Dual Channel DDR and 3g+ P4's

[markodude]

From The Inquirer:
THE LATEST ROADMAP from Intel shows that the firm is ready to consolidate its chipsets as it positions itself for the launch of a 3.06GHz Pentium 4.
The company has also outlined more details of the Springdale P and Springdale G chipsets it is introducing in the second quarter of 2003.

On October 7th, Intel will introduce its 845PE, 845GE and 845GV chipsets, which support DDR 333 memory types. On the same day it will position its 850E with PC 1066 Rambus validations as the highest performing desktop chipset.

As we've noted before, Springdale G has integrated graphics although other cards will fit into slots on motherboards using it. Springdale P does not have integrated graphics. Both types support dual channel double data rate (DDR) memory and Serial ATA, and offer better graphics, Intel claims. Both will support 667, 533 and 400 front side buses.

The 3.06GHz Pentium 4 desktop chip, as we've noted here before, will include support for multithreading. According to the roadmaps we saw, the P4 Northwood code will top out at 3.20GHz, with Intel positioning its future core, Prescott, as the successor.

During and by the end of Q4, the desktop chipsets will be the 845GV, the 845GE, the 845PE and the 850E. Those chipsets hold good until Q2 when the Springdale chips are launched

Wish we had dual channel ddr earlier than this! Maybe 3rd party boards b4 Q2 2003??

 

[JudgeDredd]

Looks like Intel is really kicking it up a notch. I think they're getting ready to combat Hammer when it comes out. Sound's great.

 

[markodude]

Personally I would take Hyperthreading with a pinch of salt as its not as good as it is supposed to be, due to some crazy pipeline architecture problems.....or so I read...
Hammer on the other hand I am very optimistic about....cant wait!

 

[imgod2u]

I wonder what happened to Granite Bay. Wasn't that suppose to be the P4's dual channel DDR chipset and be out at the end of this year?

 

[NookieN]

Personally I would take Hyperthreading with a pinch of salt as its not as good as it is supposed to be, due to some crazy pipeline architecture problems.....or so I read...
Hammer on the other hand I am very optimistic about....cant wait!

You should take _every_ piece of tech news with a grain of salt.

However, Hyperthreading does provide a performance boost, especially with applications designed to use it. While it may only be a 10-20% boost in most cases, that's still pretty good.

 

[markodude]

Granite bay isnt due til 2003 Q2 as far as I am aware....

 

[imgod2u]

Really? I thought Springdale wasn't due till Q2 of 2003 and Granite Bay at the end of this year. Granite Bay for the P4's and Springdale for Prescott. As far as Hyperthreading, I doubt the current version of it in the P4's will help much even in multithreaded software. In software that requires a lot of pure math (such as integer intensive applications) it can provide quite a bit of performance boost, but that's not really any user-level operation.
The main benefit, I think, would be the overall responsiveness of the system. The "feeling" if you will. People who've used dual processor setups will tell you, they are much more responsive than a single processor no matter the MHz or IPC or whatever. Multithreading on a single die won't provide as significant, but will certainly provide better responsiveness. No longer will your windows animations be chugging slow if one application like Mediaplayer likes to hog up processor time. Things like that will improve the overall computing experience in common multitasking, not just in benchmarks on a specific application.

 

[LastRide]

Looking forward to the dual channel Mobo's.

 

[doormat]

I think it speaks volumes about the hammer regarding what Intel is coming with to counter it. Its going to be an interesting six to 12 months in the computer industry.