Intel six-core Core Extreme CPU spied
'Gulftown' demo'd
IDF Intel has demo'd its upcoming 'Gulftown' desktop processor - a future 32nm "Extreme Edition" part aimed at gamers and enthusiasts.
Gulftown contains six cores, though HyperThreading doubles that tally to twelve as far as the operating system is concerned. The chip is expected to contain 12MB of L3 cache. It'll sit on an LGA 1366 socket and connect to three channels of DDR 3 memory clocked at up to 1333MHz.
The chip itself was hidden away in a large black tower case - and would have been hidden by a hefty fan, in any case - so here's a snap of Windows Task Manager while the CPU was handling a 3D rendering operation:
The chip is expected to run at 2.4GHz - Intel was keeping mum on the demo machine's CPU frequency.
It will work with Intel's existing X58 chipset, which will be more than a year old once Gulftown appears early next year. ®
COMMENTS
the snag
6 cores? Wonderful..one snag, convincing the games developers to actually use them.
Price on a PC with this chip is going to be high, so games developers aren't going to custom write their applications unless there's a really big market and there won't be.
Shame. Nothing else requires 6 cores...unless you really want to do some climate change modelling and help the Met.Office out!
Amazing - whats next?
128 core cpus with 2 gigabit databus, 4 gigabit address bus?
good stuff - they're growing so fast, theres no point buyng pcs anymore. Just ren't em as they come.
Tux - cos linux feels like that. better every minute, but the pain is in the upgrade
