Although Intel was recently boasting that it would release the 45 nanometre CPUs in Q4 2007, the company now announces that it is forced to delay the new generation, rescheduling its release for Q1 2008. As you may already know, Penryn is he family name for Intel's first generation 45nm consumer CPUs, also referring specifically to the 45nm dual-core mobile CPUs. So, what does Intel plan to release for the desktop sector?

The beginning of the next year will bring two new 45 nanometre CPUs. The first one is a dual core codenamed Wolfdale, supporting a 1333 MHZ FSB. It includes up to 6MB of L2 cache memory and integrates two cores, each one capable of handling two threads. The CPU is compatible with features such as Intel VIIV, vPRO, Intel VT, Intel TXT, HT, Speedstep, Intel 64 bit architecture and "execute disable bit" function. Intel still sticks to the now relatively old socket 775, but plans to design new chipsets for the 45nm CPUs. These new chipsets are said to come largely from the Bearlake-family, previously announced at IDF.

As we can see, Intel plans to revamp the Multi-Threading technology. In this respect, Intel Public Relations Manager Dan Snyder comments: "The official company policy is that our engineers have left the door open for Hyper-Threading, but we cannot confirm or deny any future plans for the technology."

The second CPU comes in the form of a quad-core model. It is known as Yorkfield and it will work at a 1066MHz FSB. However, it supports an outstanding 12MB L2 cache memory and has four cores, resulting into a total of 8 threads. For this model, Intel still isn't talking about any clock speeds and it already officially confirmed that Yorkfield is nothing more than two Wolfdale dual cores stitched together. This is good news for AMD and its first native quad-core CPU.