Gizmodo: penryn

Intel's Six-Core Xeon 7400 "Dunnington" Processor Shipping on September 15th

Sean Fallon — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:36:00 EDT

According to CNET sources, Intel's six-core "Dunnington"processor will begin rolling out to servers on September 15th under the Xeon 7400 series. The new chip is Intel's first foray beyond four cores as well as their first to fuse multiple cores on a single die. It also features 16MB of L3 cache to help boost performance. The design is the last of the Penryn-class, and if the rumors hold true, we should see Core i7 (Nehalem) by the end of the year. [CNET via Electronista]

Intel's Insanely Tiny Processor Roadmap: "Clear Path" to 10nm Chips

matt buchanan — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:07:23 EDT

Think Intel's breakthrough 45-nanometer chips are impressive stuff? Intel thought at one time dipping below 100nm would be miraculous, but Intel exec Pat Gelsinger says that "today we see a clear way to get to under 10 nanometers," and it'll be within the next 10 years.

The next die shrink is the 32nm Westmere chips next year, followed by 14nm a few years later and then the crazy sub-10nm chips after that. But they're probably going to have to make use of something like carbon nanotubes or spintronics to get below 10. The result of all that processing power, says Gelsinger, will be "a dramatic restructuring of the user interface." Yes! I've always wanted true 3D computing goggles. [CRN]

Retailers Corroborate iMac Refresh Rumor For Next Week

Jason Chen — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 15:30:00 EDT

Things are looking good for a now probable iMac refresh this coming week, with MacRumors' retail sources confirming that new iMac part numbers have shown up in their systems. Delivery should hit about Monday or Tuesday and fall in line with the current pricing ($1199, $1499 and $1799). And according to MacRumors, the Penryn processor switchout doesn't make a whole lot of gain for desktop units (reduced power consumption there is just meh), so the storage increase and speed bump should be the reason why you'd want to grab this over an older model. [MacRumors]

Lenovo's Entire New ThinkPad Line Leaked, X300 Gets Siblings

Mark Wilson — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 17:49:00 EDT

A few months back, we broke news on Lenovo's ultra-thin, ultra-functional X300 laptop. Now we've gotten an update on what the company's been up to during the interim. All of their lines are seeing a major refresh, but the biggest news is that starting this September, the famous X300 will have a family.

Soon joined by the 12-inch X200, the 14.1-inch X400 and the 15.4-inch X500 (all armed with 45nm Penryn processors), customers will be able to pick the precise display size of their choice on one of the most lust-worthy laptops on the market. The X-Series will also feature HSDPA and EVDO, 25% improved battery life, beefy 6MB L2 cache and lots of fanboy drool.

Here's the rest on Lenovo's new ThinkPad line-up:

R-Series (refreshed)
This line will continue representing the entry level. We're light on specs, but we know it will include the R400 (5.1lbs) and R500 (6.4lbs). Expect these to be refreshed in July 2008.

T-Series (refreshed)
This line will continue to represent the mid-range, featuring 256 or 512MB ATI HD3650 discreet graphics that can be turned off to conserve battery life. We don't have sizes, but the T400 will weight 4.3lbs and the T500 will clock in at 5.8lbs. Shipping starts June 3rd, 2008.

W-Series (brand new)
The W-Series is a completely new line. Where the "W" used to stand for "Widescreen," now it stands for "workstation replacement." Described to us as less bulky than similar machines from Dell, the 15-inch W900 will feature the same discreet graphics as the T-Series. A 17-inch version is in the works for the future.

