westmere gulftown
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Gulftown processor dubbed Core i7-980X, making its debut Q1 2010?
If you didn't make it to eBay in time to put down $1,200 or so for your very own pre-release Gulftown chip, cheer up! The countdown to the six core wonder continues apace, with more news each passing day. According to a purportedly leaked slide that popped up on China's PC Online, the 32nm chip will be known as the Core i7-980X and not the Core i9, as previously rumored. Part of the i7 "Extreme Edition" series (so extreme!). If everything goes as leaked, the 3.33GHz processor could be included in new Mac Pro systems come early 2010 -- which more or less jibes with rumors that the processor will be available sometime in March. See the new product name appear on the roadmap after the break.
Joseph L. Flatley12.15.2009
Leaked Intel Core i9 chip makes its way to eBay?
Would you pay $1,200 for an as-of-yet unreleased Intel Core i9 chip? Hard to say if the transaction actually occurred, but an auction recently ended from a Taiwanese eBay user who claims to be selling a six-core, 2.4GHz Xeon Westmere Gulftown processor. We can't vouch for the validity of the listing, but those are some pretty convincing pictures being tossed around -- ones that aren't blurred, which might give Intel an advantage in snooping out the leak. That's not all, though -- Nordic Hardware (via Tom's Hardware) also reports that the OCTeamDenmark forums had it listed for on sale for $850. The 32nm fella had some promising benchmarks released recently, although its release isn't slated until at best sometime early 2010. Sure, it's great to be first, but with early adopter prices like that, we don't mind waiting until it goes official. %Gallery-79549%
Ross Miller12.03.2009