Intel's HyperThreading technology (HTT) was a nifty feature back in the Pentium 4 days, where the single-core processor could interact with the OS by providing two logical processors. The feature was known to enhance performance for applications that supported SMT. With the Core i7 and Atom series, HTT made a comeback, and software major Microsoft seems to be busy optimizing its newest OS, Windows 7, to make the make the most out of HTT, better than older versions of the OS could.

Speaking with InformationWeek, Microsoft's senior VP for Windows development Bill Veghte said "The work that we've done in Windows 7 in the scheduler and the core of the system to take full advantage of those [HyperThreading] capabilities, ultimately we think we can deliver a great and better experience for you." This could particularly come as good news for users with multi-threaded productivity applications, and newer 3D games. Intel's roadmaps show a rosy future for HTT, after entry-level Atom and enthusiast-level Core i7 featuring it, Intel has an entire lineup of CPUs under the Core i5 series that support HTT.

Remember EPoX? A reminiscent of that company now operates under the name SUPoX, and seems to have an entire range of PC motherboards including the Core i7 compatible AP58+ GTR. The company is gearing up to cater to the LGA-1156 socket processors with a new feature-rich motherboard based on the Intel P55 chipset called AP55+ GTR. The socket supports Core i5 series processors, along with support for Intel Flexible Display Interface (FDI), that relays display handled by embedded graphics controllers on Intel processors to their DVI, D-Sub, and HDMI outputs. The PCI-Express x16 slots (electrical configuration not known) support ATI CrossFireX, although NVIDIA SLI support for most LGA-1156 motherboards largely remains unknown. Along with support for as much as 16 GB of DDR3 memory, the motherboard provides connectivity in the form of gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth 2.1, and WiFi. The motherboard should release towards the end of Q3 2009.

Cooler Master last week presented its new Hyper TX3 cooler to the world. Measuring 90 x 51 x 139 mm, the Hyper TX3 will fit the yet to be released Intel Socket LGA 1156. The cooler uses three heatpipes and aluminum heatsink that supports up to 92 mm fans, although the standard cooler fits only one 92 mm fan which spins between 800 and 2800 rpm and has a minimum sound output of 17 dBA. Except LGA 1156, Hyper TX3 is also compatible with Intel's LGA 775, and AMD sockets 754/939/940/AM2/AM3. Expect the cooler to go on sale next month for $19.99.

To cope with the future demand for the up-and-coming Intel socket 1156, the Swiss low noise cooling solution provider ARCTIC COOLING today announced the launch of the new Alpine 11 series. This new CPU cooler series consists of three models - Alpine 11 Pro, Alpine 11 and Alpine 11 GT to target different purchasing groups.

The Intel Core i5 for socket 1156 is expected to be released in Q3. Multi-compatible with both the new sockets and 775, this new Alpine series is definitely a perfect choice for those who would like to go for a future-proof cooler.

With the industry inching closer to the launch of Intel's Core i5 series processors, motherboard vendors are busy readying waves of motherboards to go with the processors' launch. Earlier in March, a picture of Gigabyte's first P55 chipset motherboard, the GA-IBP surfaced. The pictured then revealed a motherboard based on the Ultra Durable 2 component package. At an overclocking event in Los Angeles, Gigabyte unveiled a second motherboard. This one, yet to be named, is up to date with the Ultra Durable 3 package, a seemingly powerful CPU VRM design, support for dual-channel DDR3 memory, dual-Gigabit Ethernet interfaces, an additional storage controller for four SATA ports over the six P55 offers, among standard features. The expansion slots on this board include three full-length PCI-Express slots, the first (blue) one being of full x16 bandwidth that shares 8 lanes with the first orange slot if populated, while the second orange slot is electrically x4, and probably connected to the P55 PCH. No other details have emerged about this board, though we're keeping track of things.

