Archrivals Intel and Advanced Micro Devices are revealing more details about their next-generation processors this week. On Monday, Intel CEO Paul Otellini described new CPU products based on a processor architecture called Sandy Bridge, and AMD is expected to show two new accelerated processing units (APUs) within the next few days.
Sandy Bridge is the successor to Nehalem, the architecture used in Intel’s current line of Core processors, and the new chips are expected to be available in four- and eight-core versions by early next year. Intel’s announcements were made at its Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco, Calif.
‘Biggest Advance’
Intel said the chips are based on its first new, “visibly smart” architecture, manufactured with its 32-nanometer process technology, and using second-generation high-k metal gate transistors.
Dadi Perlmutter, executive vice president and general manager of the Intel Architecture Group, said this “second-generation Intel Core processor family” is the “biggest advance in computing performance and capabilities over any previous generation.” He added that the company intends to offer the chips in laptops, as well as in server data centers and embedded computing products.
The chips include a new “ring” architecture in which the built-in graphics engine shares memory and other resources with the core to increase performance and efficiency. There’s also an enhanced version of the Intel Turbo Boost technology, which automatically reallocates processing resources, both for core processing and for graphics, so that performance can be increased when required.
The “enhanced visual features” made possible by the graphics in this new generation, the company said, include the ability to handle HD video, 3-D, gaming, multitasking, social networking, and multimedia.
‘Ideal’ for Cloud Computing
The new products from AMD, called Ontario and Zacate, merge CPU and graphics processing, part of AMD’s big Fusion effort. Ontario, which draws nine watts, is designed for very low-power devices, while Zacate is…