Intel Corp., the largest maker of x86 microprocessors on the globe, is expected to release its new quad-core processor for desktops in days, at Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada. The release of chip will allow Intel Corp. to further increase its competitive advantage over arch-rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc.

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 chip is expected to run at 2.40GHz, come with 8MB L2 cache and use 1066MHz processor system bus. The new microprocessor is projected to cost $851, which is much higher than that of premium dual-core Intel Core 2 Duo 6700 chip, which costs $530, but is still lower compared to $999 the chipmaker charges for its “extreme” versions of its Core 2 microprocessors with two or four cores.

View: The full story
News source: Xbit Labs


There are 27 additional comments
Advertisement
(3 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #1 Posted by Kadafi on 28 Dec 2006 - 02:02
Is there actually any applications (that people might actually use) that would take advantage of four cores? AFAIK not many take advantage of the two we currently have.
Quote this comment #1.1 Posted by King Mustard on 28 Dec 2006 - 02:04
Alan Wake will.
Quote this comment #1.2 Posted by MrCobra on 28 Dec 2006 - 02:14
The OS will do it. When I moved to dual core XP became more responsive as did most other programs.
Quote this comment #1.3 Posted by King Mustard on 28 Dec 2006 - 02:18
Quote - MrCobra said @ #1.2
The OS will do it. When I moved to dual core XP became more responsive as did most other programs.

I guess I'll find that out for myself when I upgrade from an AMD Athlon 64 3200+ to an AMD Athlon X2 4600+ in a few weeks time
(1 reply) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #2 Posted by Justin03248 on 28 Dec 2006 - 02:18
Ya, that's cause a lot of Windows code is written with 2 threads... but never 4, or the 1 core CPU's would be as slow as a turtle.
Quote this comment #2.1 Posted by unkle stu on 30 Dec 2006 - 10:13
do you have any clue as to how a thread scheduler works?

try
ctrl + alt + del
view -> select columns
thread count
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #3 Posted by seethru on 28 Dec 2006 - 02:19
good for video processing I suppose. I know the beta versions of the XViD codec let you specify the number of threads to use. Thats the only place I can see this being useful.
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #4 Posted by lfLASHl on 28 Dec 2006 - 02:45
was thinking of getting a x2 3800+, but with the price of 4600+ think ill save a little bit longer and get one of those.
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #5 Posted by RAID 0 on 28 Dec 2006 - 02:50
YAY! Too expensive though... Maybe late into next year they'll be around 500 bucks. THEN... I buy!
(1 reply) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #6 Posted by statix1 on 28 Dec 2006 - 03:16
ok heres the thing. can i install a quad-core, even a dual core on my motherboard that currently has a Pentium 4 3.0Ghz HT? or do i have to have a motherboard that supports it?

i remember one of them, either AMD or Intel make them so they are on one chip rather than two seperate ones...either way can i get dual/quad core on my current mobo?

thanks...

-.statix
Quote this comment #6.1 Posted by +chconline on 28 Dec 2006 - 04:53
Unless you have P965, i975X, 946 something, NForce 680 or 590, then no.
(1 reply) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #7 Posted by xxdesmus on 28 Dec 2006 - 04:15
Quad core is still a bit overkill for 90% of users today, but it would be a good purchase to "future-proof" yourself for a few years.
Quote this comment #7.1 Posted by +Octol on 28 Dec 2006 - 06:16
Not too long ago, Intel pledged to release a processor with 80 cores within five years.

Now that's my idea of future-proofing!
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #8 Posted by cwalker2734 on 28 Dec 2006 - 05:08
8 MB of cache ?!??!?! 11101011110001011111111

fwop fwop fwop fwop
(1 reply) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #9 Posted by no-sweat on 28 Dec 2006 - 05:42
I still don't understand any of this processor crap. Anyone have any website that can explain it to me barney-style?
Quote this comment #9.1 Posted by +Octol on 28 Dec 2006 - 14:50
Well you see, these processors eat little snacks called bits and bytes, then they crap in your computer and leave all these little droppings. So every once in a while you should clean the processor crap out of your computer.
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #10 Posted by TheDarkKnight on 28 Dec 2006 - 05:47
Will it bring down the prices of Core2 duos? Even a tad bit will be good news for me as I'll be purchasing a new laptop next month.
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #11 Posted by david13lt on 28 Dec 2006 - 06:03
I think most of the people are going to stay with Core 2 Duo for one more year, and only from 2008 people will be starting to buy Core 2 Quad chips, or even maybe from the mid of 2008 when INTEL release it's 45nm CPUs.
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #12 Posted by Jebadiah on 28 Dec 2006 - 07:20
I just hope Core 2 Duo prices go down. Specifically T7200.
(2 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #13 Posted by Gobelet on 28 Dec 2006 - 09:33
But you won't be able to install XP on it... The licenses are designed to work with 1-2 CPU (it was written on the first COA Stickers). I don't know if Vista will offer support for it yet. Time will tell...

But I guess that for the moment you'd have to use a server OS.
Quote this comment #13.1 Posted by MrCobra on 28 Dec 2006 - 11:01
That license is for physical chips not cores.
Quote this comment #13.2 Posted by WinMacLin on 28 Dec 2006 - 20:23
Quote - Gobelet said @ #1
But you won't be able to install XP on it... The licenses are designed to work with 1-2 CPU (it was written on the first COA Stickers). I don't know if Vista will offer support for it yet. Time will tell...

But I guess that for the moment you'd have to use a server OS.


Use your brain, thats physical processors not processor cores.

I have the QX6700 (Quad Core processor) and I'm happily running Windows XP Pro.
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #14 Posted by lol911 on 28 Dec 2006 - 10:58
Yes you can install XP on it. I got a friend which runs both 32-bit and 64-bit winXP on the Quad Core, and it runs like a charm!
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #15 Posted by RedHook on 28 Dec 2006 - 17:23
I will wait until next christmas when Dell makes a "price mistake" on a quad machine

as someone pointed out this makes the dual cores cheaper...great news
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #16 Posted by Osprey on 29 Dec 2006 - 00:38
Don't forget that there's the potential advantage of running up to 4 CPU-intensive applications at once... or just 2 with a 3rd core handling OS functions, services and smaller programs in memory. The latter is probably where most people will use the extra cores the most, especially on systems that have a lot of background applications always running in memory.
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #17 Posted by vetSlimy on 31 Dec 2006 - 09:23
Whoa, 8mb L2 cache, well done Intel!
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #18 Posted by carmatic on 02 Jan 2007 - 05:52
anyone tried overclocking these yet?
[1]

Commenting has either been disabled on this article or you are not logged in. Click here to login or register, its free!

Note: Anonymous commenting is disabled in order to keep the quality of responses to a high standard.


Scroll to the Top
....
My Preferences
....
Communicating with server
Loading
Please Wait...
....
Loading
 X 
....