IDF: the dual-core Atom for cheap computers is on its way

The Intel Developer Forum (IDF US08) will be held next week at the Moscone West conference centre in San Francisco. The developer forum was started in 1997 by the present head of the Digital Enterprise Group, Pat Gelsinger, and Intel traditionally uses it as a platform for its product presentations. There will be much interest next week in Nehalem, the new architecture for Intel's high-end processors, implemented in the Core i7, but the chip itself probably won't make its debut until after the IDF.

The future of Atom will also be under discussion. New hints are hoped for about the system-on-a-chip version – Moorestown, which is due to appear around the time of CeBIT 2009. Expected much sooner than that is the dual-core version of the current Atom 230 for cheap, compact, low-specification desktop computers, which Intel calls nettops. It will probably be an Atom 330 with a TDP of around 8 watts. Since each Atom core can already process two threads virtually in parallel by hyper-threading, the dual-core Atom will be a quad-thread processor. Intel will tell us more next Thursday.

It is very likely that Intel will deliver the Atom 330, which simply consists of two Silverthorne dies in one CPU housing, or one die carrier, just a few weeks after the Nano, announced by VIA in May. The quickest version of the VIA Nano, the 1.8 GHz Nano L2100, with a TDP of 25 watts, overtakes the Atom 230. Depending on software, the Atom 330 may again take the lead.

For more on the 2008 IDF, see also:

• IDF: Details about QuickPath Interconnect
• IDF: Future Xeon servers with extended power management
• Intel gives competitors access to part of preliminary USB 3.0 specification

(trk)