These little netbooks that we hear about day in and day out are about to get a little zippier, thanks to Intel’s dual-core Atom chip – the 330 – shipping out to vendors. The September launch seems to coincide with what we’d heard earlier, so that’s good. The 45-nanometer Atom 330 chip will feature the same 1.6GHz bus speed as the single core model, will have 1MB of level 2 cache, and will support DDR2 667 memory. → Read More
Intel’s got a dual-core Atom chip on the way, likely in September to dovetail with the release of a new motherboard that’s compatible with the CPU. The processor is called the 330 and, although the clock speed hasn’t yet been revealed, it does have a 533MHz frontside bus. The motherboard is called the D945GCLF2 and is a mini-ITX 945GC-based system with Intel’s integrated 950 graphics. The board is due in September, so it’d stand to reason that we’d see the new dual-core Atom then too. [via Register Hardware] → Read More
About a month ago, we reported that Intel would begin production on a dual-core Atom chip in July. I said “Might as well just wait for the quad-core Atoms to come out in August, huh?” Nobody laughed at the joke and we all moved on. Now DigiTimes is reporting that production on these dual-core Atoms has been pushed back to September due to shortages of the single-core Atom chips. “Finally, Intel was originally planning to mass produce its dual-core Atom 330 processor in July, however, due to shortages of the single-core Atom 230, the company has postponed the launch to at least September this year, will release further planning in August, the sources said.” So that’s at least September. If you’d been holding out until July for a dual-core Atom device, it looks like you can run out and buy a single-core device today or wait patiently for the dual-core chips to roll off the lines in another few months. via Reg Hardware → Read More
DigiTimes is reporting that “Intel is planning to start the mass production of dual-core versions of its Atom processors in the second week of July, according to sources at PC makers.” The current Atom platform will be able to support the new chips via a simple BIOS upgrade, too, which is good news for manufacturers. Bad news for manufacturers, though, is that few people are going to buy single core Atom-equipped devices with the dual-core ones right around the corner; PC makers are concerned the short gap between the launch of single-core and dual-core models could dampen the introduction of single-core Atoms and well as impact sales of traditional entry-level PC CPU platforms meaning PC makers will need to rethink their product lineups for the later half of the year. Might as well just wait for the quad-core Atoms to come out in August, huh? → Read More
Remember the good old days of scouring Pricewatch.com to see who had the cheapest processors? You’d wait for Intel to release a new chip and watch the one it was replacing plummet to half its original cost, right? Ah, simpler times. Anyway, Intel’s been busy slashing prices and putting out new chips over the past couple of days, so let’s take a look at what’s what. → Read More
Hey, the first dual-core Celeron processors are coming. How in the hell do you like that? Two cores?? Now I’ve seen it all. They’ll be here on January 20th. I hope it’s not too cold out that day because I’d hate to be shivering at the ribbon cutting or the inauguration or the parade or whatever’s going to be happening in Boston when these new dual-core Celeron chips arrive. Two cores!! The first model out of the chute will be the seductive E1200. It’ll be running at 1.6GHz with an 800MHz front side bus and 512KB of L2 cache and priced at $53 (in thousand-unit orders). Intel to release Celeron E1000 on January 20 [DigiTimes] → Read More
AMD is sticking to its promise to ship 65nm processors before the end of 2006. The more energy-efficient chips, code-named Brisbane, will be available in limited quantities as dual-core Athlon 64 X2 5000+, 4800+, 4400+ and 4000+ versions. These will be joined by more powerful 90nm models: 5400+ (2.8GHz, 1 MB L2 cache), 5600+ (2.8GHz, 2 MB L2 cache) and 6000+ (3GHz, 2 MB L2 cache). The roadmap, which was presented to European resellers, confirms that AMD’s 65nm procs will perform at faster clock speeds, but remain at current power consumption levels. However, the AMD plans didn’t mention the launch of its 4×4 platform that lets system builders use two X2 processors on one motherboard to compete with Intel’s upcoming quad-core CPUs. As we discussed earlier, the launch of so many processors this year has led to some heavy pricing competition between Intel and AMD. We can only guess what kind of effect dumping even more chips on the market will have on the race for performance/pricing supremacy. For once, it looks like the consumer might come out on top. AMD to release first 65 nm processors in December [TG Daily] → Read More