And here's the good stuff:

Many or All Models Will Have:
• 6MB of L2 cache
• Turbo Memory option (think Ready Boost, up to 2GB)
• Blu-ray drive option
• Two PCI Express Slots
• 1.6GHz DDR3 RAM
• LED Backlighting (excludes R Series)
• HSDPA and EVDO (Lenovo claims to have no deals with Sprint)
• 9 cell batteries (same form factor as former 6-cell, 25% more life)
• GPS, WiMAX, and wireless USB are scattered through models
• The x300's solid state hard drive option (excludes W)

Lenovo is starting new ThinkPad manufacturing in May so that there are plenty of units to fuel demand. And from the sound of it, some of the X300's most appealing features are making their way to the entire ThinkPad line. We're just wondering what the pricing will look like between the X200 and X300. Will we be paying a premium for size or for screen space?

Thanks Odd Job!

AMD Quad-Core Phenom X4 9850 Reviewed (Verdict: Owned by Intel Quad Cores)

matt buchanan — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 00:57:39 EDT

The Phenom X4 9850 is at the top of AMD's latest heap of quad-core Phenoms. It's free of the performance-sapping bug that plagued the first batch of Phenoms, and AMD hopes it'll claw back some ground from Intel. Maximum PC stacked it up against two quad-cores from Intel—the mid-rangeish Penryn Core 2 Quad Q9300, as well as an older Core 2 Q6600. Ouchies for AMD, the Intel pair blew past it.

The Penryn-based Q9300 "owned the night," with the Q6600 trailing, and Phenom in back of both. It wasn't "so far behind as to be dead in the water" but "it doesn't quite go head-to-head with the Penryn lite." (They call the Q9300 Penryn-lite because it has half the cache of the higher-end Penryn quad-cores.)

The 9850 X4 is the fastest AM2 chip around, however, so if you're sticking with that board "it's a pretty good upgrade." The bigger problem is that AMD still has nothing to touch Intel's top quad cores, and won't for months, at least. [Maximum PC]

Reports of Mac mini Demise Greatly Exaggerated

Wilson Rothman — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 18:30:00 EDT

Contrary to earlier reports, Kasper at AppleInsider is now saying that the Mac mini has a long life ahead of it. Well, at least 12 months worth. According to his sources, "A small team of engineers have recently been tasked with gutting the diminutive desktop and applying fresh internals." Such as...?

The current 65nm chips will be tossed in favor of 45nm Core 2 Duos, starting with 2.1GHz, 3MB of shared L2 cache, 800MHz front-side bus and a better integrated graphics processor, namely the same Intel GMA X3100 found in today's 13" MacBooks. (Kasper is also reporting rumors of a similar bump up for iMacs, which would get pimp Penryns as nice as the 2.8GHz Core 2 Extreme.)

We have to ask, though, who still wants a mini? And more importantly, will the price ever drop below $500? I'd probably rather take an older $400 mini than a brand new Intel-awesome-o-fied $700 one. [AppleInsider]

Intel's Six-Core Dunnington and Nehalem Microarchitecture Get Official

matt buchanan — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 09:24:55 EDT

The pair of 45nm Intel chips that Sun oh-so-kindly leaked last month just got all official-like. Dunnington is "the first IA (Intel Architecture) processor with 6-cores, is based on the 45nm high-k process technology, and has large shared caches." Six cores, exciting! But not as exciting as Nehalem, which is Intel's "dynamically scalable" new processor microarchitecture which'll bring "dramatic performance and energy improvements" to Intel's chips. And that means what?

The platform will scale from two to eight cores, and eventually from "notebooks to servers." That's the scalable part, so you'll see it everywhere. Simultaneous Multi-Threading will let each core run two threads at once, plus it quadruples the memory-bandwidth of the current top-o'-the-line Xeons. It's also got an 8MB level-3 cache, Quickpath interconnects (up to 25.6GB per second), integrated memory controller (AMD what?) and supports up to DDR3-1333 memory, plus a bunch of other hardcore geek stuff, which you can scope out at Intel. [Intel]

Details Emerge on Intel's First Mobile Quad-core Processor

Adrian Covert — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 18:20:57 EDT

