Intel Shows Off Conroe (Desktop) Processors

MacRumors · 05:38 PM

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AnandTech provides coverage for Intel's presentations at the Intel Spring 2006 Developer Forum today.

Intel discussed their new "Core" microarchitecture which utilizes Intels' 65-nm manufacturing process. The Core Duo and Core Solo processors used in the iMac and Mac mini are already based on this new architecture. By mid-2007, Intel plans to offer a 45nm manufacturing process which promises even faster and lower power processors. In the meanwhile, however, Intel is expected to offer a full line of 65-nm chips (Merom, Conroe and Woodcrest) in the second half of 2006.

These slides show what kind of performance is expected from Intel's upcoming processor lines:

- Merom (mobile) is said to offer 20% more performance than the Core Duo at the same battery life.
- Conroe (desktop) is said to offer 40% more performance at 40% less power than the Pentium D 950.
- Woodcrest (servers) is said to offer 80% more performance at 35% less power than the Xeon.

Intel performed some benchmarks of Conroe compared to the Pentium D 950. And Anandtech offers some benchmarks comparing gaming performance and media encoding on the two platforms.

Intel's Conroe processor is speculated to be the heart of the upcoming Intel PowerMacs and should be released in the second half of this year. Apple's announcement that WWDC will take place in August of this year would provide a convenient launching pad for Intel PowerMacs which were rumored/speculated to be delivered in September.

rye9 · Mar 7, 2006, 05:10 PM

Doesn't this put PowerMacs at the same "power" as everyday PC's now if they use the same processor?

EDIT: Oh wait, the PowerMacs will still have Mac OS X.

~Shard~ · Mar 7, 2006, 05:12 PM

Great news, it's nice to see some of this made "official" by Intel, as all I had heard up to this point was unconfirmed #s.

Conroe PowerMacs are going to be great, and it will be nice to see the Xserve get Woodcrest.

MacMyDay · Mar 7, 2006, 05:15 PM

Those specs are pretty impressive. Intel is looking more and more promising, but then we all knew that in the first place.

rye9 · Mar 7, 2006, 05:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ~Shard~

Conroe PowerMacs are going to be great, and it will be nice to see the Xserve get Woodcrest.

I dont know why, but I think the Merom chips will get the most attention.

treblah · Mar 7, 2006, 05:16 PM

If for nothing other than AnandTech's coverage of Intel, I am glad Apple switched.

ravenvii · Mar 7, 2006, 05:16 PM

Meron, or Merom?

FireArse · Mar 7, 2006, 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raven VII

Meron, or Merom?

Is Conroe 64-bit?

NewbieNerd · Mar 7, 2006, 05:27 PM

Yay Merom! Even though I'll be getting a used 17'' pbook from a fellow macrumors.com guy, I'm just excited at the prospect of what the future holds for them. I'll be really interested to see what appears as a new form factor for the powerbook/mbp and powermacs in the probably not-too-distant future. Something that will make the current forms look old and lousy...

QCassidy352 · Mar 7, 2006, 05:29 PM

Merom sounds like a nice bump, but hardly earth-shattering... the others sound more impressive to me.

Fiveos22 · Mar 7, 2006, 05:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rye9

I dont know why, but I think the Merom chips will get the most attention.

They're getting all of my attention (a merom pb will hopefully be my first laptop).

VanMac · Mar 7, 2006, 05:31 PM

Good to see.

I'm sure we will continue to see continual performance gains and less power consumption with this move to Intel. Bravo.

runninmac · Mar 7, 2006, 05:35 PM

Thats great that they compare it to the pentium D and all but I havnt heard great things from it, can anyone post some benchmarks from it?

rockthecasbah · Mar 7, 2006, 05:37 PM

it's nice that there is such a performance boost with Merom (20% at the same battery life?) but who here would rather see a laptop that's a smidge LESS powerful to get a lot more battery life?

jabooth · Mar 7, 2006, 05:38 PM

Wow, conroes shaping up nicely...

Question is, will we see a Conroe or a Merom in rev b. iMac?

Are people thinking that apple will get the merom and conroes straight into Macs, or will Mr. Jobs make us wait....

any thoughts?

Compatiblepoker · Mar 7, 2006, 05:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jabooth

Wow, conroes shaping up nicely...

Question is, will we see a Conroe or a Merom in rev b. iMac?

Are people thinking that apple will get the merom and conroes straight into Macs, or will Mr. Jobs make us wait....

any thoughts?

IMO gonna have to wait.

nagromme · Mar 7, 2006, 05:43 PM

My quad-Conroe Mac tower gets closer to reality

PS, how is "Merom" properly pronounced? MARE-um? Mer-OAM?

