Multimedia said:
But Woodcrest is part of the Core 2 family not the Xeon family of processors. Surely they don't intend to label a Core 2 processor an old family name? Now I'm really confused.
Alright. The 'Xeon' name started life as a large/high-speed cache version of a Pentium chip. (Specifically the Pentium 2, which had 512 KB of 1/2 speed L2 cache, the 'Pentium 2 Xeon Processor' had 1 MB of full speed L2 cache.) It also supported more than two processors per motherboard (as the Pentium 2 support dual-processing, but not quad.)
When the Pentium III came out, they released a 'Xeon' version of it as well, larger cache, more sockets supported. Later revisions of the Pentium III muddied up the line, though, as the 'Pentium III Xeon' split into two lines, one that was basically the exact same core as the desktop Pentium III, only in the larger Xeon packaging (same cache size/speed, only two sockets,) and a second that used a different core with more cache, and supporting more than two sockets.
Later, just plain 'Xeon' became the name of the multiprocessor-capable version of the Pentium 4. Xeon was the first chip to add HyperThreading, and the first Intel x86 chip to add 64-bit support; both of which 'trickled down' to the Pentium line. It has been this way now for 6 years. 'Xeons' are the same basic core as a Pentium 4 (or more recently, the dual-core Pentium D,) with supporrt for multiple sockets and larger caches.
Then, Intel did the REVERSE. They took a large-cache Xeon, put it on the Pentium 4 socket, removed multi-socket setups, and labelled it 'Pentium 4 Extreme'. So we do have a history of taking the 'workstation/server' chip, and rebranding it as a ultra-high-end desktop chip. Based on this, I feel that in all likelihood, 'Core 2 Extreme' will be a Woodcrest. (Since Woodrest is launching in June, Conroe in July, and Intel has said that 'Core 2 Extreme' will launch before 'Core 2 Duo'.)
According to Alden Shaw quoted in my post #187 above, Woodcrest is not just for Servers. It is the only new Core 2 processor capable of being mounted in pairs for a total of 4 cores - IE QUAD configs. So it is HIGHLY LIKELY that this will be what's inside the first gen Intel Core 2 Quad Mac Tower shipping by WWDC, since it will be the first Core 2 processor shipping in June.
edit: making this paragraph less obvious since I misread your post, read the next paragraph...
Unfortunately, it really does take more than just slapping two dual-core chips onto one socket to make a quad-core chip. Intel has announced that Clovertown will be what you describe, (edit: not what you described, but rather two Woodcrest's slapped together,) and it's not due until mid-to-late 2007. (The desktop version, Kentsfield, or two Conroe's slapped together, is due at about the same time.)
Whoops, realized I misread your point. Whie quad-CORE won't appear until next year, dual-socket, dual-core will be available this year, on Woodcrest. (Not Conroe, not even 'Extreme'. They don't want the lower-cost desktop 'Extreme' chips cutting into their lucrative server chip sales.)
I think it is pretty obvious by now that Steve wants to declare the transition to Intel Macs and the pro line - both fixed and mobile - to 64-bit complete in record time at his historic August 7th WWDC SF SteveNote. And Intel is making that possible as a result of their unexpected accelerated Core 2 deployment performance.
From announcement to completion in 14 months is a pretty amazing feat of engineering dexterity.
That's why the WWDC got moved back to August. So the meeting can be all about completion of the hardware line and advancement on to Leopard early next year when 8 core Macs will also be unleashed.
Absolutely. I think Steve is probably ecstatic over the sped-up timetable. It's probably vindication to him on why they left IBM and Freescale.
