Back in October, HardMac reported that Apple (s aapl) was busy testing Intel’s (s intc) new “Gulftown” Xeon chip ahead of its inclusion in a refresh of the Mac Pro, which is slated for release early next year. The 32nm Gulftown chip is an evolution of the 45nm architecture found in the currently-shipping 2009 Mac Pro model.

Gulftown will be sold under the Core i9 brand name for consumer machines, while its server counterpart will be labeled the Xeon 5600 series. HardMac’s sources suggested Apple would have short-term exclusive use of the chip, much as it did for each of the last two “Xeon” revisions of the Mac Pro line.

Now, according to AppleInsider, Polish website PCLab last week published performance test results on Gulftown, showing that the new chips operated at nearly twice the speed of the previous generation chips during parallel tasks. In addition, they consumed only 50 percent as much power doing so. Sadly, the performance results are no longer available. PCLab explains:

We have been contacted by the reps of Intel Corporation. We agreed to remove the article. We will bring it back once Gulftown hits the stores, somewhere in 2010

Earlier this year I bought a 2009 Mac Pro. And – as sheer luck would have it – my purchase was delayed by one week… the very same week, as it happens, that Apple refreshed the Mac Pro line. I scoured the online store, meticulously comparing specs and searching the web for in-depth reviews of the new machine from the sort of geeks who spend their days doing nothing but benchmark testing. In short, I learned that while the Mac Pro prices went up, clock speeds came down – but I was reassured by those “in the know” that it didn’t matter the cores were (marginally) slower than before. I was still getting a more powerful machine than I’d ever need. I don’t mind admitting, though, for what I paid, I wanted my Mac Pro to be light years ahead of everything else, and I wanted it to stay that way for a long time! That’s not too much to ask, is it?

Still, Gulftown will squeeze-in an extra four physical cores above the eight I currently enjoy, and provide an extra four megabytes of L3 cache over the eight offered by my suddenly lowly-by-comparison machine. And don’t forget that 50 percent power-saving…

I’m only partially joking. Setting aside my shameful greed for ever-more-powerful hardware, the fact remains that my many-cored 2009 Mac Pro is woefully under-utilized. I do a fair bit of audio and video editing, but none of the software I use takes full advantage of multiple-processor cores. In addition, none of it is optimized for the 64-bit architecture of my machine or its Snow Leopard operating system. Final Cut doesn’t even try to be 64-bit compatible. Adobe CS4 Master Collection (in itself almost the price of a Mac Pro!) stubbornly remains a 32-bit suite.

So the bottom line is that my gloriously powerful and impressive Mac Pro is still sporting its (virtual) training wheels because, frankly, developers are dragging their heels updating their software.

That doesn’t stop me wanting the new Mac Pro, of course. Like I said, I’m greedy. But I’m also learning. And even if Apple releases this behemoth early in 2010, I don’t think I’ll be too frustrated. News of breathtakingly-more-powerful machines is tantalizing, to be sure, but until software developers really get behind this new hardware, whatever advantages these powerful new chips and architectures promise remains almost entirely academic.

Cisco éatait présent à “Intel Development Forum” IDF 2009 . Cisco utilise depuis logntemps des technologies Intel dans de nombreux produits. Ce partenariat a été renforcé avec l’annonce de l’UCS qui exploite les dernières innovations d’Intel. Cette video faite à l’occasion de l’IDF donne un bon aperçu de l’UCS de Cisco.

  puisque j’évoque Intel j’en profite pour montrer cette video de notre partenaire EMC et son dernier produit en matière de stockage sur disque : V-Max qui utilise la technologie Xeon d’Intel.  Je rappelle que début novembre nous avons annoncé “VCE coalition” (Vmware, Cisco, EMC) qui propose des configurations prétestées appelées “Vblock”  intégrant Vsphere, UCS et pour certaines des V-Max. 

