Intel To Demo Power-Saving Tech
Intel will show off its upcoming Yonah processor in two weeks and showcase a technology that lets one processing core sleep while the other one drives.
Source: ZD NetCalled Dynamic Power Coordination, or DPC, the technology is a way to conserve energy in dual-core chips, Mooly Eden, vice president of the Mobility Group at Intel said in an interview with CNET News.com on Thursday. When workloads are light, DPC will slow down one processor core to extend battery life.
"The power consumption of each one of the cores is totally different from the other core," he said.
DPC will be integrated into Yonah, Intel's first dual-core chip for notebooks, which will arrive in late 2005 or early 2006. Eden will demonstrate DPC at the Intel Developer Forum taking place in Japan April 7 and 8.
Power consumption remains one of the chief concerns for chip and computer designers. Dual-core chips, which contain two processing cores rather than one, will actually consume less power than current desktop and notebook chips because they will initially run at slower speeds. (Yonah will be a single piece of silicon with two cores, Intel has said. Others, like the future desktop chip Presler, will consist of two separate pieces of silicon fused into a single package.)
Nonetheless, speeds will increase, and consumers want more battery time. The goal is to be able to run for eight hours on a single battery charge, Eden said. Panel makers and software designers are also tweaking their products to consume less energy.
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