Nehalem (CPU architecture)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article contains information about a scheduled or expected future product.
It may contain preliminary or speculative information, and may not reflect the final version of the product.

Nehalem is a processor microarchitecture that is being developed by Intel and is the planned successor to Penryn. Intel is already into the development process for Nehalem. Nehalem uses the 45 nm manufacturing methods from Penryn and applies it to the new Nehalem microarchitecture. This processor will debut in 2008 according to Intel^[1]

1 The codename
2 Details on the processor
3 The successor
4 References

[edit] The codename

The codenames "Bloomfield", "Gainestown", "Gilo" [1], and "Beckton" (or "Becton") [2] have been associated with Nehalem, but with very few details.

Actually, the very code name itself had been seen for a long time, on the farther end of several roadmaps, even by the time of Pentium III — actually, it started in 2000. By then, it was supposed to be the latest evolution of the NetBurst architecture

Willamette → Northwood → Prescott → Tejas → Nehalem

Since the abandonment of NetBurst, the codename had been recycled and will be something completely different.

[edit] Details on the processor

Nehalem will be the most significant new architectural change since the Pentium Pro back in 1995. Nehalem will be very scalable with different components for different tasks. According to Intel it will have up to 8 cores, integrated memory controllers for DDR3 with 1 to 4 memory channels and be manufactured using a new 45nm manufacturing process. The new CPU will also have integrated graphics subsystem.

[edit] The successor

Westmere is the name given to the 32 nm shrink of Nehalem. Westmere should be ready for a 2009 release provided that Intel stays on target with its roadmap.

According to a French article from June 2005, there would be at least two variants: first will come Whitefield (since cancelled) then Dunnington. This article also gave two versions: dual-core (low-end) and quad-core (normal). Starting from the second generation, the server version would have from 4 to 32 cores. Whitefield would have used the Common System Interface (CSI), a competitor to HyperTransport.

The successor to Nehalem will be Gesher, scheduled for release in 2010.