Chinese-language site HKEPC is reporting that Intel's first mobile quad-core processor will be the 45nm Penryn-based Core 2 Extreme QX9300. The chip will clock speeds of 2.53 GHz, have 12 MB of L2 Cache and 1066 MHz FSB. The QX9300, however, won't be part of the Q2 Centrino 2 launch because it is a 45W processor and current motherboards are designed for 35W chips. [HKEPC via Register Hardware]

New Macbook Pro Review (Verdict: Penryn + LEDs = Efficiency)

Christopher Mascari — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 19:00:38 EST

The new Macbook Pro is not much of a bump up from its predecessors, but it is a step in the right direction. The addition of Multi-Touch is a great new feature, even on a touchpad that's smaller than the one on the Air. However, the Penryn-powered processor in this MBP is running at roughly the same speed as the last generation's chips, GHz to GHz, and give no good reason to upgrade from machines that are less than a year old. The most interesting point here is the boost in efficiency the now-pervasive LED backlighting and 45nm Penryn chips bring to the MacBook Pro, which together give an hour extra battery life over older models with CCFL screens and 65nm CPU technology. That makes this the most efficient Macbook Pro yet. Here's more on the 2.6GHz 4GB 15-inch MacBook we got to play with.

Multi-Touch Trackpad
After a month of getting used to the Multi-Touch touchpad on the MacBook Air, I have to say that the Pro's touchpad is not quite as good in comparison. Comparatively, the Pro's touchpad is slightly narrower in width and a whole half of an inch shorter in height. (It's identical to the touchpad on the last Gen MBP's pad.) My initial thoughts were that the smaller touchpad would make using Multi-Touch more difficult, but that wasn't exactly the case.

Initially, in iPhoto, Multi-Touch on the smaller pad was more difficult, but after a few minutes we realized we were trying to use fingers in the same fashion as we did on the Air, where we had more room to gesture. For example, on the Air we skipped through photos with our fingers vertically but because of the Pro's size it's not comfortable to do this. So we placed our three fingers horizontally and it worked perfectly.

We came to the same conclusion with the rotate function. Instead of trying to move our rotate finger from the top of the touchpad to the bottom, we realized that by simply doing the rotate movement with more of a flick, iPhoto and Preview correctly rotated our photo to the next layout.

For testing zoom, we did a side-by-side comparison with the Air and found that the Pro's smaller touchpad actually zoomed into the same position as it did using the Air.

Screen
One thing to note though is that the LED matte screen on the version we got was less bright than the glossy screen on the MacBook Air. This might be the matte vs. glossy difference, or it might be that the MacBook Air's screen is just brighter.

Keyboard
The updated keyboard now has the F-key functions, same as the MacBook Air, and we think the additional Dashboard and Expose buttons use the F-keys nicely. We might not actually use buttons for these features but we think it's cool that the buttons are now clearly labeled.

Benchmark
The Penryn MacBook Pro has already been benched and compared to the previous generation MBP, and its clear it's about the same performance, per GHz. With that in mind we tested the new Penryn MBP agaisnt a year old Merom MBP and found a slight increase in speed. Also not surprising.

In a video encoding test, the Penryn MBP exported a 2.5min HD trailer in 11 minutes, where as the older Merom MBP took 13 min. (The basic config on the older machine included a 2.33GHz processor and 2GB of RAM; the Penryn had a 2.6GHz processor and 4GB of RAM, so this test is just a rough guide.) As noted in the temperature section, the Penryn did use much more of its power to accomplish the encoding which produced more heat. If you would like to see the Xbench results and compare it to your own machine you can check them out here.

Temperature
While idling, the Penryn MBP's CPU was running at 127 F—slightly cooler than the Merom MBP which had 133 F. But as for the actual experience, the new Penryn MBP felt much cooler on your lap than the older Merom.

While performing a video encode in iMovie with the new Penryn MBP CPU was operating at a temperature of 170 F; actually warmer than the older Merom MBP at 165 F. The increase in operating temperature during a video encode is likely because the more efficient machine is still doing more work every second at its higher clock rate.

