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Intel's 6-Core CPU Possibly Delayed

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6:41 PM - April 20, 2009 by Kevin Parrish

Looks as though Intel's "Gulftown" processor has seen a slight delay, now pushed back from its original Q4 2009 / Q1 2010 ship date.

Hardware site HKEPC is reporting that information provided by a "Taiwan motherboard entrepreneur"--Intel's Gulftown processor will arrive on the market sometime around Q2 2010. The processor was originally expected to appear in Q4 2009 / Q1 2010 but now seems to be pushed back (if the information is correct). The upcoming 32nm processor is actually the successor to the Bloomfield core that currently serves the Core i7 920, 940, and 965 CPUs, and when released, Gulftown will aim towards the high-end desktop and DP server markets.

As part of the follow-up to the Westmere-based Core i7 family, the Gulftown processor will come packed with six cores, Hyper-Threading technology activated allowing it the ability to process 12 threads at one time.  Gulftown will also be compatible with the LGA 1366 socket, the Intel X58 chipset, and feature a TDP of 130W. When it eventually arrives, Gulftown will support 2x QPI (Intel's QuickPath Interconnect), 3x DDR3 800-1066 and 12 MB of shared L3 cache.

Additionally, Gulftown will also feature a new set of instructions that supposedly gives over 3x the encryption and decryption rate of AES processes than previous CPUs. This means that Gulftown can perform hardware-accelerated encryption, providing not only faster execution, but protection against software targeted attacks. The processor will also reduce latency in virtualization transition as well thanks to more hardware-based virtualization extensions.

Source : Tom's Hardware US

Talkback
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kyeana 04/21/2009 1:08 AM
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-6+

Considering most programs today don't take advantage of 4 cores, im not to worried about the possible delay of the 6 core 12 thread cpu.

deltatux 04/21/2009 1:37 AM
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-5+

I think the number of cores on a chip is accelerating a tad too fast. I agree with kyeana, most programs have yet to fully utilize even 4 cores. I have a Phenom II 810, and only some software can take advantage of my four cores which are virtualization and video encoding.

I think for now until later next year, 4 cores should be more than enough for anyone who's not going to use their systems to only do professional work. Of course if you're doing Adobe Premiere or Sony Vegas on your systems, the more cores, the merrier.

warezme 04/21/2009 1:38 AM
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-7+

Thats what happens when you have no competition to spur you on.

unlicensedhitman 04/21/2009 1:38 AM
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dingumf 04/21/2009 1:44 AM
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-1+

Wow... and I was planning on saving for a i7.

Just gotta keep saving...

LockPick 04/21/2009 1:48 AM
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-2+

E7450

We already got Six-Core.

Greatwalrus 04/21/2009 1:50 AM
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-1+

UnlicensedHitman :
We can finally run Crysis on all maxed settings with AA maxed out!


You could do that on an i7 if you had the right video card...

But anyways, now I am in a predicament whether to wait for one of their 32nm chips or go for an i7... my gut is saying i7. OR if whatever AMD has to offer is more fitting, then go for it :)

Anonymous 04/21/2009 1:55 AM
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It's nice to see AMD catching up, they look to be on track with their 6-core processor. I can make use of 6-cores, I wish they'd hurry up and release it.

loneeagle 04/21/2009 1:56 AM
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-0+

May be too much for a desktop but more convenient for a server. I run multiple processes and really need a lot of core. The server that I use has dual quad (no HT) and would like one of these.

Other that use virtualization or whatever on a server will be happy. Overkill for a desktop.

LockPick 04/21/2009 1:56 AM
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--3+

Actually we have 3 models of 6-Core

cruiseoveride 04/21/2009 2:11 AM
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IronRyan21 04/21/2009 2:41 AM
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-4+

The reason why Intel decided to delay gulftown, is because it will take me a long time to save up enough money to build a system around that beast.

rags_20 04/21/2009 2:57 AM
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yoda8232 04/21/2009 3:17 AM
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--3+

And what program needs this?

scryer_360 04/21/2009 3:38 AM
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-2+

AMD, Intel just dropped blood in the water! Release the 32/28nm bits as soon as possible!

