Intel will introduce a trio of desktop processors based on its next-gen 'Nehalem' architecture in Q4, the latest whispers from Asian motherboard-maker moles allege.

Inside Intel's Nehalem

The fourth quarter will see the introduction of a pair of mainstream desktop quad-core parts and a single Extreme chip, aimed at gamers.

All three chips are codenamed 'Bloomfield'. The Extreme part is set to clock at 3.2GHz and connect directly to 1333MHz DDR 3 memory. The other two Bloomfields will run at 2.93MHz and 2.66GHz, respectively, and connect to 1066MHz DDR 3.

Nehlam at Intel Developer Forum

All three chips can link to three channels of memory.

Nehalem chips will use Intel's new QuickPath Interconnect (QPI) bus. In the case of the Extreme CPU, the bus is tuned to deliver 6.4bn transactions per second (GT/s), while the mainstream desktop chips' QPI bus runs to 4.8GT/s, it's claimed.

All three CPUs clip into LGA1366 sockets. They contain 8MB of L3 cache shared across all four cores - each core has its own complement of L1 and L2 cache; 256KB of the latter - and support all the usual Intel extension technologies except TXT (Trusted eXecution Technology). They're all said to have a power and thermal envelope of 130W.