Intel to Release Six-Core Chips for Desktops in a Year

From X-bit Labs: Intel Corp. is projected to release its first six-core microprocessors for desktops in the second quarter of 2010, nearly two years after the company began shipments of six-core chips for high-end x86 servers.

Intel Gulftown processors – which will be drop-in compatible with LGA1366 infrastructure – will have six physical cores with Hyper-Threading technology enabled, thus, capable of processing up to twelve threads at the same time. According to a news-story by HKEPC web-site, which cites mainboard makers, the code-named Gulftown processors made using 32nm process technology, will be launched in Q2 2010, a year from now.

The Gulftown chip belongs to Westmere family of microprocessors that have some micro-architectural advantages over currently available Core i7 processors that belong to Nehalem family. Gulftown will significantly boost performance of the microprocessors while staying in the same thermal envelope of 130W.

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