Intel's next generation server processor is destined to increase the number of threads available on a single chip once again, to 20, if a recent paper by Intel is to be believed.Westmere-EX, to use its official codename, should trump the current record holder Nehalem-EX by 2 cores, bringing the core count to 10 and the thread count to 20 using HyperThreading. As this chip is designed for servers with four or more sockets, it raises the possibility of a server with 40 physical cores capable of simultaneously processing 80 threads. Needless to say Folding@home performance is not yet known but such a setup has a lot of promise if anyone would consider building such a system for Folding.
The chip is to be manufactured on a 32nm process, and will go up against AMD's Bulldozer in the server market. Prices and clock speeds remain to be seen
Source: PC World
jmn
On: 06/21/10
