Intel readies Quadro chips for November release

Our good friends in Santa Clara, California have been very busy as of late -- Intel's working on getting lasers into silicon and getting its Core 2 Duos into everything under the sun (but sometimes not). But Moore and Noyce's baby isn't stopping there, no sir: DigiTimes is reporting that Intel's first quad-core "Kentsfield" chip, the 2.66 GHz Core 2 Extreme QX6700, will be officially called the Quadro and should be available starting in mid-November. Meanwhile, Reg Hardware chimes in that while Intel is also ramping up its Merom-based Celeron M series for budget laptops, the more interesting news is that the first low-voltage Core 2 Duos will hit the streets in January 2007. According to the Reg, the next generation of low-voltage Centrino chips, the L7200 and the L7400 (code-named the "Santa Rosa"), will feature Core 2 Duos running at 1.33 GHz and 1.5 GHz, priced at $284 and $316, respectively. Speaking of low-voltage chips, we haven't decided if trying to overclock one would be an incredibly brilliant or an incredibly foolish idea -- but we'll find out soon enough.

Read - DigiTimes [Photo courtesy of Tom's Hardware]
Read - Reg Hardware

[Infinity X @ Sep 19th 2006 5:54PM]

Wow, it seems these days technology is advancing at record pace.

just last year was dual core and now quad core.


cant ait till 08 when i have my 16 core laser processc0r.

[AJ @ Sep 20th 2006 5:08PM]

16 Core at '08? I'm hoping for 32 cores to be in development in 08!

AKBlade13

[nVidiot @ Sep 19th 2006 5:57PM]

Pretty sweet.. my next developer machine will be running one of these.

[blackout @ Sep 19th 2006 5:57PM]

i want 32 cores


just for the hell


i'll be 20 by the time theyve done that though �_�

[Peter Beckman @ Sep 19th 2006 5:58PM]

Can't wait for the Quadro laptops. Strange name, lots of processing power. woot!

[Scott @ Sep 19th 2006 5:59PM]

Now how about those Quadro Macbooks? Q1 2008?

[Mambo @ Sep 19th 2006 6:04PM]

So maybe this is why Apple are keeping the MacBook Pros behind-- they want to kick in the Quads, first. Simple - Core 2 duo is for iMac and Macbook; Core 2 Quad is for MBP.

[Jon Olsen @ Sep 19th 2006 6:06PM]

Why does Intel keep adding cores instead of focusing on real 64-bit chips for the masses? I am not a tech expert, so if someone would like to explain why it seemed we were heading in this direction and then suddenly stopped, I'd appreciate it. For example, Apple was all about the 64-bit power of the PowerPC, but with the move to Intel, this all disappeared, right?

Thanks.

[Andir3.0 @ Sep 19th 2006 6:13PM]

@ Jon: I've not been paying close attention to the lineup, but I thought the Core were 64-bit processors? I'd think in today's day and age, 32-bit processors would get a cold shoulder. Then again, Windows is still the preferred platform of millions...

[@ Sep 19th 2006 6:30PM]

The core 2 duo is an x86_64 chip, same as the amd chips have been for awhile. It runs 64 bit and 32 bit code.

[jbhitter24 @ Sep 19th 2006 6:08PM]

wow, what is this, a new processor every three months?

i was going to make a new comp in the beginning of the summer, but always before i get around to buying it i hear about the new intels or amds. make it a suprise.

[Hello Moto @ Sep 19th 2006 6:10PM]

"cant ait till 08 when i have my 16 core laser processc0r."

Your going to need it with what everyoen is saying the new iTunes 7 needs (98% CPU usage, w00t). What I am hoping for is some good support in vista for sharing CPU useage over cores based on need rather hten thread odd/even liek it does currently.

[Mirsep @ Sep 19th 2006 6:20PM]

it nearly puts you off buying a new pc, as soon as you buy it it's obsolete, also it's pretty damn hard to know how to measure them nowadays! gone are the days of checking the GHZ and cache.

[Othello @ Sep 19th 2006 6:20PM]

Now how long until Nvidia cries foul over unoriginal naming?

[Marty @ Sep 19th 2006 6:23PM]

Man, Intel is really getting these processors out. Notebooks have just recently been getting the Core 2 Duos.

[Tommy G @ Sep 19th 2006 6:28PM]

Well, at least it's out before Vista, eh?

[Jeffrey Lam @ Sep 19th 2006 6:31PM]

wow I can't wait to get my hands on a quad core!

[Jake @ Sep 19th 2006 6:31PM]

Frick! As soon as I build a Core 2 machine!

Blasted 6 week product cycle!

[Ed B @ Sep 19th 2006 6:34PM]

The rumour is that Apple will include these in their next Powerbooks due for launch before the holiday season!

