The Dual-Core Intel® Itanium® 9100 Series Microprocessors
Yes, there is a speed increase — 1.66 GHz versus the current Itanium® (Montecito) processor family’s 1.60 GHz. There’s a new and faster 667 MHz Front Side Bus (FSB) as well, all operating at 104 W power consumption. That, combined with a three-load bus (with two processors and a chipset on the same bus), means an important speed increase.
As a result, though the clock rate had a gradual increase, a recent benchmark test on the SPECfp_rate_base2006 comparing otherwise identical computing platforms noted that the system using Itanium® 9150 processor demonstrated an 11% performance gain compared to the Itanium® 9050 processor-based solution. And running the STAR-CD test (v3.26 “A Class” workload), there was a 19% performance gain from the 9050 series-based solution to an identical platform using the 9150 processor.
Nobody’s going to turn down a speed increase but for many it may the other features in this release that will mean even more.
The first of these is Intel’s® “Core Level Lock-Step”, a key new reliability feature that supports improved data integrity and the ability to run applications faster. The concept, at its simplest, is the ability of the Dual-Core Processor architecture to have one of the Cores automatically mirror the operations of the other Core. They run in “lock-step” as needed, either to support even higher levels of data accuracy while running mission-critical applications for business, or to allow parallel “lock-step” processing of applications.
In previous incarnations of the Itanium processor, this type of function was only available with their “Socket-Level Lockstep” feature, which allowed a processor in one socket to mirror the operations of another. With “Core Level Lock-Step” added to the mix, operations can be mirrored within the same Dual-Core Chip. Plus the existing “Enhanced Machine Check Architecture” (enabling machine availability on a very high level), Intel® Cache Safe Technology (that automatically disables cache lines when a cache error is noted), and Advanced Error Detection and Correction Architecture, means that data is even safer than ever before with the 9100 series processors in place. These features help the comfort level when it comes to centralizing operations, a key step in cutting operations costs for the future.
A second important feature is Demand Based Switching (DBS). Just as high-end automobile designs “switch off” several of the cylinders in the engine in certain instances to conserve gas, the innovative DBS feature works with the operating system to allow minimizing processor energy consumption as workloads vary.
All the other features you’ve expected are still there, of course, including “built-in, silicon-level support for virtualization” using Intel’s Virtualization Technology, a key to consolidating mission-critical applications in centralized operations.
There’s also, of course, the strong — and unique — special security features of the Itanium processor family, including hardware authentication of firmware during system bootup, a unique approach to memory compartmentalization (to protect against foreign code infiltrating the system), and fast data encryption (without sacrificing system performance).
The 9100 series processor family includes models all the way up to its high-end 9150M device (with 1.66 GHz processor, 667 MHz FSB, Hyper-Threading technology, and all the other features discussed above). All the Itanium Solutions Alliance Server manufacturers, including Bull, Fujitsu, Fujitsu Siemens Computers, HP, Hitachi, Intel, NEC, SGI, and Unisys, will be launching new Dual-Core Intel Itanium Processor 9100 series-based products soon. So if you want to learn more, check with one of them and they’ll be able to advise you on how best to put these powerful innovations to use.
And yes, if you’re wondering, Intel is continuing its aggressive Itanium® processor innovation path. The next model, code-named Tukwila, is projected for release at the end of 2008 and will feature a Quad-Core design, twice the performance of today’s Dual-Core Intel Itanium processors. It will also incorporate large, on-die caches, integrated memory controllers, a faster interconnect architecture, and several new RAS and virtualization features. Beyond that, the next version is “Poulson”, which Intel describes as a “many-core” processor built on their 32 nanometer process technology, which will allow manufacturing as high as 4X the transistor density in Tukwila.
There are more great things coming from Intel, the Itanium Solutions Alliance and its partners in the months and years to come!