Intel Itanium 2 "Fanwood" to Have Faster Processor's Bus

by Anton Shilov
11/10/2003 | 07:18 PM

Besides some changes in its desktop roadmap, the Santa Clara, California-based chipmaker has also adjusted its IA64 plans for the next year, sources close the giant report. Intel will add some new chips into the Itanium 2 family in 2004 and will also strengthen the performance of its EPIC microprocessors in late in 2004 with the introduction of 533MHz processor system bus for some of IA64 CPUs.

• Firstly, Intel added a DP processor with 9MB of L3 cache code-named Fanwood in its plans. Previously some sources indicated this chip as DP Madison 9M, but it was not widely discussed, to tell you the truth.
• Secondly, the refresh CPU for the code-named Deerfield processors (Itanium 2 1.40GHz with 1.5MB L3 and Low Voltage Itanium 2 1.0GHz with 1.5MB of L3 cache) is now code-named LV Fanwood.
• Thirdly, Intel will speed up its processor system bus for the DP IA64 CPUs to 533MHz in the fourth quarter next year.

The general IA64 trend for 2004 seems to be that the code-named Madison CPUs will be intended only for MP solutions, while the code-named Fanwood chips are designed for DP platforms. Both Madison and Fanwood will be made at 0.13 micron nodes.

The Madison 9M processor with 9MB of L3 for enterprise MP servers will start at 1.50GHz or beyond in the third quarter of 2004. It will be compatible with Intel’s own E8870 chipset and infrastructure. According to sources, the company is not planning to push up the speed of FSB for MP CPUs at least until the Q2 2005.

The Fanwood processors with 400MHz PSB and up to 9MB of L3 cache are set to launch in Q3 2004 at 1.40GHz or above. The LV Fanwood chips with 400MHz will work at speeds exceeding 1.00GHz. All Fanwood microprocessors are designed to work in DP configurations are most-likely to be compatible with E8870 chipset.

Sometime in the Q4 2004 Intel is anticipated to introduce a new platform for its Fanwood processors with support for 533MHz bus and also roll-out Fanwood/533 64-bit CPUs to take advantage of the more powerful PSB. Details of these chips due to come in a year are not available at this time.

It remains to be seen whether the company revamps its plans for 2005 as a consequence of changes mentioned herein. In a little bit less than two years time the firm is expected to launch its code-named Montecito core made using 90nm fabrication process and featuring 2 cores as well as 18MB of L3 cache. In 2006 or 2007 Intel is supposed to release Tanglewood, the monster CPU with up to 16 cores, a lot of cache memory and a high clock-speed.