Another good story from the Chinese website Coolaler.com has come to my attention. It brings along some good news for the Intel followers. Intel's highest-clocked 45nm Wolfdale processor, the yet unreleased Core 2 Duo E8600 appears to have some great overclocking potential. Coupled with a DFI LP UT P35 motherboard, 4GB of DDR2 memory, single Radeon HD 4870 card, and liquid nitrogen (LN) cooling the E8600 CPU was able to reach 6146.9MHz (614x10). That compared to its default speed of 3.33GHz (333x10), and we might have a new dual core overclocking winner. According to the information available on the Net, when released the E8600 will cost somewhere between $266 and $299.

Chinese website Coolaler.com has access to an engineering sample of the upcoming Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5200 processor. This processor is based on the 45nm Wolfdale core and features a total of 2 MB L2 cache. It has a default 200 MHz FSB and 12.5 x FSB multiplier and clock-speed of 2.50 GHz. Owing to this high multiplier and the Wolfdale design, this chip facilitates high overclocks, Coolaler.com has been able to take this chip to 4.00 GHz core with a FSB of 320 MHz and Vcore of 1.384 V. More than impressive for a budget processor.

German tech-journal Heise caught up with Intel's Pat Gelsinger for an article discussing the company's past and future as the silicon giant heads towards 40 years of service this 18th of July.

Among several topics, came up the most interesting one, visual computing and Intel's plans on it. 'Larrabee' strikes as a buzzword. It is the codename of Intel's upcoming graphics processor (GPU) architecture with which it plans to take on established players such as NVIDIA and AMD among others.

What's unique (so far) about Larrabee is that it's entirely made up of x86 processing cores. The Larrabee is likely to have 32 x86 processing cores. Here's a surprise: These processing cores are based on the design of Pentuim P54C, a 13+ year old x86 processor. This processor will be miniaturised to the 45nm fabrication process, they will be assisted by a 512-bit SIMD unit and these cores will support 64-bit address. Gelsinger says that 32 of these cores clocked at 2.00 GHz could belt out 2 TFLOPs of raw computational power. That's close to that of the upcoming AMD R700. Heise also reports that this GPU could have a TDP of as much as 300W (peak).With inputs from Heise

After moving all 45nm Xeon DP quad core processors from the C-O to the E-0 stepping, Intel announced today that three more 45nm processors will also be upgraded to E-0. The two desktop Core 2 Duo E8400 and E8500 plus the server Xeon E3110 CPUs will all be updated to the E-0 stepping next month. Changes that will come with the E-0 stepping include:

- CPUID will change from 0x10676 to 0x1067A
- Power Status Indicator (PSI) is supported
- PECI implementation change
- New instructions added - XSAVE/XRSTOR
- New ISA extension for save/restoring context of x87, SSE, and future processor state
- New feature added - ACNT2
- Improved mechanism for determining processor utilization. To be used for more efficient P-state determination.
- Package change to Halide free package

The E-0 processors will not require any BIOS updates. They'll be easily recognisable by the new sSpec numbers: SLB9J for E8400, SLB9K for E8500 and SLB9C for E3110.

After yesterday's price reductions, Intel is now releasing a new 45nm dual-core processor. Previously reported in some Intel price charts, Intel Core 2 Duo E8300 is a 1333MHz FSB CPU with 6MB of L2 cache, a 65W TDP and stock frequency of 2.83GHz. The CPU has already made its way into stores with a price of $163 in 1000-unit tray quantities.

Intel Corporation has further increased its energy-efficient performance lead today with the introduction of two low-voltage 45 nanometer (nm) processors for servers and workstations that run at 50 watts, or just 12.5 watts per core and frequencies as high as 2.50GHz. The Quad-Core Intel Xeon Processor L5400 Series takes advantage of Intel's unique 45nm manufacturing capabilities and reinvented transistor formula that combine to boost performance and reduce power consumption in data centers.

Following delays due to issues with the processor system bus on Intel's Yorkfield processors, it looks like the 45nm quad-core chips may finally go on sale sometime during the next few days. Industry sources are claiming that the processors have now gone into mass production, meaning the 45nm Core 2 Quad Q9300, Q9450 and Q9550 should be available from next week. The Q9550 and Q9450 will run at 2.83GHz and 2.66GHz respectively, with a 1333MHz bus and 12MB of L2 cache. The Q9300 will run at 2.5GHz with an L2 cache of 6MB. Intel's official prices for the Q9550, Q9450 and Q9300 are $530, $316 and $266 respectively. The 45nm manufacturing process should allow the chips to run cooler and potentially allow more headroom for overclocking.

