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Last week, Intel leaked details about its forthcoming Itanium chip, McKinley. Rumored to double existing Itanium performance, the new chip will sport a speedy 3-MB Level-3 cache with 64-GB-per-second bandwidth for Level-2 cache. Interestingly, in support of these niceties, the new processor also will cover 464-square millimeters, making it perhaps the largest chip in its class.

Situation Analysis

The Itanium processor line has been prereleased in what I would characterize as germination mode. It has been distributed with great fanfare to developers everywhere in systems from Compaq, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and IBM. Microsoft announced a version of Windows for Intel's 64-bit Itanium chip. Flags waved, dogs barked and confetti rained down.

The confetti, however, has long been washed into the sewers, the dogs have found other things to vocally approve and the flags are faded and tattered. We have heard almost nothing since the release of the Itanium except that Intel is going to release another one and it's physically big. If this next version of the Itanium processors does not get some momentum going, the processors may become, as the colorful folks at The Register put it, the Itanic.

		Need to Know CNET: Intel's McKinley Is One Big Chip Geek.com: Known McKinley Processor Specs The Register: Intel Caches Up Ahead of McKinley Launch

Intel's latest version of the Itanium chip will be damn big in terms of wafer size. What does that mean to you, dear reader? It means that Intel will have more waste in its process, less processors per wafer and a greater chance of failure. It also means that you will pay more for this chip. Beyond the fact that the common Intel practice is to charge maximum amounts for a cutting-edge processor, this McKinley version of the Itanium processor will cost Intel more.

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