Intel, AMD gear up with new processors

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA: Intel Corporation and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) are getting ready for the next round of competition in the money-spinning market of server microprocessors. 

According to analysts, because of shifting strategies on both sides, the fight between Intel’s Nehalem-EX and AMD’s Magny-Cours is likely to be a tie in certain ways. 

Though Intel and AMD are yet to announce formally the 45-nm CPUs, most of the details are already known. 

In early February 2010, Intel had said that it will launch the Nehalem-EX in 90 days. AMD had first released details of its Magny-Cours in May 2008. 

Intel’s Nehalem-EX is a dual-threaded, 8-core processor with 24 Mbytes of L3 cache meant for use in systems with 4 or more CPUs. AMD’s Magny-Cours is a single-threaded, 12-core chip based on two 6-core die in a package, with a total 12 Mbytes L3 cache. Both microprocessors have four 64-bit DDR3 memory controllers. 

While the Nehalem-EX supports 4 more threads than the Magny-Cours, AMD’s Magny-Cours has 4 more cores. 

Intel’s multithreading, analysts say, typically delivers a performance boost of about 20-25 per cent – which is likely to be less than what AMD will get from having the extra cores. But, Intel’s cores have the superior design, and its chip has twice the L3 cache, which delivers considerable power on many applications.