Posted on Thursday, September 28 2006 @ 16:08 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
Intel's
second-generation quad-core processors, the 45nm Yorkfield series, will arrive in the third quarter of next year. The Yorkfields will replace the upcoming Core 2 Quad Kentsfield processors which will be released in November.
Since Kentsfield appears to have two separate L2 caches, shared separately by each pair of processors, bus bandwidth consequently increases, the makers said. In contrast, Yorkfield will have one L2 cache shared directly by each pair of chips, enabling more efficient quad-core operation, with less FSB bandwidth, the makers noted.
Intel's Yorkfield will be paired with the next-generation Bearlake chipset family, which will support a 1333MHz FSB and a PCI Express 2.0 interface, according to the makers. The first Yorkfield-based systems, which will utilize the Bearlake X chipset and DDR3-1333 memory, will target the high-end gaming market, said the makers.
