BANGALORE, INDIA: In this ever-evolving field, the year 2008 was no exception. It was already evident in the past few years that processor manufacturers were concentrating on not just improving processing performance alone but doing so quite intelligently. Apart from just increasing clock speeds, there were more changes done to their design. With the potential to directly affect a chip's performance and life, these changes are important for the industry as well as the user. There is increased focus on decreasing TDPs and shrinking die sizes.

Looking back...
In retrospective, 2008 saw a number of new products being introduced by Intel and AMD apart from the refreshed versions of the already existing series of processors.

Mobile computing
In notebooks, AMD introduced a new mobile platform called Puma which features the dual core Turion ultra or mobile Sempron processor, wireless IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n mini-PCIe Wi-Fi adapter and graphics from ATI. The new platform also features support for possible low voltage processors and other features like trusted platform module (TPM) along with support for HyperTransport 3.0 and PCI express 2.0. On the other hand, Centrino which has been Intel's flagship platform for sometime, was upgraded to the fifth generation Centrino2 platform, that consumes lesser power than the previously available platforms. It boasts an Intel Core 2 Duo 45nm processor with clock speeds from 2.26GHz to 3.06GHz, the mobile chipset offers RAM support for DDR3 SODIMM and NAND flash-memory caching, branded as Intel turbo memory, along with Gigabit Ethernet LAN controllers

Also low cost mobile computing came to life with the birth of new products such as netbooks and nettops, due to the introduction of small low power processors like the Nano from VIA and Atom from Intel.

Desktop computing
Though it is the dual core processors from AMD and Intel which remain popular in the consumer desktop market, a new microarchitecture from Intel called Nehalem has been introduced. This architecture comes with significant changes to its design, to substantially improve the performance of processors based on it. Core i7 is the name given to the desktop range of processors based on the new architecture and has a number of revolutionary changes such as integrated memory controller supporting DDR3 RAM, the Intel QuickPath Interconnect technology which replaces the conventional front side bus and simultaneous multithreading or hyperthreading.

Servers
This segment saw the evolution of a revolutionary 6-core processor based on Intel's Core Microarchitecture called the Dunnington, under the Xeon brand of server class processors. It effectively increases the processing power on each socket by six times, thus making the process of building a more powerful machine a little more economical, as the cost of motherboards increase dramatically with increase in the number of sockets. This means that in a four socket motherboard, installing four Dunnington processors would give you a staggering 24 cores. Dunnington featured a single-die six core design and is based on Intel's 45nm Penryn process. It is the first Xeon processor to feature up to 16MB of L3 cache on board which helps in improving performance by reducing latency in accessing frequently used data.

The Road Ahead...
Really, haven't we seen it all yet? Nope, we haven't. One might think that with the current clock speeds and the number of cores that processors boast, we might be witnessing the end of all that could be offered. If it helps in anyway, the answer is that it doesn't seem like we will stop until most of the processes are executed fast, as fast as the blink of an eye, ie until the processors are as scalable and multitask-friendly as the human brain itself! Oops, they are already more than that. Maybe until even when on full load they shall consume as less a power as a child's night lamp. Now, let's take a quick peek at what lies ahead.

Desktop computing

Fusion
AMD and ATI joined hands in 2006 and Fusion was the codename assigned to the new initiative that would merge a CPU and a GPU on a single chip. The new technology focuses on combining general processer execution and 3D geometry processing onto a single package. The processors based on Fusion would be heterogeneous in nature and would have different clock speeds for the graphics core and central processing core. To accommodate external PCI Express peripherals, Fusion would feature a minimum 16 lane PCI Express link, thereby having the ability to eliminate the Northbridge chip completely from the motherboard. The processors would also see a new modular design methodology called M-SPACE, enabling future processor designs to have more flexibility and wider range of combinations. The processors based on Fusion would be meant for both desktop and for mobile computing. The desktop implementation of Fusion has been assigned the codename Falcon and for notebooks, it's called Swift. An option for mobile phones, UMPCs and small multimedia devices has also been kept open with 1-10W TDPs.

The New Phenom
Phenom is AMD's desktop line of microprocessors based on the K10 microarchitecture. A number of new processors, both triple and quad core belonging to the same family are going to be introduced to the world. The key thing about these new chips would be the 45 nm process that they would be manufactured on as it helps in controlling heating issues and influences the performance and DDR3 support. The technical details of a number of processors to be launched codenamed Deneb, Propus, Toliman, Heka etc include a common set of features comprising of AMD's Enhanced 3D Now, NX bit, Cool n Quite technologies.

Westmere and Sandy Bridge
Core i7 is the successor to Intel's core 2 brand of desktop processors. The new quad core processors are based on the brand new microarchitecture-Nehalem. Westmere is going to be the 32nm shrink of Core i7 and is supposed to be followed by Sandy Bridge with another new microarchitecture to be launched in 2010. Post this, a 22nm shrink of Sandy Bridge is expected to be introduced.

Mobile computing

Shrike and Eagle mobile platforms
Shrike is the name given to AMD's new mobile platform that is expected to be launched next year. The new platform would have the processor codenamed Swift, based on the Fusion initiative and would be made on a 45nm process.

Expected to be manufactured on a 32nm process and planned to be launched somewhere in 2010, Eagle is going to be AMD's first mobile platform running on a quad core processor. Support for DDR3 1600MHz and Direct X10.1 is also going to be featured on the new platform.

Calpella, the sixth gen Centrino
The sixth generation Centrino, codenamed Calpella is expected to be the Intel's answer to AMD's new platforms that would be based on Fusion and is expected be seen later next year.

The chipset is expected to feature Intel's QuickPath Interconnect technology along with DDR3 support. The processor on Calpella is going to be a mobile version of the processors based on Intel's new Nehalem microarchitecture. Both dual and quad-core versions will be available on this platform.

Low cost computing

Pineview
In 2008, we saw a number of products running on the ultra small, low power processors, Intel's Atom being the latest one. After Diamondville, Intel is all set to bring in new processors in their Atom family, codenamed Pineview.

Similar to Diamondville, the new processor will be used in Netbook/Nettop systems and will be available in single and dual core versions.

It will feature hyperthreading and is expected to be manufactured on a 45nm or 32nm process.

Bobcat
The Bobcat processor from AMD is also expected to be seen next year. Like Atom this one is also a simplified x86 CPU core having extremely low TDPs (1-10W) and targeted at UMPC, handheld and other small form factor devices.

Server processors
Future versions of Intel's Xeon line of server class processors include two processors codenamed Gainestown and Beckton. Based on Nehalem, the new microarchitecture from Intel, the Gainestown processor will be a quad-core and is expected to be launched early next year. As compared to the desktop processor Core i7, Gainestown would have a second QuickPath interface enabling it to be used in a dual socket motherboard configuration. Beckton is again a Nehalem based processor but with four QuickPath interfaces for a Quad socket configuration.

AMD on the other hand have a number of product launches lined up in the server segment. Opteron, AMD's server line of processors shall see the introduction of Shanghai core based products manufactured on a 45nm process, codenamed Istanbul, next year. After this, they are expected to replace the line with their six cores Sao Paolo and the staggering twelve core Magny Cours products manufactured using the Multi-chip module technique. Also, the newly announced Bulldozer core with 4 native cores or more will be introduced on a 32nm process in the server line of processors, each supporting SSE5 and aimed at better HPC and cryptographic computation.