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Intel 'Core' Focuses On Power Consumption As It Aims To Overtake AMD

Power consumption is the "next frontier" for technology improvements for Intel as it brings a new architecture to mobile devices, PCs, and servers beginning in the third quarter, Intel said at its 10th annual Developer Forum today.

The new metric for measuring technology advancement with be energy per instruction (EPI), said Pat Gelsinger, Intel's senior VP and general manager of its Digital Enterprise Group. That's something of a refinement on the increasingly important performance-per-watt mantra that has driven the industry for the past two years. "Energy per instruction is the new Holy Grail for delivery performance," Gelsinger said during a keynote speech.

Rising energy costs, ever-growing server farms, and the cost of cooling data centers have made power consumption a top issue for business computing.

Intel intends to demonstrate the energy-conscious approach with the delivery of its new Core microarchitecture beginning in the third quarter. Gelsinger said this is a big year for Intel: It's launching a new process, with the introduction of processors manufactured using a 65 nanometer manufacturing capability, and it's launching a new microarchitecture in Core.

Core architecture--previously know only as Intel's next-generation microarchitecture--will be used in the second half of the year in its Woodcrest processor for servers, Merom processor for mobile computers, and Conroe processor for desktop PCs.

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