Intel to (Possibly) Release 6-Core Nehalem, Will AMD Follow W/ Istanbul for the Desk?

Maximum PC is reporting the possible end of year release of a six core version of its i7 chip, known as Nehalem. The chip, though probably only used in small numbers of machines, with a price located somewhere in the stratosphere, will undoubtedly find a home in some high-end i7 motherboards. The only changes needed for some would be a BIOS revision. While the systems will most likely be nothing more than benchmark battle stations, no doubt a hue and cry from the most vocal will bring about a similar response from the legions of AMD fans.

Shown already as a drop in for current Shanghai server motherboards, the Istanbul six core processor might bring forth a response from some of the higher end mainboard manufacturers. For those always thirsting for more AMD power, a server socket on a board with a couple of PCIE-16 slots just might kick start a series of reasonably priced workstations.

I’d buy one, how about you?

File this one under unconfirmed, but word on the web is that Intel plans to release a six-core Nehalem chip before the end of the year. Citing “sources close to Intel,” Bit-tech says existing X58 motherboard owners should be able to drop the new chip into their motherboard with only a BIOS update, giving current Core i7 owners a tantalizing upgrade path to look forward to.

Not much else is known about the supposed six-core Nehalem, however those same sources did say the new chip won’t fall into the Core i7 naming scheme. The name is still being worked out

Should this come to fruition, Intel would be the first to market with a six-core consumer desktop CPU. AMD earlier this month released a six-core part well ahead of schedule, but it’s a server chip and not a desktop part. Intel also has an existing six-core processor in Xeon form, also intended for servers.

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My doctor gave me six months to live, but when I couldn’t pay the bill he gave me six months more.- Walter Matthau

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