Intel releases its Conroes by night

Jul 11, 2006 13:48 GMT  ·  By

Again some undisclosed sources, several motherboard producers it appears, hit the market with booming information regarding this time the second processor leader ? AMD. Consequently, it seems that Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) will launch its already announced K8L processor series designed for the next-generation Socket AM3 mainboards in 2008, informs Digitimes.

The mysterious sources added that the manufacturer will produce its upcoming Socket AM2 dual-core processors, starting with Athlon 64 X2 series, including the 3800+, 4200+ and 4600+ models, by using a 65nm process. But the Athlon 64 X2 will not be the sole processor family to be manufactured using a nanometer technology, as also the dual-core Athlon 64FX and the single-core Sempron CPUs will benefit from the same treatment.

?Prior to the launch of the Socket-AM2 CPUs, AMD intends to begin terminating orders for its non-Socket-AM2 processors?Socket-939 dual-core Athlon FX/X2 (codenamed Toledo), Socket-939 single-core Athlon 64 in the 1MB L2 version (codenamed San Diego), Socket-939 single-core Athlon 64 in the 512KB L2 version and the entry-level Socket-754 Sempron (codenamed Palermo)?by the end of 2006,? the sources revealed to the Digitimes editors.

But as AMD is delaying the launch, Intel uses the night as a shelter for its brand new Conroe series which will be released in selected zones of the U.S. on July 13, and on July 14 in the others.

?Conroe are going to be great chips, no doubt there, but the ramp is not going to be fast enough to save margins. Let's hope Intel can ramp faster than they say, otherwise Q3 may be as ugly as the second quarter,? comments The Inquirer.

But the Conroe prices will not be ?soft? as a summer night, as they will burn the pockets of all Intel consumers. Consequently, Intel said that the customers will give $999 for the X6800, $530 for E6700, E6600 -$316, E6400 - $224, and $183 for the future E6300.