Not really CD-R news but intresting enough to post. McKinley, Intel's upcoming server processor, will be huge, at least in terms of surface area.
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As a result, the chip won't be the easiest or the cheapest product Intel has ever produced. Big chips cost more to make because fewer can be carved out of a single wafer
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The size of the chip comes from a number of factors. McKinley contains a substantial amount of cache--data reservoirs near the processor for rapid data access. Intel is integrating a 3MB level three cache, a 256KB level two cache and a 32KB level one cache. The original Itanium features a 4MB level three cache, but it's located on separate chips, and a 96KB level two cache. McKinley also contains more internal subsystems than its predecessor. In all, the chip contains 221 million transistors.
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"Applications will about one and a half to two times faster than what you get on a (current) Itanium," he said.
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The ultimate success of McKinley, though, will depend on the availability of software. Microsoft, Oracle and a number of other software developers have committed to delivering products for McKinley. Still, it is uncertain when customers will gravitate to these new products in the current economic climate.
Don't worry folks. This chip is only for servers though. And I don't think a normal working (wo)man could afford this without saving all his/her money for about 1 year.
Source: News
