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Forget Santa Rosa, how about a quad-core Penryn?
Honestly, we don't exactly know how to take the news that Intel's already looking beyond next month's Santa Rosa release to a reported quad-core Penryn mobile processor. On one hand, our eyes relish the opportunity to play the latest titles at the highest resolutions whilst bragging aimlessly to our online pals, but then again, we don't look forward to the presumed third-degree burns that could likely develop from tossing these in such tight quarters. Nevertheless, Intel managed to drop a few more details in regard to its mobile CPU plans, and noted that Santa Rosa's successor would likely be based on the 45-nanometer Penryn design and offer high-end gaming notebooks a ridiculous amount of power. Additionally, an Intel exec showcased the future chip's ability to be user-overclocked, suggesting that it would be "your responsibility to take care of cooling." Of course, if Intel could buddy up with IBM's miracle-working cooling solutions, the forthcoming chip could manage to breathe a bit easier, but we've got until "the first half of 2008" to see about all that.
More dirt on Intel's Penryn / Nehalem architecture
While you've been off dreaming of long-range WiFi, Intel's not forgotten about its Penryn / Nehalem architectures, and thanks to an uber-boring slideshow presentation, we now know more than ever about the forthcoming duo. As expected, there isn't much new on the oft detailed Penryn front, but the fresher Nehalem most certainly piqued our interest; while built on the same 45-nanometer technology as its predecessor, Nehalem is being hailed as "the most dramatic architecture shift since the introduction of the front-side bus in the Pentium Pro in 1996." Attempting to back up such bold claims came news that HyperThreading would be native to Nehalem, and it would "share data at the L1 and potentially, the L3 cache levels," allow eight-core CPUs to clock down to two / four, and boast scalability options to satisfy a wider market. Most intriguing, however, was the "optional high performance integrated graphics" that could reportedly be included on the same processor die, which could certainly prove interesting if crammed into, say, a UMPC. So if you're still not satisfied with the highlights, and don't get enough mundane PowerPoint action from your corporate employment, be sure to hit the read link when your friends aren't looking.
Intel reveals 45nm processor for UMPCs
The future of the UMPC is quite the group effort, with Microsoft spearheading the OS, hardware manufacturers experimenting with daring designs and lackluster sales, and of course chip types like Intel trying to get every last ounce of performance per watt out of their silicon. To that end, Intel has just announced its sixth 45nm chip, which is apparently "extremely low-power," and aimed squarely at those teensy UMPC batteries. Ars Technica conjectures the chip is the long-rumored "Perryville" processor, a single-core version of Penryn with 2MB of L2 cache, but right now we don't even know if the new chip is single or dual-core, just that it should be appearing in "UltraMobile" devices in the "latter part of the year."
Intel fleshes out a few more Penryn deets
Just to keep us all guessing, Intel has announced that it will be "launching" 45nm chips across all of its main processor categories in Q1 2008. This would seem to run counter to prior roadmap plans that call for Penryn to start shipping near the end of 2007, but apparently those plans are still on, Intel just won't be busting out the ticker-tape until 2008. Alongside this confusion, Intel has also fleshed out info 'bout its first two Penryn-based products, the quad-core Yorkfield and dual-core Wolfdale desktop processors. Wolfdale packs a 1333MHz front-side bus, with up to 6MB L2 cache, while Yorkfield is essentially a pair of Wolfdales glued together, though the front-side bus is reduced to 1066MHz. The chips also mark the return of Hyper-Threading of some sort, but according to Intel: "The official company policy is that our engineers have left the door open for Hyper-Threading, but we cannot confirm or deny any future plans for the technology," so it sounds like we won't know exactly what Intel is planning to do with that dubious technology it killed off when building its Core and Core 2 products until we get a bit closer to launch time.
Intel sez Penryn's done, lookout for 45nm Wolfdale / Yorkfield
If you're desperate for some positive Intel news after hearing those less-than-inspiring margin forecasts earlier today, the chipmaker is once again keeping itself on track in regard to pumping out its forthcoming 45-nanometer processors. While we were briefed on the dual-core Wolfdale and quad-core Yorkfield just a few weeks back, Intel is now claiming that its Penryn-based chips are "complete" and will play nice with Windows Vista, Mac OS X, and Linux operating systems when they hit the shelves. Both chips are (still) slated to hit production during the second half of this year, with manufacturing to hit full stride during 2008. Penryn is supposed to "extend the Core 2 architecture" by playing host to the next set of Intel's Streaming SIMD Extensions (SSE), and will also lend a hand in the future development of Montevina, and just in case you're the (way) forward-looking type, you can expect Penryn's successor -- dubbed Nehalem -- to roll out in late '08.
Intel's Penryn Core 2 Quad processor "on schedule"
With the rampant delays swarming nearly every aspect of consumer electronics, it's understandable to approach "release dates" with a certain level of skepticism, but Intel's Mark Bohr has stated that the company is already "processing the first samples of the Penryn design," which is good news for Intel fans everywhere. The 45nm, quad-core successor to its Core 2 Extreme QX6700 was previously scheduled to be released "sometime during Q3 2007," and just as Intel nailed their November target on its latest Kentsfield chip, it just might be safe to put a little stock in this date as well. Dubbed the Core 2 Quad, this next generation processor will seek to increase power, consume less energy, and primarily outgun AMD by releasing its 45nm CPUs only months after AMD launches its 65nm Barcelona. Additionally, Penryn could play a role in the part of Montevina, which according to Intel's roadmap, would be the successor to Centrino Pro. Nevertheless, Intel's done a fair job of keeping its promises as of late, so we're banking on them keeping this one as well, which means the first batch of Yorkfield-derived wafers should hit motherboards "in the second half of next year."[Via RegHardware]