Intel announces "Core 2 Duo on steroids" - automatic overclocking

[StyM]

source here (http://apcmag.com/5852/intel_announces_core_2_duo_on_steroids_automatic_o verclocking)

Intel today announced new details of its forthcoming Santa Rosa PC platform, including a significant revision of the Core 2 Duo chip.

"We call this processor Core 2 Duo but really it's Core 2 Duo on steroids. This microprocessor is going to be more powerful than the previous generation," said Intel's mobility chief, Mooly Eden.

The new chips will be able to overclock one of the cores if the other core is not being used.

"The idea is the following," explained Eden. "If you are running a single threaded application, one of the cores can go to sleep, and the left over power can be used by the other core - we give it a turbo boost; the ability to run faster than it used to.

"This is not overclocking. Overclocking is when you take a chip and increase its clock speed and run it out of spec. This is not out of spec. Here, it is within the spec of the dual-cores, we just identify when one core is not using the headroom and we give it to the other core.

"This is called Enhanced Dynamic Acceleration Technology. We've had problems implementing it, but we've been able to do it in Santa Rosa," Eden said.

The Santa Rosa platform also includes draft 802.11n for "whole house" high definition video streaming and Intel Turbo Memory - the flash cache memory that was previously codenamed "Robson". Intel demonstrated it in use showing two identical machines - one with Turbo Memory and one without - and the latter took twice as long to complete a photo processing task.

The Intel 965 graphics chipset is able to run Vista's Aero interface smoothly, though it will not support DirectX10 upon initial release - Intel has more work to do to implement it in the drivers.

"I'll make a claim and I'd like people to prove me that I am wrong: Centrino Pro technology is the best machine to run Vista," Eden said as a challenge to tech journalists attending Intel Developer Conference Beijing.

Eden said Santa Rosa would be available before the end of June - and refreshed in the first half of 2008 with the Penrin processor, Intel's upcoming 45nm processor.

Intel roadmap: to Santa Rosa and beyond!Intel roadmap: to Santa Rosa and beyond!

Eden conceded that Santa Rosa would not include the previously promised Nokia 3G module, because less than 10% of notebook users would ultimately buy it with their laptop.

"I believe I am the one to blame - I got on this stage and announced Intel would deliver a 3G solution with Nokia. I believe it is already announced that Nokia and Intel is not going to deliver it simply because of lack of return on investment. But there are people creating 3G solutions, but with a single digit attach rate, it is not worth it for us."

[nn_step]

Didn't they feature something like that on the Itantium2?

[Revv23]

pretty neat idea

[rick_fx]

Nice feature :)

[m0da]

i actually like the sound of that.
hats off to intel

[theteamaqua]

I WAS HOPING that maybe 2 cores can both work on a single threaded app

[MaxxxRacer]

we all heard about this a while ago, but not much became of it. If they can do it, my hat is off to them.

[XS Janus]

I guess this is they way they will cut some slack on the development of new 2core capable software.
Cool idea, sounds great!

[kniwor]

Sounds good on paper, but I have doubt they will really be able to implement it as good it sounds.

[Shintai]

EDAT sounds super great for the average joe. But for the OC crowd its more like a thorn in the side. Since we would have to test both cores with a single thread and the 2 cores together.

Orthox Core0, Orthox Core 1 and lastly Orthox Core1+2.

[Face]

Sounds nice, but shame it's only for mobiles.

Once again, EDAT will be mobile-only
[Anandtech]

[LowRun]

This is not overclocking. Overclocking is when you take a chip and increase its clock speed and run it out of spec. This is not out of spec. Here, it is within the spec of the dual-cores

I just don't get it, how is this stuff working actually?

[Shintai]

I just don't get it, how is this stuff working actually?

It works by OC one core in singletreaded apps.