Battery
So why do Apple's battery ratings look the same or lower in comparison to the last generation's Macbook Pro ratings? Simple: They made the tests harder. Again, according to numbers provided by Apple, for this and the last generation's MacBook Pro's battery life, you get about half an hour more due to the Penryn redesign, and half an hour more from the LED backlights. As with the AirBook ratings, your mileage will definitely vary. Downwards. But relative to the older books, these are more miserly.

Conclusion
Overall this MacBook Pro update is nothing amazing. The Multi-Touch touchpad and the Penryn processor are nice upgrades, but not necessarily something that a previous generation MacBook Pro user would feel an urgency to upgrade to. This update is more about efficiency than power gains.

MacBook Pro Now With Penryn Processors, Multitouch Trackpad

Jesus Diaz — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 08:30:00 EST

More powerful versions of the MacBook Pro have been released today with up to 2.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Penryn processors, and the MacBook Air's trackpad, which allows for multi-touch gestures. The 2.5 and 2.6GHz models come with a new NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 512MB of GDDR3 RAM. The MacBook has also been upgraded (yay!), but no multitouch (boo!), probably to make a distinction between them and the MacBook Air. The good, the bad and the ugly, specs and price list after the jump.

The good
• New Core 2 Duo versions across the board, which are supposed to be about 50% faster and more power efficient.
• New GeForce 8600M GT with 512MB.
• Multitouch pad on MacBook Pro.
• New LED option on top of the line 17" screen.

The bad
• No multitouch or LED on MacBooks.
• Multitouch trackpad on MacBook Pro is smaller than Air.
• Apple Remote is now a $19 option.

The Ugly
• Design whores like me will have to wait for the next generation for a new chassis. Clearly, this is a minor bump as we wait for the real things.

CUPERTINO, Calif., Feb. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple(R) today updated its popular MacBook(R) and MacBook Pro notebook lines with the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors, larger hard drives and 2GB of memory standard in most models. In addition, MacBook Pro includes the latest NVIDIA graphics processors, now with up to 512MB of video memory, and Apple's innovative Multi-Touch(TM) trackpad, first introduced in MacBook Air(TM). All Mac(R) notebooks include a built-in iSight(R) video camera for video conferencing on-the-go*, Apple's MagSafe(R) Power Adapter that safely disconnects when under strain and built-in 802.11n wireless networking for up to five times the performance and twice the range of 802.11g.**
The new MacBook Pro features the latest Intel Core 2 Duo technology with up to a 2.6 GHz processor with 6MB of shared L2 cache; up to 4GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM memory and up to a 300GB hard drive, plus NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics with up to 512MB of video memory. Every MacBook Pro now includes a trackpad with Multi-Touch gesture support for pinch, rotate and swipe, making it more intuitive than ever to zoom and rotate photos in iPhoto(R) or Aperture(TM) 2 or browse web pages in Safari(TM); an illuminated keyboard that makes it ideal for dimly lit environments such as airplanes, studios or conference halls and a built-in ambient light sensor, which automatically adjusts the brightness of the keys as well as the brightness of the display for optimal visibility.

Featuring a gorgeous 13-inch glossy widescreen display, and with prices still starting at just $1,099, the new MacBook lineup comes in three models and includes faster processors and larger hard drives across the line; sleek white 2.1 GHz and 2.4 GHz models with 120GB or 160GB 5400 rpm hard drives and a stunning black 2.4 GHz model with a massive 250GB 5400 rpm hard drive, previously only available as an option. The 2.4 GHz MacBook models ship with 2GB of memory standard, expandable up to 4GB across the line.

