Intel (cont’d)

In Q1’07, Intel plans to move quad-core to more mainstream price segments with the debut of the Core 2 Quad Q6600, which will also be based on Intel’s Kentsfield core. It’s important to note that this chip was widely rumored to be named the Core 2 Quadro but these rumors were incorrect. At IDF last week Intel confirmed that its proper name is the Core 2 Quad.

It’s believed that the Core 2 Quad will run at 2.4GHz and contain 8MB of L2 cache, just like the Core 2 Extreme QX6700.

It will be interesting to see how well these quad-core CPUs overclock once they’re released. Obviously Intel’s Core 2 CPUs have proven to be marvelous overclockers, with most enthusiasts OC’ing their CPUs by 30% or more with little or no effort, and many overclocks eclipsing 60% or more. Intel was demonstrating some nicely overclocked quad-core systems at IDF last week, including the Falcon Northwest system that was used to demo Alan Wake, but we’ve seen Intel show off massively overclocked systems at IDF in the past so you can’t put much weight behind this.

Shipping around the same timeframe as the Core 2 Quad Q6600 is the CPU enthusiasts on a budget are already drooling about: the Core 2 Duo E4300. The E4300 is the first in a line of Core 2 CPUs that will ship supporting Intel’s older, slower, 800MHz FSB. Today’s current Core 2 CPUs all share the same 1,066MHz bus speed.

Besides the slower FSB, the E4300 will also lack support for Intel’s virtualization technology, but it will support 64-bit and execute disable bit, as well as Intel’s Enhanced Speedstep technology. The general consensus seems to be that the E4300 will be based on Intel’s Allendale core currently used on the E6300 and E6400, with the CPU sporting a 2MB L2 cache. The Core 2 Duo E4300 will be clocked at 1.8GHz.

Here we should also note that Intel plans to introduce the Pentium D 935. The Pentium D 935 will be based on Intel’s Presler core, supporting an 800MHz FSB with 4MB L2 cache (2x2MB), and run at 3.2GHz.

DigiTimes reports that the Core 2 Duo E4300 will launch in January priced at $163, while the Pentium D 935 will come in at $133.

In Q2’07, Intel plans to ramp up the transition from Pentium to Core 2 significantly with the introduction of the single-core variant of today’s Core 2 processors, codenamed “Conroe-L”.

Conroe-L

When it debuts, Conroe-L will essentially replace the Pentium 4 from Intel’s low-end lineup. Besides being single-core, Conroe-L will sport a 1MB L2 cache, making it cheaper for Intel to produce. Like the E4300, Conroe-L won’t support virtualization, but it will support 64-bit, execute disable bit, and Enhanced Speedstep technology. Some variants of Conroe-L will also sit on an 800MHz FSB like the E4300.

It’s from here that the story on Conroe-L begins to differ. While it was previously expected that Conroe-L would be launched under the Core 2 Solo brand name, a few weeks ago DigiTimes sources told them that the CPU would be known as the Pentium E1000 line. DigiTimes sources are the motherboard manufacturers that will be making boards for these CPUs, so they tend to be reliable, although considering that we’re still a few months out from launch it’s conceivable that these plans could change.

Fortunately there seems to be a consensus on clock speeds, it’s expected that Conroe-L CPUs will be clocked at 1.8GHz, 1.6GHz, and 1.4GHz, with an even lower-end Conroe-L variant, the Celeron 400 in the table on the previous page, set to be introduced in Q3’07 with a 533MHz FSB and an as yet unknown clock speed. The CPU will also ship with a smaller 512KB L2 cache.

Yorkfield

The Yorkfield listing in our table also comes courtesy of DigiTimes, who was the first to report that Intel plans on introducing this part in Q3’07.

Yorkfield is Intel’s 2nd-generation quad-core CPU, and according to DigiTimes sources should have one L2 cache shared by both dual core processors, enhancing efficiency. The interesting part about this is that prior to the DigiTimes article, Yorkfield was believed to be Intel’s first 8-core CPU, and was believed to be debuting in 2008. Again, considering that DigiTimes sources are the motherboard makers that will be making boards for Intel’s upcoming CPUs, we’re going to go with them on this one. Everyone agrees that Yorkfield will be built on Intel’s upcoming 45-nm manufacturing process.

Running alongside Yorkfield is Intel’s next-generation Bearlake family of chipsets. Four Bearlake chipsets are expected in 2008, the high-end Bearlake-X chipset, which is the successor to today’s 975X, the Bearlake-G and Bearlake-G+ which will feature Intel’s next-gen DX10 integrated graphics, and finally Bearlake-P, which is intended for the mainstream market and will replace P965. Features shared among all Bearlake chipsets includes 1333MHz FSB support, with the high-end Bearlake-X supporting DDR3-1333, PCI Express 2.0, and dual x16 graphics slots.