14 DAY TRIAL // After it has just announced the upcoming launch of its Bearlake processor series, Intel hits the headlines with another statement in which it is said that the release of the quad-core desktop processor series, known up until now as ?Kentsfield," is scheduled for the Q4 2006, instead of the previous launch date ? Q1 2007, according to some mysterious sources, several Taiwan mainboard makers to be more precise, cited by DigiTimes.
The reschedule initiative regarding an earlier launch of the 65nm quad-core processors is aimed at diminishing the success that AMD's Socket-AM2 Athlon 64 FX-64 series might have. AMD?s counter-products will come with a core speed of 3GHz and 2x1MB L2 cache memory.
Furthermore, the suggested retail price for the future to come processors will be of about $999, in 1000-unit tray quantities. The sources also disclosed that the Socket-775 quad-core Kentsfield will hit the market as a new addition to the famous Core 2 Extreme CPU series, featuring a core speed of 2.66GHz, a built-in 2x4MB L2 cache and support for a 1066MHz front-side bus (FSB).
Also, some motherboard makers revealed yesterday that Intel is panning to retail a replacement for the old 965 series of chipsets which will support 1333MHz front-side bus (FSB) and both High-Defitition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) and High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) ? the Bearlake-G+. The Bearlake processors will be available on the shelves starting the next year?s second quarter, when Intel will roll out the first chipsets ? the Bearlake-P and the Bearlake-G which are said to feature an integrated graphics processor (IGP).