This is absolutely the best and most readable article about Intel and AMD market strategies in the HPC world.

click here:  —> http://it.anandtech.com/IT/showdoc.aspx?i=3681

La introducción del procesador Core i7 de Intel en los iMac de gama alta no habrían podido ser mejores. Según las últimas pruebas de rendimiento realizadas por Macworld, el rendimiento del iMac con Core i7 supera incluso al del Mac Pro con el procesador Intel Xeon de 8 núcleos.

Así, el iMac se convierte en una opción más asequible que el Mac Pro para conseguir un ordenador potente, ya que las aplicaciones del iMac “tan sólo” cuestan unos 500 dólares aproximadamente, mientras que el coste de las ampliaciones del Mac Pro equivalente se van a los 2600 dólares.

Eso sin contar la pantalla LED de 27 pulgadas que viene incluída con el iMac, cosa que no pasa con el Mac Pro. Quizás haya llegado la hora de actualizar la gama de los LED Cinema Display junto con los procesadores del Mac Pro para que este vuelva a ser, realmente, el ordenador más potente y grande que Apple nos ofrezca.

PC-Anbieter MainGear kündigte mit “Shift” eine spezielle Serie von “Personal Supercomputern” für das zahlungskräftige Freizeitvolk an.

High Performance, 3D-Grafik, leichte Anpassung an die Kundenwünsche und effiziente Temperaturkontrolle mittels Flüssigkühlung und ungewöhnlichem inneren Aufbau mit großen Ventilationsschächten und 18-Zentimeter-Ventilator zeichnen die Shift-Systeme aus, deren Preise bei 2.200 Dollar losgehen.
Bis zu drei Grafikkarten von Nvidia (Cuda) oder ATI (Radeon) sitzen im großen mit Stahlstreben verstärktem Desktop-Gehäuse, das von einem Intel i7 4 GHz angetrieben wird. Wahlweise kann auch ein Xeon-Prozessor eingebaut werden.
Sechs austauschbare Drive-Bays nehmen die 3,5-Zoll-Platten und Laufwerke auf. Bis zu 12 Terabytes bietet MainGear an. Auch zwei Solid State Drives wären orderbar. Um diese ganze Phalanx mit Saft zu versorgen, ist ein Silverstone-Netzteil mit 1.200 Watt einsetzbar.
Kingston HyperX DDR3-RAM (2.000 MHz), Windows 7 und sämtliche modernen Schnittstellen komplettieren das System, welches sich in der Spitze auch locker über 4.000 Dollar treiben lässt. Die Außenhülle des Superrechners wird übrigens von Airbrush-Kunst verziert. [Ralf]

[MainGear]

[TechnewsWorld]

Asus Supercomputer für den Schreibtisch

Weltschnellster Prozessor: Von Fujitsu

Was machen Supercomputer eigentlich so den ganzen Tag?

Φήμες για τον Mac Pro επόμενης γενιάς – MacLife.gr Forum

Η ιστοσελίδα Hardmac αναφέρει πως η ανανεωμένη έκδοση του Mac Pro για το 2010 ενδεχομένως να περιλαμβάνει τους επερχόμενους εξαπύρηνους “Gulftown” επεξεργαστές της intel.

Ο συγκεκριμένος επεξεργαστής ενδέχεται να ενσωματωθεί στον επερχόμενο MacPro ως προσωρινή λύση μέχρι την κυκλοφορία ακόμη πιο δυνατών επεξεργαστών από την intel στο δεύτερο μισό του 2010. Συγκεκριμένα ο επεξεργαστής αποτελεί μια εξέλιξη των υφιστάμενων που φιλοξενεί σήμερα ο Mac Pro, με καινούργια χαρακτηριστικά:

* 6 πυρήνες και 12 threads για κάθε CPU.
* 12ΜΒ μοιραζόμενη cache αντί των 8MB.
* τεχνολογία στα 32-nm.
* μικρότερη κατανάλωση ρεύματος συγκριτικά με τους υφιστάμενους τετραπύρηνους.[next]

