14 DAY TRIAL // We’ve been covering Intel's upcoming Atom processor for quite some time now. The processor, which was announced earlier this year, is expected to make its way in some of the upcoming netbooks, providing them with more computing power, compared with the current Atom CPU. Unfortunately, up until now, this small-sized Atom 330 processor has proved itself to be as elusive as elusive can be. However, this is not the case any longer, as it appears that the Atom 330 has finally been pictured, which goes to prove that the small CPU isn't very far from its official release date.
As we informed you last week, the dual-core Atom 330 processor is expected to arrive in Q3 this year, while rumors on the Internet claim that we are bound to see the CPU even earlier than anticipated, namely, later this month. All we currently know about the new CPU is that it's basically the same as its single-core counterpart, the only difference being that it will be equipped with two cores, 1MB of cache and a power draw of 8W. Aside from that, it will still be manufactured on a 45nm process technology, and have a FSB of 533MHz.
As we approach the official release date, it was somewhat inevitable that pictures of the new dual-core CPU surfaced on the Internet. In this case, the Chinese engadget was the first to post the photos of the upcoming product. No one can tell for sure whether the uploaded spy-shot does in fact reveal the new Intel Atom processor that the Santa Clara-based chip maker is set to release in the near future. But it does make room for suppositions that Intel has already finished work on the new Atom 330, and that it's now planning to announce the new processor.
As mentioned above, the new dual-core Atom will be targeted at those small-sized portable and desktop computer systems we now call netbooks and nettops. This means that we will soon have a new bunch of netbooks ready to take on an already crowded market.