Every MacBook and MacBook Pro includes a built-in iSight video camera for video conferencing on-the-go; Apple's MagSafe Power Adapter that magnetically connects the power cord and safely disconnects when under strain; the latest generation of 802.11n wireless networking for up to five times the performance and twice the range of 802.11g; built-in 10/100/1000 BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet for high-speed networking; Bluetooth; analog and digital audio inputs and outputs; USB 2.0; FireWire(R) and a built-in SuperDrive(R).

Every Mac in the Apple lineup comes with iLife(R) '08, the most significant update ever to Apple's award-winning suite of digital lifestyle applications, featuring a major new version of iPhoto and a completely reinvented iMovie(R), both seamlessly integrated with the new .Mac Web Gallery for online photo and video sharing***. Every Mac also includes Leopard(R), the sixth major release of the world's most advanced operating system which introduces Time Machine(TM), an effortless way to automatically back up everything on a Mac; a redesigned Finder(TM) that lets users quickly browse and share files between multiple Macs; Quick Look, a new way to instantly see files without opening an application; Spaces, an intuitive new feature used to create groups of applications and instantly switch between them; a brand new desktop with Stacks, a new way to easily access files from the Dock and major enhancements to Mail and iChat(R). .Mac members can use the new Back to My Mac feature to browse and access files on their home computer from a Mac over the Internet while out on the road.

Prices
The 2.1 GHz, 13-inch white MacBook $1,099 (US)
The 2.4 GHz, 13-inch white MacBook $1,299 (US)
The 2.4 GHz, 13-inch black MacBook $1,499 (US)
The 2.4 GHz, 15-inch MacBook Pro $1,999 (US)
The 2.5 GHz, 15-inch MacBook Pro $2,499 (US)
The 2.5 GHz, 17-inch MacBook Pro, for a suggested retail price of $2,799 (US)

Intel Planning 6-Core "Dunnington" Microprocessor

Haroon Malik — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 13:08:09 EST

According to the chaps at the Eclipse Developer's Journal (EDJ), Intel is planning a six-core microprocessor, which will go by the Dunnington moniker.

The six-core beast will be succeeded by the even meatier, Nehalem micro-architecture, which will support greater than eight cores. The work regarding the Dunnington project is still under wraps, but our friends at EDJ insist Intel has already put together a die, the size of a postage stamp, with three dual-core 45nm Penryn chips on it sharing a 16MB L3 cache. Allegedly, we'll see the Dunnington in either Q2 or Q3, this year—we'll be sure to keep you posted on any developments. [EDJ via The Inquirer]

Intel Santa Rosa Successor "Montevina" Knighted as "Centrino 2"

matt buchanan — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 04:00:43 EST

Four of Intel's mobile chipsets—including its most recent and well-known, Santa Rosa—have been Centrino as far as your mom is concerned. To help us keep things a little straighter and make it obvious they're actually updating stuff, Intel's upcoming Penryn-oriented mobile chipset, Montevina, which'll be pushing Santa Rosa aside, will be branded Centrino 2. Thanks, Intel, for bringing just a little bit of logic to chip branding. Core 2 Duo is still a mouthful, though. [Digitimes]

Apple Event on February 26 Launches iPhone SDK and MacBook Pro?

Jason Chen — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 13:34:27 EST

9to5 Mac is reporting that Apple will have yet another event on February 26 in order to launch the iPhone and iPod Touch SDK, which will have native apps that reportedly offer Exchange and Lotus Notes support. And the best part is that updated MacBook Pros with Penryn and possibly the MacBook Air trackpad could also debut there.

Apparently the date was finalized after Apple pulled out of the National Association of Broadcasters show, which means they might save the Final Cut Pro server announcement (if there is one) for the Feb 26 event as well. Remember, no one can confirm what Apple's announcing until they announce it, but this is what we know so far. [9to5Mac]

Sony VAIO FZ Laptop Adds HDMI Out, Penryn Processor

Adrian Covert — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 19:30:01 EST

The Sony FZ VAIO now comes with a T8100 Penryn Processor and HDMI out. The LT is selling for $2200.

