Intel has started talking about its coming 32nm manufacturing process and its two-year plan to prepare plants in the USA for the new manufacturing process has already been put into action. Even if mass production of 32nm processors won’t happen until the fourth quarter we already have test models that it has displayed at official product demonstrations. Intel’s first 32nm processor that has found its way outside the lab is Westmere that will be the 32nm equivalent to Intel’s current Nehalem architecture.
Westmere is the foundation of the next generation Core i7 processors and here Intel will release three different processor models for desktop and the mobile market. In the mid-range segment we see Clarkdale that with two processor cores and HyperThreading can handle up to four hardware threads. With only two physical cores, Intel has made room for other goodies inside the processor, namely an integrated graphics circuit.
The same concept will be used with the mobile equivalent Arrandale, but with additional power saving features at its side.
The top models of the Westmere program is code-named Gulftown and has no less than 6 physical cores, which through HyperThreading adds up to 12 virtual cores. To make room for all these cores, Intel has kicked out the integrated graphics, which doesn’t fit into the high-end segment anyway. Gulftown looks to arrive at the start of 2010 while the mid-range Clarkdale and Arrandale should arrive later this year.
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Intel has already shown its first Westmere-based processor and as suspected they were Clarkdale and Arrandale models with dual cores and an integrated graphics circuit. They support dual channel DDR3, while Gulftown sports a triple-channel memory controller and 4MB cache.
32nm Clarkdale processor requires neither graphics card or IGP.
Intel is keeping a good pace and its Tick-Tock strategy is still going according to plans. We look forward to the first tests of Westmere that might just appear sooner than expected.
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