Intel Heralds Energy-Efficient CPU

By Greg McNevin

November 3, 2008: Intel is hyping its upcoming Nehalem chip as not only blisteringly fast, but also far more forgiving on the environment due to its low power consumption.

Intel says that the new chip, the successor to its Core II and IV lines, will save up to 20 terawatt hours and US$2 (AU$3.01) billion in energy costs by its estimations.

When designing the Nehalem, Intel says it started out with energy efficiency as the central touchstone, with every design and feature decision weighed up against power use.

Due to this, the chip sports a new high-k gate design using Hafnium, a significantly altered clock cycle and operating voltage, and a new embedded controller called Uncore that manages the processor and entire platform’s power on the go.

The push towards energy efficiency is becoming more important than ever, not just because of consumer sentiment, but also due to government mandates around the world for energy efficiency and looming data centre power shortages.

The new chip is set for release sometime this month.

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