~Shard~ · Mar 7, 2006, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rye9

I dont know why, but I think the Merom chips will get the most attention.

For mobile solutions at least, yes indeed. The question will be, will the new iMacs in 2007 receive Conroe or Merom chips? An argument could be made for both...

Quote:

Originally Posted by QCassidy352

Merom sounds like a nice bump, but hardly earth-shattering... the others sound more impressive to me.

Merom is what Conroe and Woodcrest are based off, so I wouldn't slam it too badly.

nagromme · Mar 7, 2006, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jabooth

Are people thinking that apple will get the merom and conroes straight into Macs, or will Mr. Jobs make us wait....

Core Duo and Core Solo went straight to Mac the instant they were available--and those were the FIRST of the big transition.

I see no reason to expect we'd have to wait when Conroe and Merom appear. Sometimes a new model isn't ready for other reasons besides the processor, but there's no reason to assume the worst.

runninmac · Mar 7, 2006, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nagromme

My quad-Conroe Mac tower gets closer to reality

PS, how is "Merom" properly pronounced? MARE-um? Mer-OAM?

Oh I just relized I have been saying it wrong this whole time, I always thought it was Mem-rom... me and my dyslexia

macorama · Mar 7, 2006, 05:47 PM

So Woodcrest for the new xServes then? It's been a looooooong time since there's been some xServe news. But will it be Conroe or Woodcrest for the Powermacs?

~Shard~ · Mar 7, 2006, 05:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nagromme

PS, how is "Merom" properly pronounced? MARE-um? Mer-OAM?

I pronounce it "MARE-om", but what do I know....

realityisterror · Mar 7, 2006, 05:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by runninmac

Oh I just relized I have been saying it wrong this whole time, I always thought it was Mem-rom... me and my dyslexia

I thought it was just pronounced "ME-rom"... ?

Let's keep in mind that these numbers are often optimistic

maxterpiece · Mar 7, 2006, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rockthecasbah

it's nice that there is such a performance boost with Merom (20% at the same battery life?) but who here would rather see a laptop that's a smidge LESS powerful to get a lot more battery life?

Yeah, really... Wasn't a big part of the rationale to switch to intel that we would be getting higher performance/watt? Well yeah, the core duo is more powerful than the G4 by a lot, but apple had to put a bigger battery in there just to give it close to equal battery life to the last gen of powerbooks (they still get a little less life, but I'll write that off to the brighter screens).

How about a chip that runs just at G4 speed but uses like 1/4 the power? That would get me excited. Oh, and make it cheap too.

~Shard~ · Mar 7, 2006, 05:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by macorama

So Woodcrest for the new xServes then? It's been a looooooong time since there's been some xServe news. But will it be Conroe or Woodcrest for the Powermacs?

Woodcrest would be amazing in the PowerMacs, but I think Conroe is more of a realistic guess. That being said, there is nothing saying that Apple would not do something along the lines of the Mac mini and (presumably) the new iBook, where they have one chip (Solo) in the low end model and another chip (Duo) in the high end model. Of course, in that case, you're simply talking about different flavors of Yonah - I think it might be a bit extreme to mix Conroe and Woodcrest in the same product line...

Mar 7, 2006, 05:06 PM	#1
MacRumors macrumors bot Join Date: Apr 2001	Intel Shows Off Conroe (Desktop) Processors http://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif AnandTech provides coverage for Intel's presentations at the Intel Spring 2006 Developer Forum today. Intel discussed their new "Core" microarchitecture which utilizes Intels' 65-nm manufacturing process. The Core Duo and Core Solo processors used in the iMac and Mac mini are already based on this new architecture. By mid-2007, Intel plans to offer a 45nm manufacturing process which promises even faster and lower power processors. In the meanwhile, however, Intel is expected to offer a full line of 65-nm chips (Merom, Conroe and Woodcrest) in the second half of 2006. These slides show what kind of performance is expected from Intel's upcoming processor lines: - Merom (mobile) is said to offer 20% more performance than the Core Duo at the same battery life. - Conroe (desktop) is said to offer 40% more performance at 40% less power than the Pentium D 950. - Woodcrest (servers) is said to offer 80% more performance at 35% less power than the Xeon. Intel performed some benchmarks of Conroe compared to the Pentium D 950. And Anandtech offers some benchmarks comparing gaming performance and media encoding on the two platforms. Intel's Conroe processor is speculated to be the heart of the upcoming Intel PowerMacs and should be released in the second half of this year. Apple's announcement that WWDC will take place in August of this year would provide a convenient launching pad for Intel PowerMacs which were rumored/speculated to be delivered in September. Last edited by Doctor Q : Mar 7, 2006 at 05:38 PM.