:)

[Vutha Chheng @ Sep 19th 2006 6:35PM]

Awwwwwwwsome!

[timmillwood @ Sep 19th 2006 6:47PM]

I remember a few years back� (late 90's - early 00's) almost as soon as they hit 1Ghz it was upto 2Ghz it has been steady until now when everything has gone 64-bit, multicore crazy.

I am waiting for a dual processer - 8 core mac pro (2x 4 cores)

[Robert @ Sep 19th 2006 6:55PM]

Sweet i cant wait!

[Ed Balaban @ Sep 19th 2006 7:01PM]

And i wonder what AMD is planning????? Anyone have a guesss???

[Jordy @ Sep 19th 2006 7:12PM]

yeah i would definitely say apple is holding out for these....maybe even be the first to use them...

[_man1c_ @ Sep 19th 2006 7:25PM]

kewl i want one. :D

[Brian @ Sep 19th 2006 7:44PM]

Stop comming out with new things so fast!

[Dave @ Sep 19th 2006 7:56PM]

Octo will be out in December, Sexdeco will be out on January 15th, and the DuoTrigito on January 25th.

[Mike10010100 @ Sep 19th 2006 8:07PM]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

As excited as I am with the coming of quad core processors, i'm equally sad that my new core 2 duo system is outdated. Can anyone console me by saying that the motherboard on my old comp will work with this new processor?

[Brennan @ Sep 19th 2006 8:10PM]

in case all of u r wondering about the plans of AMD, AMD is working on a new dual-core processor with 65nm from 90nm, due to come out Q4 2006. It will have a similar "blueprint" to the quad-core due to come out Q2 2007.

if u guys want to know more, check it out on wikipedia.org n type in AMD or quad-core.

[spil @ Sep 19th 2006 8:15PM]

sorry, but i just want to get a comment to work (like the new interface, it is just a little buggy)

[Brennan Campbell @ Sep 19th 2006 8:15PM]

actually its 45nm node, not 65, here's n article from wikipedia about it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_K8L

[Ace @ Sep 19th 2006 8:23PM]

seems cool.but let's see if it can really live up to the hype.

[John @ Sep 19th 2006 8:33PM]

Core 2 Duo are 64 bit. And K8L start off as 65nm, moving on down to 45nm.
Kentsfield should work in 965/975 boards. They'll sell for $1000 Q406, probably a $500-750 version coming in Q107.

[Mike10010100 @ Sep 19th 2006 9:04PM]

So does that mean that my old motherboard will work with this new processor? Can someone tell me what the steps are to replace such a thing as a processor? What does it need? A new power supply? WHAT????

[rob @ Sep 19th 2006 8:53PM]

What kind of performance improvements will we see over the Core II Duo?

[Gingeral @ Sep 19th 2006 8:57PM]

Is this the one that is coming out against 4*4 AMD?

[Gr1zz @ Sep 19th 2006 9:00PM]

Whens DX10 hardware coming to compliment this? ;-)

[Alex @ Sep 19th 2006 9:04PM]

Its just a matter of time for the Core 2 MacBooks/Pros.... Or maybe they'll skip to some ultra secret non-leaked intel processor!

[SHOTT3R @ Sep 19th 2006 9:06PM]

What I'd like to know is when improvements in cache, bus speed and memory will catch up. It doesn't make sense to have ever faster processors, and more cores, if the proc is always waiting due to bottlenecks.

Imagine a 2GHz Pentium M, but with a 2Ghz FSB, and RAM running at 2Ghz, and a video card with core memory clocked at 2Ghz. Imagine it with 2GB of ram and 2GB (yes this is the most wildly unrealistic) of L1 & L2 Cache.

*faints*

[Caleb @ Sep 19th 2006 9:11PM]

I'm testing out if my username is correct

[E @ Sep 19th 2006 9:32PM]

Guys relax. Your machines are not out dated.

99% of you don't need it anyway. People like myself (3D animation), who need processing power are the target for these chips.

Basically if you've been able to live without dual Xeons, you're fine.

[diulei @ Sep 19th 2006 11:40PM]

Nice. Intel is on a roll.!

C'mon AMD, we're all waiting!!!

[Nizam Rahman @ Sep 19th 2006 11:51PM]

I think my eyes glazed over reading that paragraph.

[David @ Sep 20th 2006 1:10AM]

But aren't Turions already faster? I remember my old Fujitsu running on Athlon XPM and it already had 1.5GHz. Also, my new Fujitsu with Turion only shows 753 MHz on hte Computer Properties... can someone tell me why?

[Joshua Simmons @ Sep 20th 2006 2:18AM]

Murphy's Law. Gotta love it. I'll be picking one of these babies up for myself, hopefully :).