Intel's quad-core processor, 'Kentsfield', may come to market earlier than anticipated. Intel's official release window spans the whole of 2007, but when the details of the chip emerged late last year, it was said to be earmarked for a mid-2007 debut. Now, apparently, it's coming out in Q1 next year.

So, at least, claim Taiwanese motherboard-maker sources cited by DigiTimes. The motivation behind the decision to ship in the first quarter appears to be that it will allow the chip giant to compete more effectively with AMD's quadies, due in the same timeframe.

Intel announced Kentsfield at its Developer Forum earlier this month, but the name was first circulated in December 2005. At that time, the part was said to sport 4MB of cache, but then it was also said to be a dual-core chip, so that figure must be in doubt.

The latest report's sources also claim Intel's 'Averill' business PC platform will ship in September alongside 'Conroe', the company's first next-generation architecture-based desktop processor. It's roadmapped for a Q3 introduction, but it had been thought that the part would arrive sooner rather than later. Since it's a 64-bit chip, Intel may well have felt it prudent to hold back, the better to ship closer to the debut of the delayed Windows Vista. ®