Tuesday, 12 August 2008

Intel Names Nehalem Chips As Core i7

Intel has announced that the Nehalem desktop processors family, successor to the Core 2 Duo CPU series, will carry the Core i7 moniker. The microprocessors are based on a design the company has code-named Nehalem and are expected to be in production the last three months of this year. Intel says the new design will deliver both high performance and energy efficiency.

Packing between two and eight processors cores, the first Nehalem chips will include QuickPath Interconnect (QPI) technology, which integrates a memory controller and provides a faster pipe for the CPU to communicate with system components like a graphics card and other chips. Each core will be able to execute two software threads simultaneously, so a desktop with four processor cores could run eight threads simultaneously for quicker application performance.

"The Core name is and will be our flagship PC processor brand going forward," said Sean Maloney, Intel Corporation executive vice president and general manager. He added that the processor maker is trying to simplify branding.

Further details about the new chips will likely be revealed at Intel Developer Forum (IDF), held in the third week of August. Intel is then expected to talk about its system-on-chip (SOC) products as well, which will integrate a CPU, graphics processor, video and a memory controller into a single chip.

The first Nehalem chips, to be called Core i7, will be for high-end desktops and go into production in the fourth quarter this year. The company will also release Nehalem chips for servers, though the company didn't talk about specific release dates.