Media Alert: Sony Transforms PCs into Ultimate Dream Machines
Subject: New VAIO PCs Feature Supercharged Models

Body: Sony today announced it would be shipping super-charged versions of its VAIO® PCs. Dubbed VAIO Premium, these units will empower users with lighting-fast processing speeds, massive amounts of storage, and innovative technologies to improve performance.

Fueling these dream machines will be the new Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processors— T9000 and T8000 series. Among the very first to ship with these chipsets, these PCs will provide business travelers and multimedia enthusiasts alike with unparalleled power and multi-tasking capabilities. The result: high-definition content management, fast-paced gaming and performance like never before.

High Performance High-Def

VAIO FZ485U Premium Notebook: This portable, multimedia notebook features a 15.4-inch XBRITE-HiColor™ widescreen display and is HDMI equipped to output to HDTV in Full HD 1080. Doubling as a mobile high-definition movie studio, it utilizes the latest Intel Core2 Processor T8100, 4 gigabytes of RAM, a 256 megabytes dedicated graphics card and Blu-ray Disc technology for viewing and managing HD content. The FZ notebook is priced at about $2,200.

Sony VAIO LT All-In-One PC Now With Blu-ray, Penryn

Adrian Covert — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 19:30:01 EST

This 22-inch all-in-one gains Blu-ray burning capability, 2.5 GHz Penryn processor, and 1TB of storage (100 hours TV recording). Still no internal CableCard though. It sells for $3300.

Media Alert: Sony Transforms PCs into Ultimate Dream Machines
Subject: New VAIO PCs Feature Supercharged Models

Body: Sony today announced it would be shipping super-charged versions of its VAIO® PCs. Dubbed VAIO Premium, these units will empower users with lighting-fast processing speeds, massive amounts of storage, and innovative technologies to improve performance.

Fueling these dream machines will be the new Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processors— T9000 and T8000 series. Among the very first to ship with these chipsets, these PCs will provide business travelers and multimedia enthusiasts alike with unparalleled power and multi-tasking capabilities. The result: high-definition content management, fast-paced gaming and performance like never before.

High Performance High-Def

VAIO LT29U Premium HD PC/TV: This all-in-one model incorporates an unrivaled terabyte of storage so it can record up to 100 hours of HDTV programming - five times more than a standard DVR. It is equipped with 4 gigabytes of RAM and powered by the new Intel Core2 Processor T9300. Sporting a 22-inch XBRITE-HiColor™ widescreen display, it also features an external CableCARD compliant TV tuner and Blu-ray technology. The LT model is priced at about $3,300.

VAIO AR Performance Laptop Gets Penryn Bump

Adrian Covert — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 19:30:01 EST

Sony's top-of-the-line "desktop replacement" is even more spec'd out than before. With a 2.5 GHz T9300 Penyrn processor. It also has a 400 GB HDD, 512 MB NVIDIA graphics card, and 4 GB RAM, which add to the 17" 1080p screen, HDMI out and Blu-ray burner. All for $3300.

Media Alert: Sony Transforms PCs into Ultimate Dream Machines
Subject: New VAIO PCs Feature Supercharged Models

Body: Sony today announced it would be shipping super-charged versions of its VAIO® PCs. Dubbed VAIO Premium, these units will empower users with lighting-fast processing speeds, massive amounts of storage, and innovative technologies to improve performance.

Fueling these dream machines will be the new Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processors— T9000 and T8000 series. Among the very first to ship with these chipsets, these PCs will provide business travelers and multimedia enthusiasts alike with unparalleled power and multi-tasking capabilities. The result: high-definition content management, fast-paced gaming and performance like never before.

