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What your PC will look like in 2010

Posted on 13 Oct 2009 at 14:53

Find out what components you can expect to find powering your PC, laptop and server come 2010

Desktops

There are lots of exciting innovations coming to the desktop in 2010, although some are more revolutionary than others. For a start, Intel plans to introduce its first 32nm desktop CPU with six cores. Codenamed Gulftown, the new addition to the Core i7 Extreme series will feature Hyper-Threading for a total of 12 threads.

There will also be big changes to Intel’s mainstream line-up, as the move to 32nm beckons the introduction of the Clarkdale processors with integrated graphics. This could enable smaller and cheaper motherboards to be manufactured for innovative all-in-one or small-form-factor PCs.

Perhaps the biggest pushpin on Intel’s year planner for 2010, however, is Larrabee. A graphics chip based on multiple x86 cores rather than the stream processors found in today’s traditional GPUs, Larrabee threatens to completely overhaul the graphics card business.

According to Intel’s vice president of digital enterprise operations, Stephen Smith, Intel is already in talks with game developers who are “looking at making more immersive games by putting in features such as physics or game logic using those x86 cores.” Smith said that the first Larrabee product, which he describes as a “high-end graphics card”, would be available in the first half of 2010.

Countering this will be the next generation of GPUs from AMD and Nvidia, although both companies are tight-lipped about their specifications. Nvidia’s chief technology officer, Bill Dally gave us a few hints about what we could expect.

“Clock speeds will increase more slowly,” he said, “because of the power issues, we’re not going to be cranking the clock up.” Instead, Dally said that future generations of Nvidia GPUs will feature more stream processors, and also claimed that “we may wind up making the individual processors more powerful as well”.

Another interesting desktop technology coming from Intel in 2010 is Braidwood, which will combine flash technology with traditional hard drives. Smith explained “we’re using flash memory in our next-generation platform as a cache for the disk I/O, and we have a very intelligent controlling algorithm, so with a few gigabytes of flash storage you can get a significant fraction of the responsiveness at a small fraction of the cost.”

Smith said that Braidwood could be included in the Calpella (mobile) and Piketon (desktop) platforms that are scheduled to be available in 2010.