Intel to cut desktop processor power consumption in half

Intel's latest roadmaps confirm the chip giant will aggressively cut power consumption of desktop and mobile systems with its upcoming processors next year.

Intel's dual-core Conroe is slated for the second half of 2006 and this processor will feature a power consumption of only 60W to 70W, or 30W to 35W per core.

The Conroe will be launched under the 900 sequence number that will be introduced with Presler, the 65nm version of the Pentium D 800 that will be launched in the first half of 2006.

Intel will initially launch 940, 950 and likely a 960 version of the Conroe with clock speeds that have not been specified yet. Two versions will be offered, one with 2MB and one with 4MB L2 cache. These processors will all use the LGA775 package of the Pentium D 800 and 900. They will offer support for Intel's Virtualization Technology but they will lack Hyper-Threading.

For the notebook side Intel is preparing the Napa platform which will include single and dual-core Yonah processors. Napa will arrive in the first half of January 2006 and Yonah will make a big debut in all notebook segments as well as entertainment PCs and Mac mini-like SFF PCs in combination with the Intel 945GT chipset.

However, by the second half of 2006 Yonah will see a major refresh in the form of the Merom processor which will add 64-bit functionality, 4MB L2 cache (Yonah features 2MB) and a 667MHz FSB.

Yonah's sequence number hasn't been defined yet but Intel's roadmap already lists the new Celeron M 410, 420 and 430 processors which will be based on the single-core Yonah processors with only 1MB L2 cache and a 533MHz FSB.

Source: Tom's Hardware