Increased performance and lower power usage – even at the speed of light, distance matters, so having smaller components that are closer together on a processor means better performance and lower power usage. For comparison, a nanometer is one billionth of a meter, so 10-microns would be 10000 nanometers! This ever-shrinking manufacturing process is important for two main reasons: By contrast, the Intel Xeon “Sandy Bridge” E5 series (released in 2012) uses a 32nm process. The Intel 4004 (released in 1971) series used a 10-micron process the smallest feature on the processor was 10 millionths of a meter across. The manufacturing process technology refers to the size of the individual circuits and transistors on the chip. Some of the recent and upcoming Intel Tick-Tock releases are shown in Figure 1.įigure 1: Intel’s Tick-Tock Release Strategy This historical pattern is starting to change as Intel is beginning to focus more on power efficiency rather that increasing single-threaded performance. Historically, processor performance has nearly doubled with each new Tock release, while performance usually goes up by 20-25% with a Tick release. This makes it easier for you to maintain servers that are using the same model number (such as a Dell PowerEdge R720 server), since the server model will have a longer manufacturing life span.Īs a DBA, you need to know where a particular processor falls in Intel’s processor family tree if you want to be able to meaningfully compare the relative performance of two different processors.
#Intel tick tock release update#
In most cases, only a BIOS update is required to allow an existing system to use a newer Tick release processor. Tick releases are usually socket-compatible with the previous year’s Tock release, which makes it easier for the system manufacturer to make the latest Tick release processor available in existing server models more quickly, without completely redesigning the system.
#Intel tick tock release upgrade#
This helps you plan your upgrade strategy and schedule. It offers better predictability regarding when major (Tock) and minor (Tick) releases will be available. This Tick-Tock release strategy benefits the DBA in a number of ways. One year after the Tock release, they introduce a new processor family that uses the same microarchitecture as the previous year’s Tock release, but using a smaller manufacturing process technology and usually incorporating other improvements such as larger cache sizes or improved memory controllers. Every two years, they introduce a new processor family, incorporating a new microarchitecture this is the Tock release. Since 2006, Intel has adopted what they call a Tick-Tock strategy for developing and releasing new processor models.
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