Fail Complex 04/21/2009 3:46 AM
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--3+

All Software needs to be dictated and forced to do OpenCL regardless of choice , and should be used on every program. And older programs must be patch to embedded open cl, like Painter, Photoshop, Flash, Illustrator, chat messaging, and most the most valuable, notepad, etc. To defeat the argument we don't need more cores. Being conservative on technology is always bad business, and bad for the future. Throw out the pigs out the market. What's so special reinventing the wheel again over and over? Or it's like saying we only need rockets to launch at our enemies, not for sending people to the moon.

But seriously, I still believe they might be holding out the material that intel discover? The III-V material, P-channel and N-channel transistors, maybe? Or I think it's something else, making sure that it's fully compatible with the 1366 issue? And they discover a kink in the 6-core 1336 and scrambling to fix it, after they just released a few samples out not to long ago?

Anonymous 04/21/2009 3:55 AM
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-2+

Interesting that Intel decided to add some new instructions for AES. Could it have been because Via's processor trounced Intel at the encryption benches? :3

Pei-chen 04/21/2009 4:00 AM
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-0+

There is no "motherboard entrepreneur" left in Taiwan. There are only four big one that have access to ES CPUs.

QEFX 04/21/2009 4:57 AM
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Area51 04/21/2009 5:43 AM
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-5+

I would think that they would stay with I7 as long as they can. there is no reason to release the new CPU's until they absolutly have to. Intel will probobly hold the 32nm part and optimize as much as they can until there is a possible competition from AMD. as we are all aware there is nothing from AMD that can compete with i7 as of now. So why downgrade your own cpu for no reason?. If I had to guess I would say they would even push it further. after all can anyone use moe than the existing 8 thread in the i7 CPU's right now? I don't think so.

eddieroolz 04/21/2009 6:14 AM
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BrendanS 04/21/2009 6:19 AM
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-1+

Seems reasonable at this point considering the market...

MrCommunistGen 04/21/2009 6:39 AM
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I'm debating if I should wait for this or not for my video encoding upgrade... 4 Core i7 is a beast, but 6 cores would let me encode with 4 and still let me play games and/or multitask well.

-mcg

MoUsE-WiZ 04/21/2009 6:42 AM
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--1+

Aw... that sucks =(

Silver lining though... maybe I can trick myself into thinking that I should build an i7 box now instead of waiting till winter...

danimal_the_animal 04/21/2009 6:47 AM
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-1+

WOW my ripbot264 program could SURE USE THIS!

my q6600 @ 3.0ghz just takes to long to encode 1080p video (and all 4 cores are buried at 100%).....i need more POWER!

yang 04/21/2009 8:16 AM
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what really caught my attention is that they fit on the lga1366 socket, bravo to intel for not being asses and releasing a totally new socket type for the people who don't want to shell out for a new set of motherboards

Tindytim 04/21/2009 8:42 AM
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-0+

yoda8232 :
And what program needs this?


I wouldn't mind having a 6-core monster for renders. Raytracing and animation don't usually mix, but they might with that beast powering my rig.

zedx 04/21/2009 9:21 AM
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-0+

Umm when did they say the hexa core 32nm would come in q4? Didn't they already say dual cores 32nm in q4 and six core processors in H1 2010? And H1 2010 = q2 to q4 2010 usually...

There are plenty of things that will be using this... Mainly help for more multitasking... A lot of apps like video rendering, encoding, 3d rendering, image manipulation, physics etc are a lot data parallel and can do much better in GPU's. If they don't rewrite in opencl(which they should) for such things, we can at least expect apps that run very fast with larrabee. So really a GPU matters more for many things in the future...

Anonymous 04/21/2009 11:10 AM
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What's the bloody point? Pointless until the majority of apps (not to mention the OS) are taking advantage of multi core systems.

stairmand 04/21/2009 11:27 AM
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-0+

Quote :Gulftown will also be compatible with the LGA 1366 socket, the Intel X58 chipset, and feature a TDP of 130W


Good move, I can upgrade my i7 when the 6 cores come out and keep my existing motherboard (IF they give the bios an update). Keeps people on the intel train and makes the initial cost of the MB etc not SO bad.

apache_lives 04/21/2009 11:33 AM
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-2+

Why we all bitchin about 2 more cores (50% more cores, around that in performance gain) - MORE FRIGGIN PERFORMANCE! about time i say!

Who cares that the apps dont *currently* support multithreadig? - do you see us all with single cores still? HELL NO because things are slowly changing - for the better!

Hmmmm wonder if in the future Intel will pitch a 6 core against an 8 core AMD........ like AMD now with 3 cores vs 2 Intel's....


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