Nehalem based Xeons on last day of March

Official launch on March 30th

Intel will officially launch the Nehalem generation of Xeons on the very last day of March. While it will show itself in Intel’s pricelist on March 28th, the official launch and availability is planned for the last day in Q1.

The new Xeon will also get a new logo, which is slightly different then the existing one, with a different colour scheme. We are not sure that many customers will be ready to swap their Penryn based servers for Nehalem based ones, mainly due to cost related issues, but we are quite sure that Nehalem based Xeons should end up much faster than Penryn 45nm based Xeons.

Intel's Nehalem said to bear the 'Core i7' marketing name

AMD may not like it but Intel's Nehalem processors are closing in fast and the first models will arrive in Q4 with the latest info pointing out to an early Q4 (October) retail release. The three desktop CPUs prepped by Intel, clocked between 2.66 and 3.2 GHz, are known as Bloomfield but as you might have guessed that won't be their box-worthy name. What will that be you ask? Well, according to the guys @ Expreview the marketing name of all Nehalem-generation CPUs will be (drum roll) - Core i7.

As reported, the Core i7 name will be unveiled on Monday, August 11 when the Core i7 Extreme processors will also be officially announced. The Core i7 Extremes are LGA 1366 quad-core CPUs with eight threads that boast 8 MB of shared L3 cache and have integrated triple-channel DDR3 memory controllers. These will be paired up with Intel X58 motherboards. source:tcmagazine

Intel 2.66 GHz Bloomfield said to cost under $300

The Nehalem architecture is still a few months away and it has already provided us with a few ups and downs, with the latter category including the apparent decision to release the more pocket-friendly LGA 1160 platforms only in Q3 2009. Lacking QPI and triple-channel DDR3 memory support, the more affordable Lynnfield and Havendale processors are thus a year away but, as the latest info suggests they might not be missed all that much as the upcoming Bloomfield CPUs will also come at reasonable prices.

Paired up with X58 motherboards, the quad-core, 8-threaded, LGA1366 Bloomfields will be released in Q4 and will come clocked at 2.66, 2.93 and 3.2 GHz. The 3.2 GHz model will be Extreme-branded and cost $999 while the 2.93 GHz CPU will be priced at $562 (1000-unit tray quantities). As for the 2.66 GHz processor, it will have a price tag of $284, lower than that of the 2.66 GHz Yorkfield aka Core 2 Quad Q9450. Hopefully Intel will bring even cheaper Bloomfield CPUs in 2009. Until then, save those (Euro) cents.

Intel and Nvidia At War

Sure, Nvidia's crashing into the mobile market Intel wants to dominate. And Intel is running into discrete graphics (not to mention ruling with integrated graphics). But you know, it's friendly right? Wrong. It's total war. Nvidia's continuing to hold out licensing SLI support for Intel's boards, notably its next-gen Tylersburg chipset for the Nehalem CPUs. And Intel hasn't yet licensed Nvidia to make an nForce chipset that'll support Nehalem, citing a "disagreement" over the terms. If they don't make nice, gamers will have to pick between having SLI or the latest and greatest Intel processors, meaning they get screwed either way. Man, where's AMD when you need them? [Maximum PC]