If anyone doubts Intel’s leadership in the world of CPUs and manufacturing, just think of the following: its nearest competitor is yet to ship its 45nm products in any volume, while Chipzilla started to phase out 65nm CPUs as 45nm ones took over.
Break point is achieved - it's all downhill for 65nm from now on
While the world is waiting on AMD’s Shanghai and Deneb, Intel’s 45nm Core and Xeon processors overtook 65nm ones and the company decided to phase out or EOL (End Of Life) no less than 31 different 65nm processors.
Intel claims the company has achieved break point between 45nm and 65 and that majority (roughly 60%) of CPUs in Q4 will be manufactured using 45nm process.
Given that processors like Core 2 Duo E8500 overclock to 4-4.2 GHz using tiny stock cooler, there is clear headroom for next-generation of its CPUs, codenamed Nehalem. I had the opportunity to test the Nehalem setup and all that I can say is 45nm process and Intel engineers rock. To have stable 4 GHz+ operations on air was something I could not even dream of at the time of NetBust CPUs.
But the tides have turned, and now Intel’s 45nm processors are the way to go for full performance. You can read more about phased out processors at my ex-post, TG Daily.
