Intel confirms 6MB IA-64 CPU

[marco]

The inquirer has a confirm from Intel on their 6MB Madison IA-64 CPU:

"It said that it will release its "Madison" IA-64 processor next year with 6MB of cache.

That news came as Paul Otellini, soon to be CEO of Intel, once again demoed the Banias mobile processor, which will be out in the first quarter of next year, and also said that there would be Pentium 4 processors running at 3GHz at the end of the year.

Intel has said this for a little while but all its desktop roadmaps this year show it topping out at 2.8GHz. The next set of roadmaps may demonstrate some change in those plans."

More can be found here (http://www.theinquirer.net/26040201.htm)

[Anonymous]

How comes that you post here about Intel's new big iron CPU that no one of us will be able to buy but I see not a single line about AMD naming the Hammer Opteron and the deal with Microsoft about a AA64 Windows?

Talking about relevance..

Oh, a 6MB cache is not *that* impressive for a CPU in that price class.

[Saem]

Opteron is a Xeon class processor with a Xeon class price - that's not affordable either. Opteron's ISA doesn't exist in a purchasable form, McKinely's does - though not in great quantity. Vistors of this site work in the industry and might encounter this hardware on an SGI workstation or what have you.

Besides which, the Opteron news is no biggie in the sense that it's not going to be out for some time and Clawhammer is what people are really waiting for.

[Anonymous]

Opteron is a Xeon class processor with a Xeon class price - that's not affordable either.

You sure know the price points of Opteron, Xeon and Itanium, do you?

Opteron TBA 512K cache starting at high Athlon MP prices ~350$
Xeon 2.0GHz (Prestonia) 512K cache 400$
Itanium 733mhz 2MB cache 3000$

Which one of these is the most affordable? I know AMD will undercut Intel's Xeon with their low end Opteron.

Opteron's ISA doesn't exist in a purchasable form,

It does. And it's very cheap too: http://www.x86-64.org ;)

McKinely's does - though not in great quantity.

I have yet to see anyone selling Itanium 2. Are you sure you would want one? It costs even more than the old crappy Itanium.

Vistors of this site work in the industry and might encounter this hardware on an SGI workstation or what have you.

They could. But I hope no one buys a crappy workstation like the SG750..

Besides which, the Opteron news is no biggie in the sense that it's not going to be out for some time ...

Uhmm.. And what about Itanium 3 we are talking about here? It will be released in 1+ year from now, I bet we will see many Opterons before its release.

and Clawhammer is what people are really waiting for.

There is a Clawhammer with the name Opteron, it is the DP version with 512K..

My point stands.

[Saem]

Opteron TBA 512K cache starting at high Athlon MP prices ~350$
Xeon 2.0GHz (Prestonia) 512K cache 400$
Itanium 733mhz 2MB cache 3000$

Which one of these is the most affordable? I know AMD will undercut Intel's Xeon with their low end Opteron.

At about this time I consider you an AMD-droid. Perhaps you should realize those prices don't matter at all and you need an IBM, Dell, HPaq or something along those lines to integrate it into a system. Not just that you need to provide service for it.

It does. And it's very cheap too: http://www.x86-64.org

LoL, I meant a product.

I have yet to see anyone selling Itanium 2. Are you sure you would want one? It costs even more than the old crappy Itanium.

Read what I said once again, you'll notice I'm saying that the EPIC ISA is implemented and purchasable for developers and for people who must have their Itanium now. And when you say crappy, for what? Every single task. I think not. I'm sure there are quite a few people who care about FP performance and this might be the product for them. Realistically the sales tell a different story, but then again I'm not considering the big factors, performance is a small factor in the big picture.

They could. But I hope no one buys a crappy workstation like the SG750.

There is that crappy again, would that be due to performance? If it is, I suggest you start looking past it, it's not as big a concern as you think. Hammer may perform well, but so what? That's small step a very small step.

Uhmm.. And what about Itanium 3 we are talking about here? It will be released in 1+ year from now, I bet we will see many Opterons before its release.

Yup and they'll compete against Xeons, I don't believe they'll do much against Itanium 2 I doubt they're in the same class of processor.

I think a lot of people have the wrong impression about AMD's new MPUs they're not going to compete against Itaniums much, they're just not in the same league. Performance isn't that important, can we say SPARC and Alpha, people?

[MfA]

Itanium is a processor looking for a market. Workstations arent a viable market with the kind of investments Intel is making, they are something you do on the side ... and IMO they just offer very little for the server market their competitors wont offer more of. IBM will outdo them in sheer horsepower, and Hammer offers very low system cost for multiprocessor machines for the low end.

IBM has enough clout to pull in the application support and they have their own distribution, its a good thing for Intel AMD will have problems on both those fronts ... or they'd be fucked royal.

[Anonymous]

At about this time I consider you an AMD-droid. Perhaps you should realize those prices don't matter at all and you need an IBM, Dell, HPaq or something along those lines to integrate it into a system. Not just that you need to provide service for it.

You are right, CPU prices aren't that important, but they tell you a little bit. May I remind you about your argument?


Saem wrote:

Opteron is a Xeon class processor with a Xeon class price - that's not affordable either.[quote]

What is the "Xeon class" and why isn't it affordable? You can get a Dell or IBM Xeon Server for 4000$, whereas the cheapeast Itanium 733 system cost 17000$. I said no one of us would be able to buy a Itanium system, which is probably right. You said a Xeon isn't affordable either, which is wrong for me.

[quote]
Read what I said once again, you'll notice I'm saying that the EPIC ISA is implemented and purchasable for developers and for people who must
have their Itanium now.

You are right. It was "McKinely's (ISA)", I just read "McKinley".

And when you say crappy, for what? Every single task. I think not. I'm sure there are quite a few people who care about FP performance and this might be the product for them.

Because of its FP performance? I don't think so. Check some SPEC_fp2000 scores: http://www.aceshardware.com/SPECmine/
McKinley should be better. Though, Opteron shouldn't be that bad either. Maybe that 6MB Madison will be the FP killer.


There is that crappy again, would that be due to performance? If it is, I suggest you start looking past it, it's not as big a concern as you think.

What? Performance is not of big concern for a *workstation*? And have you seen the 750? What does that graphics card in there? I hope nobody starts a graphical application on that system, ever.

Hammer may perform well, but so what? That's small step a very small step.

AMD has to somehow get into the Xeon Workstation/Server market. They make small baby steps (Athlon MP) in there, and if you can get far superior performance and still have a lower price with an Opteron system maybe some (also OEM's) will not only consider Intel systems in that market.


Yup and they'll [Opteron] compete against Xeons, I don't believe they'll do much against Itanium 2 I doubt they're in the same class of processor.

Don't underestimate the Opteron, it will be a killer in SMP configurations, something the Xeon's are very bad in. Sadly there won't be many glueless 8 CPU systems..


I think a lot of people have the wrong impression about AMD's new MPUs they're not going to compete against Itaniums much,

Performance wise they will.

they're just not in the same league.

That's true, different price, different availability.

Performance isn't that important, can we say SPARC and Alpha, people?

Alpha was about performance, Sun's systems have other advantages (SMP scaling).

[Dave Baumann]

How comes that you post here about Intel's new big iron CPU that no one of us will be able to buy but I see not a single line about AMD naming the Hammer Opteron and the deal with Microsoft about a AA64 Windows?

I can't speak for Marco, but I would guess its becuase it was just a slow news day...