High Performance High-Def

VAIO AR790U Premium Notebook: Featuring a 17-inch XBRITE-HiColor™ Full HD 1080 widescreen display, the AR model is powered by the new Intel Core2 Processor T9300 for mind-blowing, high-definition content management and gaming. It comes loaded with 4 gigabytes of RAM, a massive 400 gigabytes of storage, a 512 megabytes dedicated graphics card, and Blu-ray® Disc technology. Priced at about $3,300, this PC also has an external CableCARD™ compliant TV tuner for viewing or recording HDTV programming.

Sony, Fujistu, Acer Penryn Laptops Leaked

Haroon Malik — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 22:45:00 EST

We've been harping on about Penryn processors for a while, but a few more models have just leaked:

•Acer will be adding to their Aspire line with five new models (2920, 4920, 5920, 7720 and 9920). Their Travelmate line will also gain two new machines (6492 and 6592G.)

•Fujitsu-Siemens will join the parade with the Amilo Xi 2550 / 2428

•Sony will have a piece of the Penryn pie with five new VAIO lappies (FZ31, TZ2, SZ71, CR31 and AR61.)

[Notebook Italia; Aspire, Travelmate, Amilo, Vaio via Engadget]

Dream PC: 8-Core Workstation Rocks the Penryns (Verdict: WOW!)

Charlie White — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 12:30:00 EST

HP is cranking out some smoking workstations these days, and the latest Intel Xeon quad core processors, affectionately known as the Harpertown chips with 45-nanometer Penryn technology inside, take Windows performance to the next level. HP shipped us the fastest workstation they could muster, with a total of eight processor cores, along with a 15,000 RPM SAS (Serial-Attached SCSI) drive on two separate disks, one with Windows XP and the other with Windows Vista, plus a 250GB SATA drive for applications. We opened the box, ran a bunch of benchmarks and our jaws promptly dropped. How much workstation can you get for $8,551? Join us for the smokefest.

As soon as Intel released these 5400 series Penryn processors this month, HP sent us this top-of-the-line xw8600 workstation with two of them inside. This expensive machine—aimed at oil and gas explorers, video editors and animators—is not really a gamer's box, but instead showcases the capabilities of these new four-way processors. Our test machine's 3.16GHz quad-core "Harpertown" processors (officially called the Intel Xeon E5460 Quad Core), use Intel's latest 45nm Penryn microarchitecture. Yep, those are as fast as these suckers get. The catch? They each cost $1550 more than the lowest-cost Xeon quad-core chip offered, the 2GHz 5405.
Due to their finer geometry (going from 60nm down to 45nm), you get 50% more cache, resulting in 6MB of shared cache between each dual core, totaling 12MB of cache in each processor—that's 24MB total in our test machine. In addition to that, the frontside bus is also running at 1333MHz, giving you a 30% speed boost over its predecessor.

Check out this pic (and another larger one in the gallery showing the task manager along with the graphic it's rendering) that tells the story of all eight cores screaming away at the same time, rendering a complex graphic on the CineBench benchmark. Here it's just finished the render:
Video editors and scientists like to be able to expand everything inside one of these boxes. Although we had a "paltry" 4GB of RAM inside, you'll be able to cram 128GB up in there as soon as 8GB RAM sticks are available—Q1 of next year, we're told. You can also fill the thing up with storage, using your choice of eight Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) ports or six SATA connections, in addition to FireWire ports on the front and back, and dual Gigabit Ethernet. (You can lash them together for faster networking.) If you wanted to, you could set up a disk array on those SAS ports to get 2GB/sec drive performance.

HP included the NVIDIA FX 4600 workstation-class graphics card in the package, but there's room for two PCI Express x16 graphics cards tied together, certain to be a favorite of animators and those oil and gas explorers who need to simulate all kinds of complex graphics. The FX 4600 has 768MB of GDDR3 memory on board, useful for CAD designers working with huge graphics. And yes, it could most definitely play Doom.