Επεξεργαστές Intel 32nm, Επανάσταση στο χώρο των videogames | Techblog

«Καθώς κοιτάζουμε μπροστά, η επεξεργαστική τεχνολογία των 32nm της Intel, που θα φέρει επανάσταση στο χώρο των παιχνιδιών, θα εισάγει ένα νέο κύμα καινοτομίας, από νέες, δυνατές πλατφόρμες server Intel Xeon μέχρι επεξεργαστές υψηλής απόδοσης Intel Core και επεξεργαστές χαμηλής κατανάλωσης ενέργειας Intel Atom», δήλωσε μεταξύ άλλων ο Paul Otellini, Πρόεδρος και CEO της Intel ταυτόχρονα με την ανακοίνωση των εσόδων της εταιρείας για το τρίτο τρίμηνο ύψους 9.4 δις δολαρίων. H Intel βασίζει πολλά στην τεχνολογία 32nm και εμείς δεν μπορούμε παρά να είμαστε ενθουσιασμένοι![next]

Laut Hardmac soll Apple wieder einmal vorab neue CPUs bekommen haben, die in einem Mac noch vor den anderen PCs zum Einsatz kommen könnte.

Der Xeon-Prozessor hört auf den Namen Gulftown und besitzt sechs Kerne, die sich 12 MB Cache gemeinsam teilen. Die Chips werden im 32nm-Verfahren gefertigt (Vorgänger: 45nm) und könnten damit etwas weniger Strom verbrauchen als die aktuellen Quadcore-Xeons. Außerdem soll der nächste Mac Pro 16 GB RAM-Module und 10 Gbit Ethernet unterstützen. Welchen Xeon Apple in den Einsteiger-Mac-Pros einsetzen wird, hat Hardmac nicht erfahren.

Traditionell spielt der Mac Pro eine eher untergeordnete Rolle im Weihnachtsgeschäft, obwohl er eine so große Fläche für Verzierungen und Schleifen aller Art bietet. Im Frühjahr 2010 könnte ein neuer Mac Pro erscheinen, für den Massenmarkt ist der neue Xeon erst für Mitte nächsten Jahres vorgesehen.

Quelle: MacLife

Apple’s (s aapl) powerhouse configurable tower desktop aimed mostly at semi-pro and pro users could be getting some update love in the near future, according to the latest rumblings coming out of the rumor mill today. Hardmac.com is reporting that one of its sources has solid information on the new Mac Pro, which should appear sometime in early 2009 2010.

The new Mac Pro will feature a brand new Xeon CPU from Intel (s intc), if the rumors are accurate, which it will offer exclusively for a short time until the second quarter of 2009. The CPU, code-named Gulftown, boasts a huge six processing cores, which beats the current single core total by two. With two processors, like the more expensively configured Mac Pro has, that would result in a total of 12 cores of processing power.

The Gulftown processor also sports 12MB of shared cache, instead of the 8MB on current models, uses 32-nm engraving instead of 45, and will feature slightly lower power consumption than the current generation Xeon. Also, even though it’s a true successor to the Xeon line currently found in Mac Pros, rumor has it that it will be ditching that moniker in favor of the “Core i9″ namesake.

Hardmac.com speculates that the new six-core Core i9 processor might not immediately be put to work across the Mac Pro line, instead suggesting that Apple may want to extend its line in that category by continuing to offer the quad core version in an entry-level Pro. It’s a nice thought, but without any real basis, so I’d file this one under wishful thinking for the time being. Hardmac believes a lower-priced, entry-level Pro might attract some mini customers, but I doubt that’s something Apple really wants to do.

They do have other info directly from the source, who remains anonymous, as per usual. The motherboard will sport some major changes that should allow it to increase performance exponentially. There will be an Ethernet 10Gbits/s port, and a bump up in the RAM module capacity for 8 and 16GB units, which would mean that the future Mac Pro could theoretically support up to 128GB of RAM at once.

Being way more hardware-savvy than myself, Hardmac sums up with the tantalizing prediction that the combination of Snow Leopard, the Core i9 processor, and top-of-the-line graphics cards from either NVIDIA or ATI could provide more than enough power for real-time rendering in Final Cut Studio 3.0. Speaking for my friends who work in television editing, who’ve spent many a late night waiting for a render to finish, this is very good news indeed.

