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Itanium2 to ship next week

T

TypeR389

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 9, 2002
80
0
Seattle
Looks like Intel (yea, I know) plans on releasing the Itanium2 next week.

http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/industry/07/03/intel.itanium.reut/index.html

You think this is random releasing this RIGHT before MWNY? I know the last Itanium was a hunk of sand at best, but from what I have heard from some friends who work for Evil Uncle Bill as I call him over in Redmond, they say the new chip is supposed to be pretty sweet. I wonder if Intel knows that Apple/Moto are releasing a newer system soon, so they are trying to steal some of Apple's thunder...
 
I'm still waiting for some benchmarks. If the original ****anium's SPEC scores were anything to go by, it has a lot of catching up to do, and the Power4, 21264C, and UltraSPARC III are hungry and waiting... :)
 
The low end Itanium2...

...costs as much as an entire low end iMac (1200). The high end one costs as much as a high end Powermac with monitor (4300). The Itanium isn't in the same market as Apple's stuff, so Intel can't steal their thunder.

btw, according to Intel, the Itanium2 is about twice as fast as the Itanium, so try doubling those SPEC scores and see if you get something respectable (I realize that it's marketing hype, but it might give a good estimate).
 
Maybe I am the only one that caught this but why the hell would Bill Gates and microsoft have all this info on a 64bit server chip???? I was under the impression that Microsoft made server software that runs on 32 bit chips. x86 architecture which the itanium is not. Again correct me if i am wrong.... I always think it is funny when people try to add that little something extra to make you think they know what they are talking about
 
Macpoops:

There's a 64-bit version of Windows XP made to run on the Itanium and Itanium 2 chips (there will probably be a 64-bit version for AMD's "Clawhammer" chips, but nothing's official yet). You can also run at least one 64-bit version of Linux, but of course Microsoft isn't going to mention THAT. :)

Anyways, Catfish definitely provided the main reason why Apple probably isn't very scared of the Itanium 2 - cost. For the same price as a single Itanium 2 system, you could probably have 2 or 3 Xserves that would handle most tasks very well. The Itanium series is only really there for people who need 64-bit precision in specific apps; most don't, so you're usually far better off with a muscular 32-bit processor arrangement like clustered Xserves or multiple Xeon chips.
 
DELL is not going for Itanitum2, yet

According to the Register article Dell snubs Itanium 2 launch party , Dell is goin g to wait till "stronger customer support materializes"
"Dell's non-appearance at the Itanium 2 launch party will be something of an embarrassment for Intel."
 
Thats just the way Dell operates. Ive had some experiecne with the exec side of Dell, and they ALWAYS wait until substantial interest is shown before the make any decisions.

basically, they dont innovate, or be a part of anything new, but just adopt or copy other technology thats beginning to sell very well and sell the heck out of it.

They are money-making distributors, not advancers of technology.
 
Originally posted by agreenster
Thats just the way Dell operates. Ive had some experiecne with the exec side of Dell, and they ALWAYS wait until substantial interest is shown before the make any decisions.

basically, they dont innovate, or be a part of anything new, but just adopt or copy other technology thats beginning to sell very well and sell the heck out of it.

They are money-making distributors, not advancers of technology.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure about the server side of things, but I know Dell offered Itanium workstations for a while and dumped them because they weren't selling. If I were Dell, I would be a bit apprehensive about selling Itanium2 products as well. Nobody wants to buy Itanium hardware yet because it is not mature enough software-wise. Why would any business want to sell a product for which there's little money to be made?

It will be interesting to see how the Itanium2 does. It appears to be very fast, but it also throws off too much heat to be considered for dense rackmount systems.

Alex
 
Itaniums can emulate x86 in hardware. And MS has WindowsXP 64bit edition for Itaniums.
 
Yeah, but...

Originally posted by jadam
Itaniums can emulate x86 in hardware. And MS has WindowsXP 64bit edition for Itaniums.
Click to expand...

...an AthlonXP or Pentium 4 for 1/10th the price has MUCH better x86 support, and although the operating system supports IA64, most of the apps don't. Basically here's its advantages and disadvantages:

advantages:
1) Good performance, about equal to a Power4 in SPEC
2) Intel has a lot invested in it, so it's not likely to die suddenly

disadvantages:
1) Costs 1300-4300 dollars
2) Draws 130 watts of power
3) Almost no software

My predictions: It'll struggle along in server space for a while before becoming more widely accepted just because of the amount of cash Intel is putting behind it (I think x86-64 will do much better). After that it will migrate down into workstations, then desktops. I would guess it will hit high end desktops in 2005-2006. If things continue as they're going right now it will have been left behind by AMD well before then, as AMD is bringing 64 bit chips with more sophisticated motherboards and memory systems to desktops in late 2002. If the G5 is similar to Hammer (which a lot of stuff points to), then Macs should do fairly well too.
 
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