IF THE THEME OF this past Spring's Intel Developer Forum was multi-core processors, the theme of IDF Fall 2005 was performance per watt. Not only did Intel announce a new, common processor microarchitecture that promises higher performance and lower power consumption than the current Pentium 4 and its derivatives, but the CPU maker also outlined a broad range of initiatives for reducing power consumption while boosting performance. Those initiatives are taking form in its next wave of products, its 65nm fab process, and in a number of cutting-edge R&D projects. I sat in on the major keynotes and a handful of sessions whose contents resonated with the overarching theme of better performance per watt, and my report follows.