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Mainstream Nehalems not due for 18 months
Author: Richard SwinburnePublished: 7th January 2008
The Nehalem core - you might not be seeing it for another 18 months though.
The single socket, quad core "Bloomfield" CPU will be launched in Q4 this year, which will introduce a new socket: LGA1366. It is suggested to have a 270mm² die size - about the same as current Kentsfield’s 65nm 286mm² die - but it’ll have nearly 150m more transistors at 731m.
Mainstream parts will roll out several months later - some of which will be on yet another different socket and have an integrated GPU. Bloomfield, however, will not have an IGP.
Penryn dual core CPUs, Wolfdale, will still be available at the budget end of the market meaning that there will be no less than three Intel sockets with a mixture of technologies and performance propagating the market at the same time - no doubt this will likely be exceptionally confusing for the layman consumer.
The likelihood is that Intel is playing the marketing game again - nailing AMD into the ground with the fastest possible system almost as a proof of concept to help its marketeers, then gauging the competitions reaction before rolling out the rest of the product line. If Fusion is early (and genetically engineered pigs end up flying) and fantastic then we might see Nehalem rolled out early to compete, but if it's another Phenom launch all over again we could be in for a boring start to next year.
There's also no word on the release date for the next enthusiast platform to replace Skulltrail either; Nehalem-EX or, Beckton, which is cited to feature 8 cores each, dual processor, triple channel DDR3 and over 24MB of cache per CPU.
Intel's Nehalem looks good, at least on paper, just like AMD's Fusion, but we hope they are comparative competitors this time around - the market (and AMD's bottom line) certainly needs it.
Excited about Nehalem or Fusion? Or do you think it'll just be an over-complicated mess? Let us know your thoughts, in the forums.
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Comments (9)
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_future_Intel_Core_2_microprocessors#.22Yorkfield.22_.2845_nm.29
Nehalem has integrated memory controller and mainstream processors have integrated video too (aka AMD Fusion like). Nehalem will come with "up to 8 core" but really only one processor will have that. Most will have quad and some dual core. All will be 45nm.
Bargain++?? Should make a great gaming chip good for 4+GHz.