Quad cores to arrive in 1Q 2007, with Intel’s Kentsfield and AMD’s K8L
Intel has scheduled to launch its quad-core processor, codenamed “Kentsfield,†in the first quarter of 2007, according to sources at Taiwan motherboard makers. At about the same time, rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) will debut its K8L series, a quad-core upgrade of its K8 architecture, said the sources.
The two vendors’ competition in the quad-core arena is expected to kick off from the first quarter of next year, when Microsoft’s 64-bit Vista operating system (OS) should be available, the sources commented.
The launch of Intel’s 64-bit dual-core processor, the Conroe that will be included in its “Averill†platform for business desktops, will happen in September, following the June launch of AMD’s Socket AM2 CPU offering, the sources noted. Despite Intel’s late entry, its Conroe series will be manufactured on a 65nm process, as opposed to AMD’s 90nm manufacturing node.
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Quad Core Conroe Successor Q1’07
Kentsfield will still be a 65nm processor on the Intel Core platform, and work with existing 975X motherboards that already support Conroe. Due to the different voltage requirements on Conroe/Kentsfield, the first batch of 975X motherboards manufactured before January of 2006 need a different voltage regulation module (VRM) to support Core processors. However, engineers have confirmed to us the P965, Q965 and G965 motherboards -- slated for release within the next few months -- will support Kentsfield without any problems.
Kentsfield will feature two distinct dice on the same packaging; the chip will essentially be two Conroe cores stuck together, as pictured here.
Intel has scheduled to launch its quad-core processor, codenamed “Kentsfield,†in the first quarter of 2007, according to sources at Taiwan motherboard makers. At about the same time, rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) will debut its K8L series, a quad-core upgrade of its K8 architecture, said the sources.
The two vendors’ competition in the quad-core arena is expected to kick off from the first quarter of next year, when Microsoft’s 64-bit Vista operating system (OS) should be available, the sources commented.
The launch of Intel’s 64-bit dual-core processor, the Conroe that will be included in its “Averill†platform for business desktops, will happen in September, following the June launch of AMD’s Socket AM2 CPU offering, the sources noted. Despite Intel’s late entry, its Conroe series will be manufactured on a 65nm process, as opposed to AMD’s 90nm manufacturing node.
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Quad Core Conroe Successor Q1’07
Kentsfield will still be a 65nm processor on the Intel Core platform, and work with existing 975X motherboards that already support Conroe. Due to the different voltage requirements on Conroe/Kentsfield, the first batch of 975X motherboards manufactured before January of 2006 need a different voltage regulation module (VRM) to support Core processors. However, engineers have confirmed to us the P965, Q965 and G965 motherboards -- slated for release within the next few months -- will support Kentsfield without any problems.
Kentsfield will feature two distinct dice on the same packaging; the chip will essentially be two Conroe cores stuck together, as pictured here.
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