AMD, Intel Plotting Six-Core CPU Releases

News
By Marcus Yam
published

Are you ready for more cores?

With both AMD and Intel already floating quad-core CPUs on the market, it's only natural for them to dial things up a bit bigger by adding 50 percent more cores.

According to a report from Digitimes, who sources its friends at Taiwanese motherboard companies, Intel will be rolling out its six-core desktop "Gulftown" processors at the end of March. The six-core Nehalem-based chip will supposedly be named the Core i7-980X and will be priced in the four-digit range.

In response, AMD will launch the six-core "Thuban" 45nm chips as Phenom II X6 1075T, 1055T and 1035T models sometime in May.

As always, take these reports with a grain of salt – but it's safe to say that we'll be seeing six-core CPUs sometime before the summer.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
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152 Comments Comment from the forums
  • fatkid35
    battle of the e-peen. who's is bigger?......facepalm.
    Reply
  • omnimodis78
    The questions should be, are software companies ready for dual-cores yet?
    Reply
  • fatkid35
    omni your right, software developers need to get their multicore sh*t together.
    Reply
  • JonathanDeane
    If they would just make a 120 core machine I can complete my George Foreman PC mod.... "It cooks your burgers AND yes it does play Crysis!"
    Reply
  • apache_lives
    fatkid35omni your right, software developers need to get their multicore sh*t together.
    Ever thought that maybe some people use multiple heavy apps at once using 2+ cores per app etc

    This is going to be the same argument as when dual-cores came out, then quad-cores etc -its getting old people.

    Theres nothing wrong with the extra power :)
    Reply
  • omnimodis78
    apache_livesEver thought that maybe some people use multiple heavy apps at once using 2+ cores per app etcThis is going to be the same argument as when dual-cores came out, then quad-cores etc -its getting old people.Theres nothing wrong with the extra powerYou're missing the point, I think. The argument actually is very much valid, and alive. Applications which are written well to take advantage of multiple cores run quite fast on a dual-core, and so on. But most apps are not written with this in mind, so you can throw them at 6 cores, or 8 cores but it won't utilize the power which it has at its disposal. That's the point. Yes, of course more cores are better, but are they better because you think they are, or because they really are. Hardware and software should compliment one another, it's not optimal when one hardware outruns software so far ahead that it's actually pointless to pay for the fast hardware.
    Reply
  • fatkid35
    apache i'm not saying more power isn't a good thing. just wish they could harness all that power. and you know most guys just wanna see who's benchmarks are higher, hell i'm one of those guys. i know the real professionals that rely on really good hardware to do "actual work" will use the hell out of them. me, i'm just a hater cause i know i'll never need or use that much power. no offence intended.
    Reply
  • Aleksa2009
    Q2 2010 BY 10th of May AMD Thurban X6 1075 2.8Ghz, 2.4HT, L2 2Mb, L3 6Mb, TDP 125 = Bios update for AMD2+, AMD3 motherboards,
    Q1 2010 AMD Deneb X4 975 3.6Ghz, L2 2Mb, L3 6Mb TDP 125 - 140 = AMD does not want to compete itself e.g X4 965 140 TDP - X4 965 125 TDP. Originally X6 1075 was a 140 TDP part and now is 125 TDP. The 125 TDP parts have much grater exposure and market share than 140 TDP parts. Expect AMD CPU'S Phenom 2 X2, X3 and X4 to reach 4 Ghz by the end of 2010 - Q1 2011.

    The X2 CPU's technically can already be produced at 4.0 Ghz TDP 140.
    e.g X2 555 3.2 GHZ 80 TDP, 565 3.4 GHZ 95 TDP, 575 3.6 GHZ 110 TDP,
    585 3.8 GHZ 125 TDP and 595 4.0 GHZ 140 TDP. The technical abilities of AMD Phenom 2 X3 and X4 allow it to be produced at 3.6Ghz 140 TDP.
    AMD will hold the fort with Denebs X2, X3, X4 and X6 untill Q1 2011 Bulldozer and Bobcat AM3r2 = AM3+
    AMD X2, X3 and X4 are the same Deneb core with disabled cores for X3 and X4 ;-D.
    Reply
  • falchard
    I bet AMD wins this round for a simple reason.

    AMD 6-core for $300.
    Intel 6-core for $1200.
    Reply
  • Aleksa2009
    Aleksa2009Q2 2010 BY 10th of May AMD Thurban X6 1075 2.8Ghz, 2.4HT, L2 2Mb, L3 6Mb, TDP 125 = Bios update for AMD2+, AMD3 motherboards,Q1 2010 AMD Deneb X4 975 3.6Ghz, L2 2Mb, L3 6Mb TDP 125 - 140 = AMD does not want to compete itself e.g X4 965 140 TDP - X4 965 125 TDP. Originally X6 1075 was a 140 TDP part and now is 125 TDP. The 125 TDP parts have much grater exposure and market share than 140 TDP parts. Expect AMD CPU'S Phenom 2 X2, X3 and X4 to reach 4 Ghz by the end of 2010 - Q1 2011. The X2 CPU's technically can already be produced at 4.0 Ghz TDP 140.e.g X2 555 3.2 GHZ 80 TDP, 565 3.4 GHZ 95 TDP, 575 3.6 GHZ 110 TDP,585 3.8 GHZ 125 TDP and 595 4.0 GHZ 140 TDP. The technical architecture of AMD Phenom 2 X3 and X4 allow it to be produced at 3.6Ghz 140 TDP. AMD will hold the fort with Denebs X2, X3, X4 and X6 untill Q1 2011 Bulldozer and Bobcat AM3r2 = AM3+. AMD X2, X3 and X4 are the same Deneb core with disabled cores for X2 and X4 ;-D.
    Reply