We especially like this workstation's case. Normally they're staid and gray-looking, but HP stuck on some special sticky graphics that may look a bit cheesy, but are an improvement over the typical plain-Jane exterior. Never mind the visuals, HP's made this an extraordinarily quiet machine too, where even though it's packed with hardware, you can hardly hear it running next to you. We also like its tool-less chassis: Once you get the hang of it, you can take out drives and fans in a snap with nary a screwdriver in sight. Overall, it's an outlandishly configurable and powerful platform, practically begging you to turn it into whatever kind of monster workstation your heart desires.

Check out the benchmarks below, and you'll see that this $8,551 machine slam-dunks last year's fastest HP xw8400 workstation:It's fast. Blazingly fast, and on some benchmarks it's a whole lot quicker than last year's model. Its speed is just unreal, and you can feel it with every click. Impressive. [HP xw8600 Workstation]

Giz Explains: What's the F is a Penryn?

matt buchanan — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 02:10:30 EST

Penryn's sort of a buzzword lately. If you don't know what the hell that is, chances are, you're not alone: Penryn is Intel's latest generation of processors, manufactured with a 45-nanometer process that lets them cram more transistors onto the processor than ever before. They're shrunken Core 2 Duo chips of this generation, with a few extra tricks.

The result is that they're smaller, faster, cooler and more energy efficient than the last generation of chips, so bet on the cram-as-many-cores-as-you-can processor race to really start heating up in 2008, with quad-core and higher becoming increasingly common. These chips also have the fourth generation of SSE instructions for faster technical and multimedia computing. You'll see Penryn chips in everything from gaming PCs to beefy servers to MacBook Pros.

Intel Reveals New Mobile SSD, UMPC Concepts, the Skulltrail Gaming Platform and Penryn and Santa Rosa Updates

Benny Goldman — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 15:52:00 EST

At Intel's Pre-CES briefing today, execs discussed a new super-small solid state drive, WiMax-capable devices, and 45nm Penryn chips in everything from UMPCs to television sets to slender desktop all-in-ones from your favorite computer makers. Here's the rundown:

• In January, Intel will introduce what they claim is the smallest SSD in the industry. Officially named the Z-P140 PATA SSD, the drive holds 2GB or 4GB and is 12x18x8mm (about the size of a penny if you couldn't tell from the pic), and 0.6 grams. The Z-P140 can act as a controller for compatible NAND memory, which means these drives are expandable to 16GB. Intel says that this new style of SSD should be showing up soon in several UMPCs and other mobile internet devices from companies such as Asus, BenQ, Clarion, Lenovo and more.

• Intel will also bring WiMax and other wireless connectivity options to these devices. A WiMax/Wi-Fi combo chip, code-named Echo Peak, will also come to market in 2008. Of the 25 devices in the mobile computing category planned for next year, Intel says that 20% will have WiMax, 60% will have 3G and 40% will have GPS. 100% will of course support both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

• For desktop users, processor capacity and hi-def performance will see major enhancements in 2008. "Skulltrail", a new dual-processor based platform, will enable high-end and professional computer users to run dual quad-core Core 2 Extreme processors for a massive 8-core performance, for gamers and other hardcore users. In addition, a new feature called HD Boost is an instruction set that will provide faster video encoding/decoding, 3D rendering and photo editing.

• Consumer electronics such as set-top boxes and digital televisions will also get a boost from "Canmore", a "system-on-a-chip" that combines 1GHz processing core with A/V processing and graphics and I/O components onto a single chip. Intel sees increased internet connectivity in these types of devices, and cited examples such as playing video games over your cable box as possible implementations.

• Santa Rosa Refresh, an updated version of the Centrino processor, is a 45nm Penryn chip with better graphics capabilities. The Refresh will be offered in notebooks and desktops and is geared to improving the quality of HD DVD and Blu-ray, among other graphic intensive applications.

• Finally, Intel says that the Gateway One and Dell XPS All-In-One will get the Penryn boost next year, and I was also told that they are "talking to Apple."[Intel]