Intel gives Nehalem a headstart?

Sources at motherboard manufacturers report that Intel has advanced the introduction of the new Nehalem architecture to September, the original introduction being planned for the end of the year.

According to DigiTimes Intel has three Nehalem "Bloomfield" processors ready. These run at 2.66 GHz, 2.93GHz and 3.2GHz. The price being respectively 284, 562 and 999 dollar. The reason why the processors are introduced earlier has not been mentioned. It's likely that the design has been ready for quite a while. The introduction will be paired with the X58 chipset and the new LGA1366 socket.

Chipset communication is done through Quickpath, the replacement of the ancient FSB. Nehalem also has an integrated three-channel memorycontroller, which combined provide a bandwidth of 32GB/s (when using DDR3-1333). Only DDR3 memory is supported, it's expected that the prices of DDR3 memory will drop significantly. 

Mid-range Nehalem processors aren't expected until mid-2009. These will feature integrated graphics as well, like AMD is planning with its Fusion design. 

Tags: nehalem ddr3 fusion quickpath

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