AMD demonstrated at the CeBit electronics exhibition its first 45nm quad-core chips running multiple operating systems and a range of processing intensive applications. The processors were produced in Dresden, Germany, in AMD's Fab 36 300mm manufacturing facility, using an advanced 45nm process co-developed with IBM.

The updated Dell Inspiron and XPS notebooks, refreshed with the new Intel Core 2 Duo "Penryn" 45-nanometer processors, are now available for customers in Hong Kong. Dell's laptop series that feature "Penryn" CPUs are the Inspiron 1420, 1520, and 1720, as well as the XPS M1330 and XPS M1730. You can now equip these models with the 45nm Core 2 Duo T8100 (2.1GHz/800 FSB/3MB Cache), T8300 (2.4GHz/800 FSB/3MB Cache), T9300 (2.5GHz/800 FSB/6MB Cache), or T9500 (2.6GHz/800 FSB/6MB Cache) processors. Currently, it is unknown when the Penryn-powered Dell consumer notebooks will hit the U.S. market.

If you're an ASUS motherboard owner and you're wondering if it will support the latest Intel 1600MHz FSB 45nm processors, the chart below will answer your question. ASUS has unleashed the list of its motherboards that will officially support FSB1600.

The first 45nm 3.0GHz Core 2 Extreme QX9650 CPU is set to undergo a few updates as Intel is preparing a new stepping for later this quarter. Planned to be available from March 3rd on, the C1 stepping CPUs will feature new SSPEC and MM numbers and a new CPUID - 0x00010677. The rest of the specifications of the C1 stepping remain unchanged from C0, but motherboard makers will still have to release new BIOS versions in order to support it.

The new 45nm Wolfdale Core 2 Duo E8000 CPUs have a new cooler bundled with the BOX package. As you can see below, the cooler is similar than the one found in Intel's 65nm Conroes. This move probably helps Intel trim down the manufacturing costs, but mostly comes to show one big plus of the 45nm process and that's the lower heat output.

German hardware site PCGH had the opportunity to benchmark the upcoming Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 processor through various performance benchmarks. The 45nm Core 2 Quad Q9300 CPU is yet to be relased and features 2,5GHz (333x7.5) clock speed, 6MB L2 shared cache and only 1.2V default voltage. See all the tests here.

AMD chief executive officer Hector Ruiz today uncovered that the TLB (Translation Lookaside Buffer) bug in all Phenom and Barcelona quad-core processors has been fixed. According to Ruiz, the fixed B3 stepping CPUs are "running through the paces internally" at this time with engineering samples expected to be shipped to customers within "2 to 3 weeks". Volume production is scheduled to begin "later in the quarter" and first systems with the fixed processors should become available late in Q1, president Dirk Meyer said. Production volume of Barcelona and Phenom quad-core will be about double of the nearly 400,000 units that were manufactured during Q4, CFO Bob Rivet noted. As previously reported, the higher speed and triple-core Phenoms will be postponed for the end of the first and the beginning of the second quarter. Hector Ruiz also commented on the company's 45nm progress. Ruiz said that AMD's first 45 nm Opterons have been produced and the company is targeting for H2 2008 roll out.

Sager has refreshed their 17-inch desktop replacement model NP5792 with beefed up cooling system to handle the NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTX and the latest Intel 45nm processors. The NP5792 is a powerful machine with all the latest features such as Intel Wireless-N technology, fingerprint reader, and 1GB Intel Turbo Memory. It can be customized with Core 2 Duo models including Penryn T8100/T8300/T9300 /T9500, 4GB RAM, Blu-ray drive, 17" WUXGA (1920x1200) widescreen display, 200GB hard drive, NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTX with 512MB or GeForce 8700M GT (512MB), built-in 8ch Azalia Sound System, 8 cell Lithium-Ion battery, Bluetooth 2.0, Intel 802.11a/b/g/n wireless LAN, 2.0 mega pixel webcamera, built-in TV-Tuner with remote, and Windows Vista OS. The NP5792 starts at $1,679, but the high-end specs will charge you about $3624. Visit Sager NP5792 product page to get more facts.

