Intel adds 'Wolfdale', 'Yorkfield' to desktop roadmap

Intel's 45nm desktop dual-core processor will be codenamed 'Wolfdale' and appear in Q4, the latest roadmap slide to leak out of the chip giant has revealed. The part is based on 'Penryn', the 45nm incarnation of the Core 2 Duo architecture and the first platform to support SSE 4.

Alas, the slide, published by Chinese-language site HKEPC, simply says Wolfdale is a 45nm, dual-core part with a 65W TDP, as per the current generation of Core 2 Duos.

However, Reg Hardware readers with long memories may recall an early, December 2005 report on Intel's shift to 45nm which listed Wolfdale and Ridgefield, two 45nm desktop parts due early 2008 with 3MB and 6MB of L2 cache apiece.

Whatever happened to Ridgefield isn't known, but Wolfdale does appear to have finally made an appearance on product roadmaps - as, incidentally, has another codename from the early report, 'Yorkfield'. Then it was an eight-core CPU due 2008 - now it's a quad-core chip, it seems, which will push the Core 2 Quad family into the mainstream in early 2008. It's the 45nm successor to 'Kentsfield', Intel's current quad-core, 65nm design.

Again, there no specs are listed on the slide beyond a 95W TDP. Yorkfield's first mention, just over two years ago, claimed it would have 12MB of cache, but that seems unlikely now if it is indeed a quad-core chip. ®