TECHiNSIGHT - High Viiv Cover Story

Home > High Viiv - Cover Story

Page


	> Whitebook War II > Raid Controllers > Hardware Security > Torture On The Rack > What Matters

For over a decade, the PC industry has puzzled over how to plant computing in the living room. Designs and marketing ploys from vendors big and small have floated through the channel, and none of them have stuck. Microsoft’s Windows XP Media Center Edition (MCE), now in its third incarnation, has at last managed to nail the right mix of power, ease of use, and playback quality to deliver a satisfying PC-meets-TV experience, but not even Microsoft can conquer the living room in a solo effort.

With Media Center Edition, Microsoft did the best job it could at the time, but many hurtles were still left. Chief among these was the issue of hardware. In an office or some sort of basement server, MCE is golden. In the living room, however, you run into issues with noise and heat, system footprint, and aesthetics, which are sometimes measured on the "Spousal Approval Scale." Because of the horsepower needed to fuel a satisfying multimedia experience, MCE machines tended to run big and hot. This is fine in several niches, but it's not what you want when tackling the mainstream.

Beyond technology limitations, living room convergence needs broad industry support. MCE 2005 arrived with a handful of content providers, such as Napster and CinemaNow, which had adapted their software clients from a "2-foot" desktop interface to a "10-foot" couch-with-remote interface. This was great stuff, but the breadth of content was still lacking. People needed content from providers they enjoyed every day, not just from the PC desktop space but also the conventional entertainment world. People wanted names such as MTV, TiVo, and ESPN. And where were the the third-party gaming and photo services?

In short, all of the instruments existed (or were soon coming) to create a must-have media center platform for a converged living room, but no one was conducting the performance. That's where Intel stepped in with Viiv.

You probably remember mobile computing back in 2002. We had notebooks. We had mobile CPUs and chipsets. We had wireless computing, and sometimes it even workedÉnot that there were many places to use it. When the Centrino brand launched in March of 2003, Intel essentially said, "OK, we have the chips to fulfill the mobile experience people want, a wireless solution that is universal and works like a champ, and we're going to pour a ton of resources into making sure people can use this technology wherever they go."

Centrino as a platform brand took the Pentium M chip debut and built an industry around it. Viiv aims to do much the same, this time erecting a convergence business on top of Intel's dual-core processors.

From a channel perspective, there is one glaring difference between the Centrino and Viiv launches. In 2003, there was virtually no build-to-order notebook business, so it was difficult for system builders to capitalize on Intel's Centrino investment. With Viiv, the situation has changed. Obviously, there will be a deluge of big name OEM Viiv designs, but the nature of multimedia convergence is one of personalization.

Every user has different tastes and priorities. This applies as much to content as device form. In fact, the two are inextricably linked. Some users will want three or four TV tuners and so will require a larger case able to accommodate a full-sized motherboard with those extra slots. Others may prefer a tiny design that emphasizes photo and music enjoyment. Such implementations are likely to store the bulk of the user's multimedia content across the home network, and perhaps that user is willing to upgrade the system's audio capabilities with a premium sound card. The variations are practically infinite.

This is why Viiv is a stunning channel play right from the outset. Intel is facilitating and popularizing a whole new range of consumer functionality. Now you, the VAR or system builder, get to swing in and use your local touch to craft a design that exactly matches your customer's desires. Big OEMs can only guess and approximate. You have the entire distribution channel at your disposal to hand-pick every component. Your customers will be more satisfied, they'll be more likely to return for upgrades and follow-up purchases over time, and you'll be able to reap the increased margins that go along with high customization jobs, provided you understand the inner workings of Viiv and the options you have to support it.

Viiv Defined

As of the Viiv launch, if a PC contains a Viiv-approved CPU, chipset, LAN adapter, and Windows XP Media Center Edition, then it qualifies as a Viiv technology-based entertainment PC and can sport the sticker badge that says so. The trick, of course, is to pay attention to the fine print and understand what each of those hardware components entails.

Processor

The poster child for Viiv is Intel's new Core Duo processor, the same chip now fueling Centrino Duo notebooks. Core Duo is one of Intel's first parts based on 65 nm fabrication technology. Smaller feature size on-die means faster transistor switching, more real estate available for things like larger caches, and less energy consumption for cooler running. At launch, Core Duo comes in 1.66, 1.83, 2.0, and 2.16 GHz varieties with a 31W power consumption. Special ultra-low power (15W) SKUs initially come in 1.5 and 1.66 GHz models. All "Yonah"-generation Core Duo chips work on a 667 MHz front-side bus, which is a marked improvement from the 533 MHz of its predecessor, the Pentium M.

The biggest leap for the Core Duo, of course, it its integration of two processors, each of which access a common 2MB pool of L2 cache via Intel's revamped Smart Cache architecture. (Smart Cache dynamically allocates the amount of L2 available to either core, streamlines how both cores share data concurrently, and optimizes pre-fetch routines.) Consumer-level applications that take advantage of dual-core architecture are now ramping up, but even for users who don't own multi-threaded apps, dual-core is a tremendous performance booster when multi-tasking. For example, if a user is encoding a video stream while playing a game, a dual-core processor essentially tasks one core for each application, greatly boosting overall system performance.

Another enhancement in the Core Duo chip is Digital Media Boost, a fancy branding name for some floating point optimizations and support for the SSE2 and SSE3 instruction sets, both descendants of the original MMX enhancements. Streaming SIMD Extensions, you'll recall, are the additional instruction sets baked into most IA-32 CPUs. Many of these instructions aim to improve multimedia execution.