Intel: Ιστορικές Αλλαγές στους Υπολογιστές | Oktabit Community
Τα στελέχη της Intel Corporation δήλωσαν ότι ο Νόμος του Moore, χαρακτηριστικότερα παραδείγματα του οποίου αποτελούν τα βήματα που έχει κάνει η Intel στις κατασκευαστικές τεχνολογίες των 32 και 22 nanometre (nm), οδηγεί σε έναν ευρύτερο και γρηγορότερο ρυθμό «καινοτομίας και ενσωμάτωσης».
Οι μελλοντικοί επεξεργαστές Intel® Atom™, Core® και Xeon® καθώς και τα System on Chip (SoC) προϊόντα θα κάνουν τους υπολογιστές μικρότερους, εξυπνότερους, πιο ικανούς και πιο εύκολους στη χρήση.

Για παράδειγμα, μεταξύ ενός πλήθους καινοτομιών που ετοιμάζονται, η Intel θα ενσωματώσει για πρώτη φορά γραφικά σε μερικά από τα μελλοντικά προϊόντα chip της εταιρείας.[next]

This means it can hold 384GB of RAM using 8GB DIMMS.  This is huge for the virtualization marketplace, as everyone knows that virtual machines LOVE memory.  No other vendor in the marketplace is able to provide a blade server (or any 2 socket Intel Xeon 5500 server for that matter) that can achieve 384GB of RAM. 

So what’s Cisco’s secret?  First, let’s look at what Intel’s Xeon 5500 architecture looks like.

As you can see above, each Intel Xeon 5500 CPU has its own memory controller, which in turn has 3 memory channels.  Intel’s design limitation is 3 memory DIMMs (DDR3 RDIMM) per channel, so the most a traditional server can have is 18 memory slots or 144GB RAM with 8GB DDR3 RDIMM. 

With the UCS B-250 M1 blade server, Cisco adds an additional 15 memory slots per CPU, or 30 slots per server for a total of 48 memory slots which leads to 384GB RAM with 8GB DDR3 RDIMM. 

How do they do it?  Simple – they put in 5 more memory DIMM slots then they present all 24 memory DIMMs across all 3 channels to an ASICthat sits between the memory controller and the memory channels.  The ASIC presents the 24 memory DIMMs as 1 x 64GB DIMMto the memory controller.  For each 8 memory DIMMs, there’s an ASIC.  6 x ASICs presenting 64GB of RAM = 384GB.  It’s quite an ingenious approach, but don’t get caught up in thinking about 384GB of RAM – think about 48 memory slots.  In the picture below I’ve grouped off the 8 DIMMs with each ASIC (click to enlarge.)

Cisco UCS B250 ASICS Grouped with 8 Memory DIMMs

With that many slots, you can get to 192GB of RAM using 4GB DDR3 RDIMMs- which currently cost about 1/5th of the 8GB DIMMs.  That’s the real value in this server.

Cisco has published a white paper on this patented technology at http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/ps10265/ps10280/ps10300/white_paper_c11-525300.html so if you want to get more details, I encourage you to check it out.

UPDATE: 10/6/09 – word on the street is that Cisco will be releasing the UCS B250-M1 server on 10/16/09.  I’ll post details once it’s confirmed.

To Tweakers.net πραγματοποίησε νέο παγκόσμιο ρεκόρ στο 3DMark03 με τρεις 5870 ! – ( HWBOX ) O/C on first boot
Συγκεκριμένα σύμφωνα με τα τελευταία νέα που μας έρχονται από το εξωτερικό τα παιδιά από το Ολλανδικό site Τweakers.net κατάφεραν να σπάσουν το παγκόσμιο ρεκόρ στο μετροπρόγραμμα 3DMark03 πετυχαίνοντας 183959 3D Marks. To νέο παγκόσμιο ρεκόρ επιτεύχθηκε με τρεις κάρτες γραφικών 5870 και έναν Xeon W3540 ο οποίος ήταν χρονισμένος στα 5231ΜΗz. Να σας θυμίσουμε ότι το προηγούμενο παγκόσμιο ρεκόρ είχε πραγματοποιηθεί με τρείς ATI Radeon 4890.[next]

