First of all, sad news: Intel Larrabee is delayed till 2010 (we were expecting it in Q4’2009), according to the reports. With 32 cores onboard (though this number is not confirmed yet), it looks like a very good system for password cracking. Some Larrabee development tools and resources are already available, and of course, we’re porting our code to this platform, and will share the results with you as soon as we’ll be able to (we’re under the NDA with Intel; as well as with Nvidia and AMD :)).

But in the meantime, Intel Previews Nehalem-EX Xeon Processor. Most interesting facts about it:

• Intel Nehalem Architecture built on 45nm high-k metal gate technology process
• Up to 8 cores per processor
• Up to 16 threads per processor with Hyper-threading
• Scalability up to eight sockets via Quick Path Interconnects
• QuickPath Architecture with four high-bandwidth links

Actually, it reminds me about good old transputers – I wrote a lot of code for it many years ago 🙂

A bit off-topic: GPU Market in Q2’2008. Intel is on top with 45%, followed by Nvidia with 30%, and ATI is 3rd (17%). Intel results are predictable, thanks to on-board graphics – it’s slow (for hard gamers and password crackers), but good enough for office computers.

I have not found more recent (reliable) data, though – curious to see how they (especially Nvidia and ATI) compete now, i.e. in Q1’2009. Both companies released many new boards in past few months; see Best graphics cards.

And btw, Second GTX 295 (Single PCB) is expected soon; but it is not clear whether we’re going to see ATI Radeon 4890 X2 – only rumors. So the battle continues (especially thinking of Larrabee).