Intel Q6600, Xeon X3220 and X3210 to Receive New Stepping

Intel has informed its customers that the Core 2 Quad Q6600 desktop quad-core processor as well as the Xeon X3220 and X3210 server quad-core CPUs have been transitioned to a new stepping. According to a product change notification released on Friday, the three processors were transitioned from the B-3 to the G-0 processor stepping. All new stepping CPUs have 10W lower TDP - 95W instead of the original 105W. The new CPUs, which can be identified by the CPUID "06FB" (B-3 processors were labeled "06F7"), also increase the Tcase, a value that describes the maximum temperature a CPU can sustain, by 11 degrees Celsius. All three G-0 CPUs require BIOS updates. Samples of the processors are expected to be available on May 11. General availability of the units is scheduled for July 16.