Intel's newest top-line Itanium 2 processor is due to arrive Nov. 8, sources familiar with the plans said.
The processor is an upgraded member of the "Madison" family that boosts high-speed cache memory from 6MB (megabytes) to 9MB--thus its Madison 9M nickname. In addition, Intel is expected to update the rest of its Itanium 2 line, including a lower-end model for dual-processor servers and a low-voltage model for servers that are packed densely together.
The launch is expected to dovetail with the release of the Top500 list of the world's fastest supercomputers. NASA's new Columbia supercomputer, a top contender for the No. 1 spot, includes the newer chips in Silicon Graphics Inc.'s new Altix 3700 Bx2 server. SGI said Columbia could perform 42.7 trillion calculations per second, a speed called 42.7 teraflops. But an unpublished test that included the new Itanium 2 9M processors clocked the machine at 51.9 teraflops.
News source: C|Net News.com