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Un sito francese lancia l’ipotesi di un processore Xeon come punto di forza dei nuovi iMac in arrivo nei prossimi giorni. L’ipotesi prende forza con il lancio di un chip a bassissimo consumo con 4 core.
Uno Xeon per gli iMac di nuova generazione? L’ipotesi viene avanzata dal sito francese Mac4Eve r che rilancia le indiscrezioni con un articolo sintetico ma che offre più di uno spunto di riflessione. Il più intrigante scaturisce, appunto, dal cenno alla possibilità che Apple possa usare dei processori Xeon per i suoi iMac di fascia alta.
La prospettiva di un processore studiato per macchine professionali e server a prima vista assurda, in realtà lo è meno di quel che potrebbe essere a prima vista dopo il lancio dei chip della serie Lynnfield. Le componenti, annunciate solo alcuni giorni fa, appartengono appunto alla serie Xeon ma si distinguono per un consumo molto basso. In particolare c’è un processore che pare fatto apposta per un lancio in grande stile dei nuovi iMac: si tratta dell’L3426. Nonostante si tratti proprio di un chip Xeon, il suo assorbimento di energia è molto ridotto, solo 45W, meno di quel che consuma un Core i7-920XM (Clarksfield) per computer portatili che richiede 55W.

Il chip L3426 conta su tutte le tecnologie più avanzate: Hyperthreading, Enhanced Speedstep, controller di memoria e PCI Express direttamente sul die e Turbo Boost. Grazie a quest’ultima tecnologia la velocità può passare da 1,86 GHz a 3,2 GHz in particolari condizioni (per processi che richiedono un solo core e ammesso che il processore resti all’interno di un certo consumo). L’L3426 ha quattro core fisici e 8 logici (grazie ad Hypertreading) con dimensioni di packaging del tutto identiche a quelle di Clarksfield. Infine ha anche un costo molto basso: solo 284$ quando venduto in lotti di mille pezzi, la metà del Core 2 Duo T9900 da 3,06 GHz usato negli attuali iMac.
Di fronte a tutte questi dettagli il chip Xeon sembra davvero un buon candidato a finire in un iMac, sgombrando il campo dai sorrisini di disapprovazione che certamente qualcuno dei lettori di Mac4Ever deve essersi stampato sul volto quando ha letto la parola “Xeon” accostata ad “iMac”.
Anche l’i7-920XM, parente molto stretto dell’L3426 (si tratta infatti della versione mobile dello stesso processore) su cui nei giorni scorsi abbiamo svolto qualche considerazione indicandolo come candidato ad occupare un posto sulla scheda madre dell’iMac, ha la possibilità di concorrere nelle indiscrezioni. Ha anche una velocità nominale (al netto di Turbo Boost) superiore rispetto allo Xeon L3426 (2,0 GHz contro 1,86 GHz) anche se Turbo Boost porta tutti e due alla stessa velocità (3,2 GHz). L’i7-920X occupa anche meno spazio grazie al socket PG9888 al posto dell’LGA1156 utilizzato dallo Xeon. Ma tutti questi vantaggi spariscono quando si prende in considerazione il prezzo: 1054 dollari contro i citati 284 dell’L3426, una differenza enorme quando si fa i conti con il costo complessivo di un iMac e valutato quanto incide su di esso il processore. Usando lo Xeon, Apple potrebbe portare facilmente l’iMac top di gamma da 24 pollici sotto i 2000 euro, cosa impossibile se dovesse adottare l’i7-920X.
Oltre all’indiscrezione sullo Xeon negli iMac, Mac4Ever parla anche di una nuova versione del telecomando Apple tutto in alluminio (presumibilmente legato al lancio di una nuova Apple TV) e un nuovo mouse “touch” capace di interpretare anche i gesti dell’utente, come accade con le trackpad di nuova generazione.
Infine il sito francese fa, infine, cenno all’adozione negli iMac di un lettore di schede SD.

