Intel's six-core Xeon 7400 due Sept. 15

Intel's first processor with more than four cores will launch within less than two weeks, a leak from within the industry claims. The architecture previously codenamed Dunnington technology should start shipping on September 15th as the Xeon 7400 series and will carry its planned six cores, helping out with particuarly demanding computing tasks, especially virtualization of multiple operating systems.

The processor is also the first multi-core design from Intel to have its cores joined in a single die rather than to graft multiple cores together, potentially speeding up operations with multiple program threads by cutting back on the time spent moving data between cores.

This multi-thread awareness will also be helped by the 16MB of Level 2 cache, which serves as the most for any x86-based Intel chip and is shared between all the cores.

Intel hasn't slipped clock speeds for the Xeon 7400 series but will likely keep to its earlier patterns and target the six-core processor at high-end workstations and servers where a large number of parallel tasks is essential. The design is the last new Penryn-era processor and will be followed later in the fall by the Core i7 (formerly Nehalem) architecture for future Xeon chips.

Filed under: computers, industry
Other story tags: Intel, Core i7, Xeon, Nehalem, Dunnington