So in rough terms. You got say a 65W dualcore. 30W for each core and 5W for the cache. Now when core1 is working 100% and core2 is idle. It can OC the core1 with x speed to say 45W. Still within TDP and still within the "bin".
If core2 gets active it clocks down again.

[[XC] itznfb]

i'm guessing you'll be able to turn this feature off? it sounds like one of those things that would greatly increase instability while manual overclocking.

[LowRun]

It works by OC one core in singletreaded apps.

So in rough terms. You got say a 65W dualcore. 30W for each core and 5W for the cache. Now when core1 is working 100% and core2 is idle. It can OC the core1 with x speed to say 45W. Still within TDP and still within the "bin".
If core2 gets active it clocks down again.

Then that one core is out of spec despite what they say.

[Shintai]

Then that one core is out of spec despite what they say.

Out of spec? How? If you take say a 3Ghz, sell it as 2x2.5Ghz and while using EADT one clocks at 3Ghz. Is that out of spec?

[situman]

How will that affect us overclockers? I mean, we are already pushing the cores to its max. Now lets say both cores are stable at 3.8ghz. Now with one core sleeping, the other core will be "overclocked or dynamicly enhance...to say 4ghz" wouldn't it cause stability problems? If this feature can be bios disabled, it would be cool, otherwise it will be a lot of guess work as to what freq we can stably run our chips. Could be Intel's sneaky way of limiting overclocking of thier chips.

[safan80]

I think this is a bunch of fluff. I don't expect to see much auto overclocking.

[syne_24]

It seems like a smarter version of intel speedstep? Most of us dont even use it, but maybe it will benefit for mobile purposes.

[LowRun]

Out of spec? How? If you take say a 3Ghz, sell it as 2x2.5Ghz and while using EADT one clocks at 3Ghz. Is that out of spec?

OK, let me get it, they would sell you under spec(ed) cpu and have a feature bring it to full spec but only on one core to benefit a monothreaded app and then back to under spec when both cores are needed. I still can't see the brilliant idea there.

[alexio]

Now we need to find a way to unlock the extra multiplier(s) to be used on both cores. Unless they manage to completely shutdown one core, it is unlikely that they overclock the bus on the second core. It makes a lot more sense to up the mp.

[lowfat]

Very nifty idea.

[Shintai]

OK, let me get it, they would sell you under spec(ed) cpu and have a feature bring it to full spec but only on one core to benefit a monothreaded app and then back to under spec when both cores are needed. I still can't see the brilliant idea there.

The idea is TDP. In the "extreme end" you can have a quadcore. Say 130W TDP. 2 65W. When one is "OCed" it might use 80W. A total of 160W is too much.

[xoqolatl]

Next thing to turn off in BIOS before any serious OC or benching.

[LowRun]

The idea is TDP. In the "extreme end" you can have a quadcore. Say 130W TDP. 2 65W. When one is "OCed" it might use 80W. A total of 160W is too much.

While i can imagine some people would like that, they better not call it C2D on steroids if it works the way you described it as it will never perform to it's full potential, striped down dual core or full tilt mono core.

[revenant]

seems kind of cool.. but these features often play hell with stability when doing a lot of normal overclocking.. but we'll see. :) hopefully we can disable it when desired (as stated above)..

[onewingedangel]

Its just dropping down the clocks a multiplier step when all four cores are loaded to ensure a thermal envelope is maintained. Its a nice way to allow slightly higher performance when all cores aren't firing - as otherwise they may limit the max bin to the second step speed to prevent thermal issues. I wonder if you will be able to assign the die/core that clocks higher - this may allow higher overclocks by circumventing the weaker core becoming unstable.

Not quite independent overclocking, but perhaps a step in the 'right' direction.

NNstep - Whilst I remember intel announcing a 'dynamic overclocking' feature for Itanium2 , It was never implemented as they couldn't get it to work. Instead of a chip that clocked between 1.6 and 2ghz depending on load they released it set at 1.6ghz only - undoubtedly due to thermal/power concerns.