Intel Corporation unveiled 16 products today, including the company's first 45nm processors for Intel Centrino Processor Technology based laptops. All of these new chips include the company's new transistor formula and 45nm manufacturing process that boost a PC's speed, reduces power requirements, saves on battery life, helps the environment and comes in smaller packages for more fashionable and compact computer designs. With the introduction of the new processors, Intel will be offering a total of 32 desktop, laptop and server processors based on these industry-leading innovations.

IBM has licensed its next-generation technology for manufacturing processors to Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., the largest Chinese chipmaker, the companies said Wednesday. The partnership spotlights the growing technical abilities in China, a country that's already a manufacturing powerhouse for lower-tech products. Terms of the IBM deal weren't disclosed. "We are excited about the SMIC-IBM licensing partnership, which will accelerate SMIC technology advancement in logic process technology and help us provide optimal solutions for our customers at our 300mm facilities," said Matthew Szymanski, vice president of corporate relations for Shanghai-based SMIC, in a statement. "China is a rapidly growing, strategic marketplace, and SMIC is the largest Chinese foundry," said Kevin Hutchings, IBM's vice president of intellectual property licensing.

Intel has recently adjusted its product strategy and will postpone three 45nm quad-core CPUs that were originally scheduled to launch in January next year. Intel has already notified its partners that it will push back the launch of the three CPUs to February or March next year, depending on AMD's schedule for triple-core and the upcoming Phenom CPUs. Launching the CPUs now will not benefit Intel much in its battle with AMD, while they could cause damage to Intel's 65nm quad-core CPUs, therefore the company has decided it is in no rush to release new products until AMD is able to present more of a threat. The three CPUs that Intel plans to delay are the Core 2 Quad Q9300, Q9450 and Q9550.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. plans to ramp production of 45-nm chips in the first half of 2008. In an interview Tuesday (Dec. 11) during the International Electron Device Meeting here, John Pellerin, AMD's director of logic technology development and project leader on a joint development effort with IBM Corp., said the company expects to start shipping the new processors in the second half of 2008. AMD's Fab 36 in Dresden, Germany will be the one accountable for the 45nm parts. AMD also expects to begin production of its 32-nm high-k chips sometime in 2010.

Intel will add one more 45nm desktop processor to its E8000 family in January 2008. In addition to the E8200, E8400 and E8500 processors of the E8000 family, Intel plans to launch the E8190. The CPU will have a frequency of 2.66GHz, L2 cache of 6MB, and FSB of 1333MHz. It will be priced at US$163 in 1000-unit quantities. Although E8190's specification is similar to that of the E8200, the CPU does not support virtualization or Trust Execution Technology, and will only focus on the OEM market where it will be slightly cheaper when purchased in large volumes. Intel is also planning to launch the Core 2 Duo E5000 family to replace the previous E4000 family in the entry-level market. The first product from the E5000 family will launch in April next year priced at US$133 in 1000-unit quantities. Specifications are still unknown.

[H]ard|OCP has prepared a complete pricing list of all new 45nm Intel processors announced today.

Built using an entirely new transistor formula that alleviates the wasteful electricity leaks that threaten the pace of future computer innovation, Intel Corporation today unveiled 16 server and high-end PC processors. In addition to increasing computer performance and saving energy use, these processors also eliminate eco-unfriendly lead and, in 2008, halogen materials.

Intel Corp. is opening a new $3 billion factory in Arizona, widening its lead over rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. in the industry's switch to a new chip-making technique. The new facility in Chandler, Arizona, will be Intel's first plant dedicated to churning out 45nm microprocessors. Intel's new plant will cover 1-million-square-foot area, and shelter more than 1,000 workers. Intel and AMD currently make their most advanced chips on 65-nanometer technology, and both companies are spending heavily to outfit their factories with the cutting-edge equipment and technologies needed to make 45-nanometer chips.

Dirk Meyer, AMD's chief technical officer, indicated during their Q3 conference call that Fab 36 is currently manufacturing 45nm processors. Meyer says AMD's first 45nm processor line-up will be server and desktop based and that they will be on track for production ramp in the first half of 2008. Basic yields are being attained right now at 45nm using existing materials.

VR-Zone unveiled today prices of the mobile 45nm Penryn CPUs part of the Santa Rosa platform. The new mobile X9000, T9500, T9300, T8300 and T8100 CPUs are set to hit the market in January 2008.