One more feather in the Core Duo cap is Dynamic Power Coordination, which picks up where SpeedStep power management left off. In the mobile world, battery runtime is a paramount concern, but in a desktop or home theater setting, heat becomes a primary issue. Dynamic Power Coordination allows each CPU core to independently enter Halt, Stop Clock, Deep Sleep, Deeper Sleep, and Enhanced Deeper Sleep states as needed. In Enhanced Deeper Sleep, all data in the CPU cache is pushed out to system memory and the cores enter a very low voltage state. One of Viiv's key selling points is its "instant-on" functionality, wherein the CPU cores wake up, data flood back into the cache from system memory, and the system is active again in a virtual heartbeat. Dynamic Power Coordination keeps core voltages at their lowest possible state without impairing system performance, resulting in reduced heat generation and thus lower noise output.

Click to see the anatomy of VIIV

Because of it's significantly lower power consumption and heat profile, Core Duo enables a lot more flexibility in overall system design. In a chassis the size of a motherboard box, there simply isn't enough ventilation for traditional high-performance desktop processors. With Core Duo, though, you can have a system the same size as a set-top box or a Mac Mini--or a thin and light notebook. When it comes down to aesthetics in high-traffic living spaces, less PC is more, and Core Duo is the best chip on the market to deliver exactly that.

The Viiv platform only requires an Intel dual-core processor, not specifically the Core Duo. Many users will be quite content to enjoy Viiv technology on their desktop rather than from the couch. Alternatively, a significant number of users may not mind having a cube case, mini tower, or full-sized ATX desktop box in their living rooms, particularly if that case is concealed in a well-ventilated spot. With more cubic volume comes more ability for expansion and greater processing power, both in the CPU and GPU.

The Pentium D now comes in two varieties: the 800 series, based on a 90 nm process with 1MB of L2 cache in each core, and the 900 series, with a 65 nm process and 2MB of L2 in each core. Both chips operate on an 800 MHz front-side bus and present range in clock speed from 2.80 GHz (the 820 and 920) to 3.2 and 3.6 GHz (840 and 960). Note that the 800 series also lacks Intel Virtualization Technology, which enables one PC to operate as multiple "virtual" platforms, but that's another subject for another day.

The Pentium Processor Extreme Edition is much the same as the Pentium D, only the Extreme edition jumps up to a 1,066 MHz FSB and implements Hyper-Threading on each core, delivering four total threads. The three SKUs available today, the 90 nm 840 and 65 nm 955 and 965, run at 3.20, 3.46, and 3.73 GHz respectively, with the 900 series boasting double the L2 cache. Extreme chips attract high-end consumers who are able to pay for the ultimate desktop experience. In a Viiv context, there will be users who want to conduct several encoding, streaming, gaming, and/or Web applications concurrently. For this cream of the consumer crop, the Extreme is the best Viiv chip around.

Chipset

At first glance, you'll see that the 945GM, 945GT, 945P, 945G, 955X, and 975X chipsets all support Viiv. Ah, but watch the fine print. The critical ingredient is the ICH7-DH (Digital Home) southbridge. When Intel's Viiv qualification utility or some Viiv-based applications go out to perform a compatibility check, the circuitry and code specific to the DH chip is part of what they're looking for. Nearly all motherboards sold in 2005 or before will not have this southbridge.

How is the DH different from its other ICH7 brethren? Buried in the DH southbridge is the hardware component of Intel's Quick Resume Technology. This additional circuitry combined with Intel's Quick Resume driver enables instant on/off functionality. Even cooler, Quick Resume lets connected devices, such as media adapters, access hard drive content while the Viiv system is in standby or "instant off" modes. TV recordings can still take place in these modes, as well.

With only two exceptions, all of the new Viiv motherboards now rolling out are based on the 945 chipset, and there are no 955X-based boards currently on Intel's roadmap. Given that the 955X's benefit is chiefly in its memory handling, the chip's absence makes sense in a mainstream consumer setting. Clearly, channel configurations will lean toward small footprint configurations with low noise and thermals.

Network

Unlike the Centrino platform, wireless connectivity is optional for Viiv. Quite simply, with 802.11n only just ratified into a draft spec and standard-adhering products not expected until late 2006 or early 2007, there is no wireless technology currently common in the market able to sustain Viiv-class multimedia functionality. You might get one HD stream from 802.11a or 802.11g, but all of the "turbo", MIMO, and "pre-N" variants do not adhere to an industry standard. Some customers won't care about standards; some will. Either way, Viiv ignores wireless connectivity and focuses instead on Intel's client NICs.

The three Intel PRO Network Connection products are the PRO/1000 PM, PRO/100 VE, and PRO/100 VM. All three are chips designed for motherboard-level integration, avoiding the need for a slot-stealing add-in board. The PRO/100 VE is the basic Fast Ethernet (100 Mbps) design. The PRO/100 VM is also Fast Ethernet but adds some extra network management functionality. Finally, the PRO/1000 PM steps up into Gigabit Ethernet (1,000 Mbps) throughput. Intel specs a CAT5 cabling requirement for each of these, and we do have Gigabit connections running over CAT5 here at RAM. However, these are short-distance connections. In a structured wiring environment, where LAN lines can span dozens to hundreds of feet, we strongly recommend running Gigabit over CAT5e or CAT6.

...more

Page