Intel's newest line of CPUs, the Core i5 series is generating quite some buzz ahead of its release, with each piece of detail emerging about the processors adding to the attention it's gathering. Expreview has learned that the Core i5 series processors will feature a slightly different system interface in comparison to their Core i7 cousins.

Coming to the QPI interface between the CPU and NB dice, Intel will raise the QPI base frequency at the expense of lowering the multiplier. For example, the Core i7 uses a 20+ multiplier with a base frequency of 133 MHz. This frequency could be scaled up to 166 MHz at 24x multiplier due to the theoretical speed-limit of QPI at 8.00 GT/s. With the Core i5, Intel will set lower QPI multiplier values (around 16X), while upping the base frequency to around 250 MHz.

Intel's next big thing in the making, the Core i5 series processors are nearing launch, which is reportedly delayed to October. The new processors replace the Core 2 Quad and Core 2 Duo series of processors, while leaving the high-end market for Core i7 to play with. These processors are based on the LGA 1156 socket, and are incompatible with Core i7 motherboards. Recent reports shed light on three models in the making to start the lineup, all of which are quad-core processors based on the Lynnfield core, built on the existing 45 nm process.

The common features of these processors include: four x86 processing cores with support for HyperThreading technology, an integrated dual-channel DDR3 memory controller specified to run DDR3-1066 and DDR3-1333 modules, 8 MB of L3 cache, and support for TurboBoost technology. The three models will come with core clock speeds of 2.66 GHz, 2.80 GHz, and 2.93 GHz. The three will be priced at US $196, $284, and $562 respectively. With the TurboBoost technology enabled, the clock speeds card be stepped up to 3.2, 3.46 and 3.6 GHz respectively, on the fly. Shortly after launching these processors, Intel may introduce the industry's first 32 nm processors. With these prices, the chips clearly intrude the price-domain of Core i7, though perhaps their lower platform costs could serve as deal-makers.

During the ongoing CeBIT event, ASUS has two of its newest motherboards on display. Their peculiarity lies in the fact that they are based on the Intel P55 chipset, and have the LGA-1156 CPU socket, supporting the upcoming Intel Core i5 series processors. ASUS chose the "P6T" prefix for naming its first generation of LGA-1366 motherboards based on the Intel X58 chipset. With LGA-1156 and Intel P55 chipset, the company plans to use the "P7U" prefix. The two motherboards on display are the P7U and P7U Pro.

Both motherboards have identical PCB layouts, except for the P7U having a few features toned-down. Both use a (3+1)+2 phase CPU power circuit. Both feature 4 DDR3 DIMM slots for dual-channel memory. Six SATA ports, a PCI-E x4 and a number of PCI-E x1 slots make for the rest of the mix. While the P7U Pro features two PCI-E 2.0 x16 slots (which arrange as x8, x8 when both are populated), the P7U features a single PCI-E 2.0 x16 slot. Both models feature ASUS-exclusive features such as Turbo-V that allows on-the-fly overclocking, ExpressGate that is a basic instant-on OS, and the EPU power management feature.

MSI will be one of the first motherboard manufacturers to design one based on Intel's upcoming P55 chipset, supporting Intel's upcoming Core i5 series processors, using the LGA-1156 socket design. Boy, is this one interesting board. Pictured by Hardware-Aktuell, the MSI G9P55-DC picture shows perhaps the first picture of a fully-assembled LGA-1156 socket, with its complete retention mechanism in place.

The CPU is fuelled by two independent 6-phase power circuits. Four DDR3 DIMM slots support dual-channel memory. Storage comes in the form of six SATA II ports routed to the P55 chip, with four (blue) SATA II ports and an IDE connector courtesy of an additional controller. The board features two PCI slots, a PCI-E x1 slot to hold a "hardware" sound card (part of the package), an open-ended PCI-E x4 slot and three PCI-E 2.0 x16 slots. In case you're wondering how the 16 PCI-E lanes the CPU ends up sparing for graphics ends up into a 3-Way SLI supportive solution, take a look at what would trick you for a southbridge. That, infact is the NVIDIA BR-03 chip. It can provide two PCI-E x16 links, or PCI-E x16, x8, x8 connections to the three slots, much like in the nForce 780a SLI solutions for the AMD platform. Let the puny chipset heatsinks not fool you either. This board is pre-production and its release-grade version will feature an MSI-made cooling solution that cools the chipset and the rather crowded VRM area. We will learn more about this board as CeBIT progresses.

