Intel ready to announce six-core chip

Intel is expected to announce the "Dunnington" processor later this month, the first six-core processor and last of its Penryn-class chips.

Intel on September 15 is expected to roll out the Intel Xeon 7400 series Dunnington processor targeted at the server market, the final member of the "Penryn" family of processors, according to sources at server vendors. Penryn will be followed by the Nehalem microarchitecture, due to appear initially as the Core i7 processor in the fourth quarter.

Server vendors announcing products will include Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard, and Dell, according to Intel senior vice presiden Pat Gelsinger, speaking at the Intel Developer Forum last month. Other server makers such as IBM and Unisys are also expected to have systems.

The Xeon 7400 boasts significantly better performance due to its large 16MB cache memory and half a dozen cores.

Intel "Dunnington" Xeon 7400 is the first 6-core processor

(Credit: Brooke Crothers)

Dunnington is also one of the first Intel chips to have a monolithic design (Nehalem will too). In other words, all six cores will be on one piece of silicon. To date, for any processor having more than two cores, Intel has put two separate pieces of silicon--referred to as die--inside of one chip package.

Intel has described the processor as follows: "Dunnington is the first IA (Intel Architecture) processor with six cores, is based on the 45nm high-k process technology, and has large shared caches."

[baisa]

So first we get announcements that a new product will be announced sometime. Then we get announcements of announcements.<br /><br />Does this work, like, I am Intel, and to get CNET et al. to bark on command, I just need to send out a press release whenever??? So if I want CNET to preannounce my announce, I send them a press release, and WOOF WOOF, CNET jumps and barks and follows command? Or is it even more pathetic than this???

[timber2005]

Hey hey hey! This happens a lot.<br />Before Google Chrome was to be announced, it was announced it was going to be announced.<br />Apple just announed this week that new iPod announcements would be next tuesday.<br /><br />Its called a "Press Release".

[Bruce.Axtens]

It's not just CNET. Remember the hoo-hah about Pakicetus? All the news services falling over each other in a mad rush to report this wonderful new fossil, touted as an ancestor of the whale. Then someone actually found a full skeleton -- and it turned out to be a rodent. No one thinks these days, they just parrot off childhood myths.

[catbutt5]

Considering the previous top of the line server xeon was the 3750 and it currently costs over $2,500, what's this chip going to cost? $3-4000 per chip? More?

[hi0silver]

how about we halt the growth in size and resources of the software, fix the bugs and get things running at a nice pace under these quad and sixtuplets before we move on any further? ok? thanks!

[fdunn3]

6 cores is great when someone finally designs the software to equally utilize them even in virtualization.<br />How about an API that allows different containers to use a seperate core for each? Then all they have to wory about then is 6 Cores trying to communicate over the same bus!<br /><br />This is more tech show than practicality.

[mrrogers07]

They do its called Unix/Linux and Mac, it will be great for the scientific and video/CGI community.

[Chuck Black]

So, can I plug this into my '08 Macpro?

[JimMcDish]

Amazing, they just keep getting faster and faster and faster dont they.<br /><br />Jiff<br />www.anonymize.kr.tc