Register Hardware

Original URL: http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/11/30/intel_45nm_crossover_coming_2008/

Intel 65nm-to-45nm crossover coming in 2008

By Tony Smith
Published Thursday 30th November 2006 11:17 GMT

Intel expects to begin shipping more 45nm processors than 65nm chips - the so-called 'crossover point' - in 2008, a company staffer revealed this week.

According to Rob Willoner, an analyst with Intel's technology and manufacturing group, cited (http://www.digitimes.com/mobos/a20061130VL202.html?www.reghardware.co.uk) by DigiTimes, Intel's D1D fab in Oregon will be the first to begin volume production of 45nm CPUs.

That's due to take place late 2007, according to Intel's past comments on its roll-out schedule. Earlier this week, the company revealed it has begun sampling 'Penryn', the 45nm incarnation of the Core 2 processor architecture, currently shipping in 65nm product. Those samples will be coming out of D1D's developmental 45nm production line.

Penryn will also extend the Core 2 architecture - it's expected to play host to the fourth set of Intel's Streaming SIMD Extensions (SSE), a further 48 instructions designed to improve the processor's ability to handle multimedia applications. Penryn will also introduce two further instructions dubbed by Intel "application-targeted accelerators".

Far Eastern industry sources have claimed the shift to 45nm will see a jump to clock frequencies of more than 3GHz, something both Intel and AMD have avoided during the current generation of dual-core CPUs and the coming quad-core chips, preferring to avoid the heat and power consumption problems of higher clock speeds in order to promote the benefits of multi-core computing.

Presumably, both companies hope the move to 45nm will allow them to raise clock frequencies without inflating their processors' thermal envelopes. ®