Intel's mainstream market implementation of the Nehalem architecture will come in the form of monolithic quad-core a dual-core chips that have northbridge machinery integrated. Based on the Lynnfield (quad-core) and Arandale (dual-core) designs, Intel will place the processors on a common system design dubbed the "Ibex-Peak". The processors are likely to be branded as Core i5, Core i4 or even Core i3 depending on a lot of factors. Additionally, Intel plans enterprise variants of the said chips.

To seat these chips, Intel is designing new sockets: LGA-1155, LGA-1156 the two can be classified into the sockets for the desktop variants, with another LGA-1167 socket most likely to be exclusive for the Xeon variants. PCGH sourced some images from Intel's Design Development Tools (DDT) portal (found here), which tell that Intel names its new series of sockets as "socket H". Pictured below is a processor package viewed from its business-end. The other three you can see, are interposer-boards. These are devices that resemble the actual product packages that sit on the sockets. You can see a grid of leads over the "IHS" of the package. The leads serve to help in the technical development of products based on the package design, hence it is found on the DDT portal. It should give you an idea of what an LGA-1155, LGA-1156 and LGA-1167 processor should look like, sans the leads on the IHS. The images below in the same order. Finally, pictured much earlier, is the Ibex-Peak platform motherboard that demonstrates the design.

Leading CPU makers Intel and AMD have adopted memory standards in fairly quick succession in the past. This however, doesn't seem to be the case with DDR3. AMD is yet to release a CPU that supports DDR3 memory, and is two years behind Intel with its DDR3 implementation plans. Intel on the other hand has managed 100% DDR3 dependency with only its premium Core i7 platform, with DDR3 not completely replacing DDR2 in any of its mainstream or value lineups.

Market factors, namely the DRAM manufacturing industry, are increasingly posing difficulties to CPU makers to bring DDR3 memory at a consumer-friendly price point. With manufacturing costs refusing to come down and the Core i7 not able generate the expected demand that justifies selling triple channel kits at sub-$100 price-points, CPU makers are rethinking their large-scale DDR3 standard transition plans for their entire lineups. Intel on its part is contemplating on postponing its 5-series mainstream platform for the Intel Core i5 series processors. AMD on the other hand, is still struggling with technical difficulties in achieving stability and compatibility with DDR3 memory on its DDR3-supportive memory controllers the upcoming AM3-socket CPUs come with. So the company is also unlikely to transition to DDR3 until it is able to come out with a workable BIOS, sources add. It could be as long as 2010 by when a 100% industry-wide implementation of DDR3 can take place.

i5? i5! Core i5 would be the brand name Intel's mainstream desktop derivatives of the Nehalem architecture based on the Lynnfield core would carry. It is similar to its big brother, the Core i7 for the most of the part except for a few differences:

• A current generation Direct Media Interface (DMI) Interconnect as chipset interface
• A 128-bit wide DDR3 memory interface (Dual Channel) instead of triple-channel
• Some more machinery from the northbridge migrated to the CPU, such as the PCI-Express root complex
• The newer LGA 1160 socket

Lynnfield continues to have four x86 processing cores with HyperThreading enabled, with 256 KB of L2 cache per core and a shared 8 MB L3 cache. Chiphell got its hands on not only the processor, but also a compatible motherboard and run a quick preliminary evaluation of the processor. The processor, clocked at 2,127 MHz, was put though SuperPi, wPrime, Cinebench, Fritz Chess, and 3DMark Vantage. The processor is expected to release in the second half of 2009.