[MaxxxRacer]

Out of spec? How? If you take say a 3Ghz, sell it as 2x2.5Ghz and while using EADT one clocks at 3Ghz. Is that out of spec?

clearly you didnt read the article.

This Technology does NOT actaully overclock the CPU. It just uses both cores to run single threaded apps

[Serra]

I like the idea for notebooks certainly, though it could be a bit of an issue for overclockers if it's introduced in the desktop market and can't be disabled in BIOS.

[leomax]

well,
If you are running a single threaded application, one of the cores can go to sleep, and the left over power can be used by the other core - we give it a turbo boost; the ability to run faster than it used to."

[Shintai]

clearly you didnt read the article.

This Technology does NOT actaully overclock the CPU. It just uses both cores to run single threaded apps

No, and thats just as possible as RHT. :slap:

Let me picture it for you.

http://shintai.ambition.cz/pics/slide13.jpg

[Motiv]

clearly you didnt read the article.

This Technology does NOT actaully overclock the CPU. It just uses both cores to run single threaded apps

Wrong

"The idea is the following," explained Eden. "If you are running a single threaded application, one of the cores can go to sleep, and the left over power can be used by the other core - we give it a turbo boost; the ability to run faster than it used to.

"This is not overclocking. Overclocking is when you take a chip and increase its clock speed and run it out of spec. This is not out of spec. Here, it is within the spec of the dual-cores, we just identify when one core is not using the headroom and we give it to the other core.

As other people are saying, it's a mobile technology to allow 1 core run upto a higher frequency. It's just a fancy way of giving single threaded apps, more power, in a mobile environment.

If the chip inside was a 3ghz but had to be slowed to fit within the mobile markets power usage, then it makes perfect sense.

[-thc-(cZ)]

Thanks Motiv.. it's a shame that because of all the "in-the-know" people stating their "facts", in some cases using BIG FONTS TO make IT A BIGGER FACT.. it takes us 2 pages to figure out how to read what it says in the 1st post..

Next time - if you are not sure - STFU or post a question instead of a statement.. admins should start banning people for posting misinformation

/sorry, I had a frustrating day at work

ps. It certainly seems like AMD just gave up on the mobile market.. or maybe they are just not telling us and will launch AMDtrino with everything else @ their mega launch hehe, god bless them

[nn_step]

Thanks Motiv.. it's a shame that because of all the "in-the-know" people stating their "facts", in some cases using BIG FONTS TO make IT A BIGGER FACT.. it takes us 2 pages to figure out how to read what it says in the 1st post..

Next time - if you are not sure - STFU or post a question instead of a statement.. admins should start banning people for posting misinformation

/sorry, I had a frustrating day at work

ps. It certainly seems like AMD just gave up on the mobile market.. or maybe they are just not telling us and will launch AMDtrino with everything else @ their mega launch hehe, god bless them

Actually in the Sub $700 market, AMD has a stranglehold

[red]

I don't think they're really "overclocked". They are binned for "x+1" performance, but run at "x" for battery life, but marketed as "x+1" because they can reach that speed.

[-thc-(cZ)]

Actually in the Sub $700 market, AMD has a stranglehold

What exactly do you mean?

I was talking in the terms of innovation. Funny how even the intel guy said 'This is called Enhanced Dynamic Acceleration Technology. We've had problems implementing it, but we've been able to do it '. Heh, I'm so proud of you boys!

[nn_step]

What exactly do you mean?

I was talking in the terms of innovation. Funny how even the intel guy said 'This is called Enhanced Dynamic Acceleration Technology. We've had problems implementing it, but we've been able to do it '. Heh, I'm so proud of you boys!

I mean they have the absolute best performance in that budget range, esp since they are cutting killer deals to OEMs that use both AMD and ATi together

[SoF]

well another feature, but not really usefull for oc'ers.
Would be cool if they can predict the better core, so only the better one overclocks as high as possible :D