Nehalem – 16 threads and QPI

At the IDF, Paul Ottelini revealed more details of Intel’s future Nehalem processor, due in 2008 (from techreport). Nehalem will sport 8 cores, each capable of executing 2 threads. At 16 threads per socket the need for fine grained parallel programming expertise will continue to increase for HPC workloads. Nehalem will also support Intel’s much awaited QuickPath Interconnect (formerly CSI) – commonly seen as Intel’s overdue rival to AMD’s HyperTransport.