows them to shave the silicon off the chips on his eyebrows.
I do hope that 32nm would have hurried up before the launch of the new eee tablet. but still, its pertty cool.... next stop 20 nm :P soon they will be small enough we will be able to acommodate a computer just fine with in our body. (MUAHAHAHAHA)
im sure there are people out there who are willing to plug an OQO or vaio ux
IBM is already working on the 25NM processor aren't they? That would really be something.
Doesn't Skynet require 12nm chips?
Not there yet.
If I'm correct this CPU is running on 775 socket mobo. Does it mean that Intel WILL release new processors for this socket? This would be AWESOME :D
No you're completely wrong.
No. This is likely running on socket 1066.
You mean 1366 right?
This can't be a 1366 socket - it would require X58 chipset,which is HUGE and it's absolutely not possible for it to run with such a small cooler on it.
No, I mean 1066. I say this from the 4 DIMM slots. 1366 supports triple interleaving of DIMMs, and thus this board would have either 3 or 6 DIMM slots.
1066 is the socket that will be used to deliver Core i7 "to the masses" more cost-effectively, 1366 will be for more esoteric solutions, like enthusiasts and Xeon-style customers.
Performance (even memory bandwidth) only drops a few percent when dual-interleaving is used on socket 1366, so socket 1066 systems should have very little performance penalty.
There are other changes in socket 1066, the PCIe controller is moved onto the CPU, I believe.
Socket 1066 will cut the price of motherboards from the current $250-ish for 1366 down to the more normal $150-ish.
Okay thanks for the clarification, now I feel better with my "superior" 1366 board, yay e-penis! XD
It's socket 1156 guys.
Doesn't intel know you are supposed to use water cooling in danger den cases? DURR.
Until I see benchmarks I'll hold off on getting excited. I remember the whole P4 boondoggle. Frankly the i7 isn't that impressive either. The Core 2 was a big jump and is a good CPU. The i7 is a fine chip but not really a big jump for most performance. Perhaps the westmere will be great - can't say yet. The early reports of the i7 being all that and a bag o' chips were overstated. Again the i7 is a good CPU - just not an impressive performance jump over the core 2.
If the the westmere is a great CPU I'll look forward to the quad core version in 2010 so I can get some crazy video compiling speeds.
Core i7 is just a marketing thing when it comes to desktops.
Many many reviews have shown that for desktops and gaming, a good old Q9650 (which just dropped to ~ $366) is just as good as an expensive i7.
The Nehalem (i7) architecture will see its biggest benefit on the server side of things, where it has already been shown a decent 2 processor Nehalem EP machine can spank a 4 processor Intel 7300 based machine and the latest 4 processor AMD (Shanghai).
It takes a big expensive Xeon 7400 Quad CPU system to beat the Dual Nehalem EP.
The one big advantage on the gaming side of the i7 is the SLI on an Intel Chipset. nV chipsets lately suck in comparison and older Intel chipsets were limited to ATI.
For the average user though, I would say get a Q9550/Q9650 along with 4GB of DDR2 and that will hold you quite well until Westmere arrives at the end of the year (in budget format no less). Light to medium gamers can use a 9800 GTX+ or 4870 and have a great gaming experience. And using these parts, its pretty hard to go above $1000 to boot.
Poor AMD....
Cool, so Apple will come along with Macs which do have all these nice processors this year? :)
I wouldn't bet on it. Apple always seems to take longer to incorporate new processors. That, my friend, is the advantage of building your own computer.
mac got pwnd
The first 32nm Westmere chips dont release till Q4 2009, so its unlikely we will see them really hit the market until early 2010.
So your shiny new MBP is all gravy for about a year, then its gonna be old news. (Arent you glad you just dropped $2000 on it?)
As for MACs taking longer, I agree, but they have a good reason. MACs use EFI instead of BIOS. BIOS is very old and needs to be replaced, but the opem standard in the PC world make it very hard to get rid of it. Mac being in charge of their own hardware and software allowed them to simply pull the trigger and do it.
So rather than say MACs suck because they take longer, why not blame PCs for not bothering to update to something from even the last decade.
If PCs started to widely adopt EFI, we would see better adoption from hardware vendors and this would cause a ripple affect that would allow MACs to get their stuff to market faster.
PS: I hate Apple and would never buy a MAC myself, so you can skip the Mac Fanboy comments.
I'm a PC guy tried and true.
Is that a SODIMM slot on the motherboard beside the main memory banks?
I think its a Mini PCI-e Slot, for turbo memory or SSD or something that runs on MINI PCI-e?
The code names Intel comes up with are after the natural bodies of waters here in the United States, such as lakes and ponds. if you look up all their past names such as Katmai, Prescott, Merced, etc they're all named after lakes, ponds, rivers.
Why do the pictures on their site appear to have been taken with a crappy camera phone? Cant they afford something good?
Top secret
Seems like they're close to being through recycling the stock cooler material of returned SNDS Northwood and burned-up Prescott batches, or why are the new ones so skinny?
huge'r version of windows ?, who is this guy. didnt know we rated windows on its size.
Anyway well done, but i think AMD are doing 22nm although they dont meet deadlines so...