Shuttle, a world-leading PC manufacturer focused on high-performance small form factor desktops, today announced the availability of the Shuttle H7 5800G Pro and H7 5800P Pro extreme performance PC models for purchase through Shuttle's USA online shop, starting today.

Ready for gamers and enthusiasts, the Shuttle H7 5800G Pro features a 3.06GHz Intel Core i7 950 quad-core processor (up to 3.33GHz Core i7 980X Extreme Edition), NVIDIA GeForce performance graphics (up to GeForce GTX 580 or Radeon HD 6970), 4GB DDR3 memory (up to 16GB), and 500GB hard drive (upgradeable to SSD), starting at $1,299.99 MSRP.

A team of overclockers Sampsa and Stummerwinter set a new world-record score for 3DMark Vantage (Performance preset). The duo set the record using a test-bed made of Intel Core i7 975 Extreme Edition, four ASUS ATI Radeon HD 5870 in CrossFireX mode, 6 GB of Corsair Dominator GTX2, and the upcoming ASUS Rampage III Extreme motherboard to seat it all.

The Core i7 975 XE processor sailed through to 5508.9 MHz (27 x 204 MHz @ 1.664V, HTT on), with the memory running at 2040 MHz DDR (7-8-7-21). The four ASUS Radeon HD 5870 cards were hand-picked from a batch of 18 pieces. Core/memory speeds of 1325 MHz / 1300 MHz, were set. Catalyst drivers version 9.12 were used for the record feat.

The team achieved a 3DMark Vantage score of P47002, with a GPU score of 53,911 points, and CPU score of 33,949. To cool the machine, F1 EE & Tek 9.0 liquid nitrogen evapourators were used for the GPUs and CPU. The duo credit their success (besides their skills), to Kinc and Christian from ASUS and Thomas from Intel.

Contrary to older reports, Intel will stick to the Core i7 brand identifier to sell its first consumer (client) six-core processor based on the Nehalem architecture, codenamed "Gulftown". The first offering of these socket LGA-1366 processors, is the Core i7 980X Extreme Edition. Its positioning and pricing shows that Intel will replace its current flagship desktop processor, the Core i7 975 Extreme Edition with it, and at the very same price-point of US $999 (in 1000 unit tray quantities).

A future price list also shows that the Core i7 980X Extreme Edition is slated for March 2010. A month ahead of its launch, Intel will introduce the Core i7 930, which succeeds the Core i7 920 at its price-point of $284. The Gulftown core will be manufactured on Intel's brand new 32 nm HKMG process, it features 6 processing cores with 12 threads (HyperThreading Technology), triple-channel DDR3 memory with its integrated memory controller, 6.4 GT/s QPI link to the Intel X58 Express chipset, 12 MB of L3 cache, compatibility to platforms that support the Core i7 9xx processors, and 130W TDP. The Core i7 980X Extreme Edition comes with a clock speed of 3.33 GHz, The Core i7 930 on the other hand, is a quad-core processor which runs at 2.80 GHz.

Intel issued a confidential roadmap for CPU product releases that looks as far as Q3 2010, leaked to sections of the Chinese media. The roadmap covers prominent Intel processors in their designated market segments drawn out by Intel, covering three grades of mainstream, one each of performance and extreme. The roadmap marks a definite transition of architectures from Intel's Core (penryn) to next-generation Nehalem, and the advent of Intel's first 32 nm based Westmere CPUs.

To begin with, there three models of Intel's first LGA-1156 processors scheduled for Q3 2009, the quad-core "Lynnfield" based Core i7 870 (2.93 GHz, HTT) in Performance, Core i7 860 (2.80 GHz, HTT) in MS3/upper-mainstream, and Core i5 750 (2.66 GHz, no HTT) in MS2/middle-mainstream. The HTT-enabled Core i7 800 processors were earlier believed to have been scheduled for Q1 2010, but are combined with the Core i5 750 for a grand platform launch. The Core i7 800 models will remain seated in their segments for the better part of 2010.

Intel's newest high-end processor, the Core i7 975 Extreme Edition is gearing up for launch later this year, on course of which, it already passed a milestone. Xtreme Systems Forums member PcCI2iminal scored one with overclocking a Core i7 975 XE D0 stepping chip past the 5 GHz mark, 5015 MHz to be precise using only air cooling for the processor, with an ambient temperature of 20 °C as claimed by the overclocker. Its cooling was care of a Thermalright Ultra Extreme 120. Its partners in crime were Biostar TPower X58 motherboard, and Corsair Dominator DDR3-1866 memory. At that speed, the setup made it through a CPU-Z validation. PcCI2iminal was further able to put the chip through SuperPi 1M at a speed of 4750 MHz, where its crunch time was measured 8.672 seconds. For more pictures and screenshots, head over to the thread at Xtreme Systems.

Intel is planning on a newer flagship desktop CPU to lead the Core i7 Extreme Edition pack: the Core i7 975 Extreme Edition (XE). The model surfaced at an XtremeSystems forum thread where overclockers FUGGER and Mikeguava took a shot at the 3DMark05 world record of 45,474 3DMarks, set by AMD at its presentation of the Phenom II X4 processor running at speeds of around 6.30 GHz. The overclockers used a bench consisting of the new Core i7 975 XE, Gigabyte GA-EX58 Extreme motherboard, two Radeon HD 4870 X2 accelerators in a CrossFireX setup, powered by a PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750W PSU. The CPU was cooled by a custom-made copper cooling pot. At a clock speed of 5,239 MHz and the graphics cards running at reference speeds, the bench cracked the world record to reach 47,026.

During the course of this feat however, we get to know more about the Core i7 975 XE. The new premium offering by Intel comes with a clock speed of 3.33 GHz. It achieves this frequency using a bus multiplier of 25X. Intel built this chip on the new D0 revision of the Bloomfield core, on which the company also plans to release fresh batches of the Core i7 920. Apart from the unlocked bus multiplier and the broader QuickPath Interconnect bandwidth of 6.4 GT/s, other features remain standard: 4 processing cores supporting 8 threads with HyperThreading enabled, 256 KB of L2 cache per core, 8 MB of shared L3 cache, and a triple-channel DDR3 memory interface.