All I can say is "It's about time"Intel has finally confirmed that which we have all suspected for a long time -- they will be dumping the rushed-out-the-door Netburst architecture for their next-generation dual-core processors, and instead will be using something that more closely resembles the Pentium III. This information comes from Intel's former CTO, and now Digital Enterprise Group head, Pat Gelsinger, in an interview with the German computing web site golem.de.
The three upcoming processors, code-named Merom, Conroe, and Woodcrest, correspond to Intel's mobile, desktop, and server offerings (respectively). While their Pentium M has never been Netburst-based, this is the first major change that Intel's desktop and server products will undergo since the inception of the first Netburst-based processors. Some of the more interesting quotes --
With dual- and eventually multi-core processors on the way, there's much less need to focus on enabling ever greater clock frequencies, so the P4's long pipeline is less relevant. It's also less efficient, from an electrical power perspective and "arithmetic performance", says Gelsinger.
"However, one of the advantages of NetBurst was that we could add very simply things like virtualisation and HyperThreading," he added. "We're not throwing those things away."
What a sigh of relief. I still remember when the first Pentium 4 reviews started flowing in, and I most definitely remember the general dismay at their performance. The only sign of hope back then was that at least the architecture would ramp up well, especially with Intel's claims of 10.2 GHz by 2005. Needless to say, Prescott seems to be topping out at around 3.8 GHz, and the heat output is just unreal. This was a doomed and dying architecture from the start, while the P6 architecture was always a sleek, sexy beast. I'm glad Intel has finally gathered their wits and decided to dump Netburst where it belongs -- on its ass.
On the positive side, I'm extremely impressed with the Pentium M, and knowing Intel, I'm quite certain that they'll be able to pull off an awesome product after their revamps are complete.
Article Link: Intel: next-gen dual-cores not NetBurst