Mar 7, 2006, 05:10 PM	#2
rye9 macrumors 65816 Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: New York (not NYC)	Doesn't this put PowerMacs at the same "power" as everyday PC's now if they use the same processor? EDIT: Oh wait, the PowerMacs will still have Mac OS X. __________________ -12" iBook G4 (1.33 G4, 40 GB, 1GB, Mac OS 10.4.11) -NEW 13" MBP -iPod mini 2G + iPod nano 3G -iPhone 3G =

Mar 7, 2006, 05:12 PM	#3
~Shard~ macrumors Demi-God Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: 1123.6536.5321	Great news, it's nice to see some of this made "official" by Intel, as all I had heard up to this point was unconfirmed #s. Conroe PowerMacs are going to be great, and it will be nice to see the Xserve get Woodcrest. __________________ My riches consist not in the extent of my possessions, but in the fewness of my wants. - J. Brotherton

Mar 7, 2006, 05:15 PM	#4
MacMyDay macrumors regular Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Suffolk, England	Those specs are pretty impressive. Intel is looking more and more promising, but then we all knew that in the first place. __________________ Coding Monkeys Ltd Suffolk Web Designers

Mar 7, 2006, 05:16 PM	#7
ravenvii macrumors 68040 Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Melenkurion Skyweir	Meron, or Merom? __________________ You spoony bard!

Mar 7, 2006, 05:16 PM	#6
treblah macrumors 65816 Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: 29403	If for nothing other than AnandTech's coverage of Intel, I am glad Apple switched.

Mar 7, 2006, 05:27 PM	#9
NewbieNerd macrumors 6502 Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Stow, MA	Yay Merom! Even though I'll be getting a used 17'' pbook from a fellow macrumors.com guy, I'm just excited at the prospect of what the future holds for them. I'll be really interested to see what appears as a new form factor for the powerbook/mbp and powermacs in the probably not-too-distant future. Something that will make the current forms look old and lousy...

Mar 7, 2006, 05:29 PM	#10
QCassidy352 Contributor Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Boston, MA	Merom sounds like a nice bump, but hardly earth-shattering... the others sound more impressive to me. __________________ "If Jesus Himself came back to earth and turned water to wine, half of MacRumors would say 'meh, this is red. I wanted white.'"

Mar 7, 2006, 05:31 PM	#12
VanMac macrumors 6502a Join Date: May 2005 Location: Rampaging Tokyo	Good to see. I'm sure we will continue to see continual performance gains and less power consumption with this move to Intel. Bravo. __________________ Broken Arrow Ranch Chervic Technologies Inc. 17" MBP 2.6GHz C2D HDef 200GB_7200 2GB RAM 80GB iPod Classic Broken Arrow Ranch

Mar 7, 2006, 05:35 PM	#13
runninmac macrumors 65816 Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Rockford MI	Thats great that they compare it to the pentium D and all but I havnt heard great things from it, can anyone post some benchmarks from it? __________________ 2.0 Ghz CoreDuo. 2 GB Ram. 80 Gig HDD. Black MacBook

Mar 7, 2006, 05:37 PM	#14
rockthecasbah macrumors 68020 Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Moorestown, NJ	it's nice that there is such a performance boost with Merom (20% at the same battery life?) but who here would rather see a laptop that's a smidge LESS powerful to get a lot more battery life? __________________ 15'' 2.4ghz MacBook Pro (Matte), 2GB RAM, 200GB HD Wii code: 7876 8987 6478 7445 My Last.fm "Ignore her, she's a feminist"

Mar 7, 2006, 05:38 PM	#15
jabooth macrumors member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: England	Wow, conroes shaping up nicely... Question is, will we see a Conroe or a Merom in rev b. iMac? Are people thinking that apple will get the merom and conroes straight into Macs, or will Mr. Jobs make us wait.... any thoughts?

Mar 7, 2006, 05:43 PM	#17
nagromme macrumors 601 Join Date: May 2002 Location: Blinking blue dot	My quad-Conroe Mac tower gets closer to reality PS, how is "Merom" properly pronounced? MARE-um? Mer-OAM? __________________ nagromme Would you like a treatment?

Mar 7, 2006, 05:47 PM	#21
macorama macrumors regular Join Date: Apr 2005	So Woodcrest for the new xServes then? It's been a looooooong time since there's been some xServe news. But will it be Conroe or Woodcrest for the Powermacs? __________________ WWDC Intel Powermacs

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