I have been wanting to buy an iMac for months now and then this news! Argh. My trusted Macbook Pro still works though. I named her “Melissa” I can still do my tasks perfectly well with it. And yeah I just conquered Spain! – in Medieval Total War 2 that is

But an iMac would be really good in the my home-office. I feel lazy with the laptop on the table, I needed a desktop. Well a big part of it is my procrastination flu, but yeah an iMac would be plenty nice!

And yes I have read about it today, there is a new iMac. Rumored to be “slimmer” than the current one. It will lose the FWs, and will have an SD card slot. A quad core processor (sweet). And XEON.

There’s formal confirmation about this upgrade yet, only the ever famous “from sources familiar with the product”.

But I was thinking, I would not want it to have an SD card slot. I do not own an SD card, nor a camera that uses it. My old EOS350D uses a CF, and a I have a USB Card slot. I wonder if my friends who take photography as a serious hobby or a job want that feature though. How widely used is an SD card?

Last night I saw a singer promoting his album on a variety show on TV. And his album was not on CD but on an SD card.

Is it the way to the future? Looks like an ugly chip to me.

A Unesp lançou um grid violento com processadores XEON de quatro núcleo totalizando quase 3 mil unidades processadoras interligadas por fibra óptica em 7 polos diferentes !!! É o maior supercomputador do país, ja pensou esse brinquedinho ai na nossa mão em galera ?!!? kkkk Bem que a gente podia hospedar o capimcanela em um mainframe desses né !!! kkkkk

Como grande fã da Intel, ela me surpreendeu novamente , lançando 3 novos processadores, o Xeon 3400 voltado para servidores, ideal para empresas  de 50 – 100 funcionários.

Os outros 2 são para usuário final,  o core i7, o processador mais rápido do mundo, agora com alterações fisicas nos nucleos do chip.O outro é o core i5, que tem um custo menor ao i7 e não possui a tecnologia HT.O Hyper-Threading (HT) é uma característica que dobra a capacidade de processamento de cada um dos cores. Então um core i7 tem 4 núcleos físicos e 8 núcleos lógicos. Um core i5 tem só 4 núcleos físicos e 4 núcleos lógicos. Então o core i7 teria 8 cabeças e o i5 4 cabeças

Vejam o video, muito intressante, que fala sobre esse lançamento , no site do olhar digital.

link: http://olhardigital.uol.com.br/central_de_videos/video_wide.php?id_conteudo=9327&/TRES+NOVOS+PROCESSADORES+NO+MERCADO+CONFIRA

31 August, the day for celebrate “Independent of Malaysia”. During the eve, no club, no countdown, I was having “[DnX] LAN Party” at Amo’s house, 8 PCs, 4 laptops, 4 desktops, unlimited wires, and unmeasured fun, HAHA! We start with Angel Jam (o2jam), follows by Serious Sam 2. All of us feel headache and uncomfortable because of too SERIOUS in the lagging graphic, then we change to War3 for DotA and mini games. After about 9 hour’s game, we have chicken rice ball for our breakfast. Since Meng do not need to help his mom for painting, we continue our plan with badminton. To avoid I fall asleep while waiting for badminton, I continue jam with Justin. Those of the above just our appetizer, Craziest plan is we 3 cars 12 persons rush to Mont Kiara, KL just for TENJI for supper package. Normal price RM88++ but we go during the ”Berbuka Puasa” promotion which just only RM49.00++, worth enough? No idea, HAHA! More than 36 hours we did not sleep just because of the buffet, especially the free flow Haagen-Dazs ice-cream. In the half time of the buffet, I cannot stand anymore, I sleep like a corpse, the faintness is worse than drunk.

[DnX] LAN Party

Brother from same mother

Brother from another mother

RM688.60

Family Table

Meng, the way you did, CORRECT?

Marilyn, the way you used, CORRECT?
(the chopstick really hard to use @@)

No idea with who did it, I know I cannot stop laughing with it.

YEAH~ I CAN SLEEP WITH MULTIPLE POSES~

more photos (94)