Intel launches “Itanium” microprocessor with 2 billion transistors.

There’s fast, and then there’s really fast. Intel’s latest “Itanium” supercomputer grade processor definitely falls into the latter. It’s an easy shoe in really, with 2 billtion — yes, 2 billion — transistors on board. The processor itself is made up of four cores. Up to 8 of these chips can be put together in a single server setting, netting the end user a full 32 cores of processing power. According to Intel, it can go even higher. Third parties who purchase the Itanium chips have the potential to push the maximum count of integrated processors and chips to 64 cores and beyond. Pretty interesting stuff.

For those wondering, the Itanium is clocked at 1.73 GHz. With up to 32 cores available from the factory, I’d say that is more than enough speed GHz wise. Remember, it isn’t the speed that counts anymore — it’s the cores.

On the other side of the fence, IBM is hard at work touting their own supercomputer grade processor with their “Power 7″ processor. Announced today, the Power 7′s biggest difference up front is that it uses an 8-core per chip design where as Intel utilizes 4-cores per chip. This higher core density obviously means more processing power overall crammed into smaller packages.

Who will win it out in this supercomputing sphere? It’s too early to call I’d say, but I’m more than willing to ride along.

VentureBeat

Author: Mike Norris

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Gadget lover, smartphone collector, and beer connoisseur. I've been writing about gadgets for three years now and loving every minute of it. Outside of the digital landscape, I enjoy being active outdoors. I'm always up for a good conversation, so feel free to drop me a line!