Gargoyle
8 May 2008, 6:50pm
<div class='figure floatright'><img src="/draco/images/news/2008/05/amd45.jpg" alt="" />
<p class='credit'>Photo by AMD</p>
<p class='caption'>If you squint you can see the nanometers. 45 of them.</p></div>
<p>
AMD has announced new Opteron chips (codenamed <em>Shanghai</em>) based on a 45 nm process, and quad core chips should be available early next year. In the later half of 2009, six core chips will materialize. Both will land on Socket F; here's hoping that motherboard and chipset compatibility will be solid. No matter the core count, the shrunken process should yield better performance and efficiency.</p>
<p>Enjoy your current chip platforms while you can, because in 2010, AMD will switch to a completely new platform codenamed <em>Maranello </em>supporting new six core and <strong>twelve</strong> core chips. These will still be 45 nm chips, while Intel is expected to beat AMD to the 32 nm process sometime in late 2009. AMD is skipping over eight core designs entirely, which means Intel will probably have the largest core count with the Nehalem architecture for around a year.</p>
<p class='credit'>Photo by AMD</p>
<p class='caption'>If you squint you can see the nanometers. 45 of them.</p></div>
<p>
AMD has announced new Opteron chips (codenamed <em>Shanghai</em>) based on a 45 nm process, and quad core chips should be available early next year. In the later half of 2009, six core chips will materialize. Both will land on Socket F; here's hoping that motherboard and chipset compatibility will be solid. No matter the core count, the shrunken process should yield better performance and efficiency.</p>
<p>Enjoy your current chip platforms while you can, because in 2010, AMD will switch to a completely new platform codenamed <em>Maranello </em>supporting new six core and <strong>twelve</strong> core chips. These will still be 45 nm chips, while Intel is expected to beat AMD to the 32 nm process sometime in late 2009. AMD is skipping over eight core designs entirely, which means Intel will probably have the largest core count with the Nehalem architecture for around a year.</p>