In November

Oct 19, 2006 10:05 GMT  ·  By

Intel confirmed its first quad-core processors, codenamed Kentsfield (for desktop computers) and Clovertown (for servers), will be officially launched next month. Intel officials declined to comment on the specific launch date. The announcement was made at Intel Developer Forum (IDF) conference in Taipei, according to Digitimes. Some sources earlier revealed that both Kentsfield and Clovertown are expected to appear on the same day, and that day will be November 16.

Clovertown and Kentsfield CPUs will consist of two dual-core dies with 4 MB level-two (L2) cache per each die, and the L2 cache will be shared between all four cores, Intel said. The Clovertown family is planned to appear as the Xeon 5300 series, with core frequencies ranged from 1.6 Ghz to 2.33 Ghz and FSB frequencies from 1066 Mhz to 1333 Mhz, said Kirk Skaugen, Intel vice president of digital enterprise group and general manager of server platforms group. The 1066 Mhz FSB version will be ready for volume shipments at the launch date, and the 1333 Mhz FSB version has to be available in volumes within the following couple of weeks, he added.

Kentsfield will be released in November, as the 2.66 Mhz Core 2 Extreme QX6700 targeting the high-end market, to be followed by the first processor in Intel's new family, the Core 2 Quad, in January 2007, pointed out Kevin Watson, Intel marketing manager of the business client group. Aimed at the mainstream segment, the first Core 2 Quad CPU will operate at a core frequency of 2.8Ghz. Both the processors mentioned above will have a 1066Mhz FSB, Watson said.

A derivative from Kentsfield will be launched early next year within the Xeon 3000 product line to target single-processor servers and workstations, Skaugen noted. Also in the first quarter of 2007, the company will deliver a low-voltage version of Clovertown, which is characterized by a 50W TDP (thermal design power), while the TDP of normal Clovertown will be 80W.

Skaugen also mentioned two 45nm server-use processors, the quad-core Harpertown and the dual-core Wolfdale. Both are currently under development within the Penryn family of projects. Keeping socket compatibility with current Xeon 5100 series (Woodcrest) and upcoming Clovertown CPUs, those 45nm products will have some ISA (instruction set architecture) improvements, according to Skaugen. The improvements include a new set of instructions to boost performance for applications, such as databases, analytical processing and Web servers, he said.

Anandtech tested a Kentsfield in September and compared it with Core 2 Extreme X6800. The conclusion: With only a 266MHz difference in clock speed, the new Core 2 Extreme QX6700 isn't too difficult a choice to make. When Intel introduces a lower cost 2.40GHz Core 2 Quad version, things may get a little more complicated, but at the very high end we would rather have four slightly slower cores than two slightly faster cores. The prediction is that there will be some improvements in multitasking performance, especially if you have a decently fast I/O setup, and some performance boost in well threaded applications.

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