Following price-cuts for some of the desktop offerings (covered here) , Intel has cut the prices of some models of the enterprise-segment Xeon processor, reports industry observer DigiTimes.

The Xeon X3220, X3210 and E3110 get a roughly 12% cut with the X3220 and X3210 both dropping from an original price of US $224 to US $198 with the E3110 price dropping from US $188 to US $167, according to the company.

Intel Atom, the 'small wonder' of the computing industry, may have been making a mark with ULPC notebooks and inexpensive ITX solutions, but the UK-based web-hosting company Bytemark found a new application of this chip, dedicated servers. The Atom processors have sufficient computing power to handle web server processes. In Bytemark's words, they're "pushing the boundaries of what Intel Atom was intended to do". Although for now the design is simplistic, ITX based, Bytemark plans to take this concept to a large-scale, making inexpensive, energy-efficient servers. A dedicated server with a 1.60 GHz Atom, 2 GB memory, 2x 100 GB HDDs in RAID 1 (that's 100 GB of available storage), for £495 (US $992) per annum.

Pentium developer Intel, today slashed the prices of several Core 2 Duo processors, and most notably has slashed the price of its 65nm Core 2 Quad Q6600 CPU. The price of Core 2 Quad Q6600 drops 14%, from $224 to $193 in 1000 units tray quantity. In addition to making its most popular quad-core CPU cheaper, Intel has also slashed the prices of three 45nm dual-core Core 2 Duos. The Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 is now 31% cheaper, from $266 to $183. Intel's Core 2 Duo E8400 and E7200 CPUs are now 11% and 15% cheaper, fixed at $163 and $113 respectively.

"Moderate" is a very relative term here. The Taiwanese industry observer DigiTimes reports that the next highest desktop CPU offering from the silicon giant Intel wouldn't be priced like the current Core 2 Extreme QX9770, QX9775. It could be as much as US $500 cheaper, that's $999 in 1,000 unit tray quantities. Expect the PIB (processor in a box) unit to cost on par with the current Core 2 Extreme QX9650. The highest offering from what we know, is a 3.20 GHz Bloomfield core based processor with in the LGA 1366 package.

In addition to this 3.20 GHz Extreme CPU, Intel will also introduce a performance version clocked at 2.93 GHz and quoted at US$562, and a mainstream version running at 2.66GHz and carrying a price tag of US$284. All three models will run on X58 chipset motherboards with the new LGA 1366 socket.

The latest publication of model-specific launch schedule of Intel processors up to Q3 2009 show several models of Extreme processors based on the Bloomfield core beginning from the 3.20 GHz Bloomfield part, which could be succeeded sometime in Q2 2009.

The very first wave of Nehalem architecture based processors arrives in Q4 2008, with the 3.20 GHz Extreme Bloomfield part, the Core 2 Quad is already cleaved into Performance and Mainstream segments, with a 2.93 GHz Bloomfield part making it to the former and a 2.66 GHz part to the latter segments. This is also the time when Intel makes the final additions to the Yorkfield family with the Q9650 processor in the performance and a Q9400 to the mainstream segments. The roadmap shows a gradual synthesis between the current generation and the next. By Q3 2009, Intel will have a full-fledged line-up of processors, including the part that has overclockers looking forward to, the Havendale. This chip is a successor to Wolfdale. It is a dual-core Nehalem-derived chip that supports Hyper-Threading. Also by Q3, the mainstream quad-core offerings would divide between lower Bloomfield and the Lynnfield core processors.

Also, a rather interesting tidbit is a slide which shows Lynnfield schematic with "Integrated or discrete graphics", with the video hardware marker attached to the CPU. Would this mean Intel beats AMD in the race for the first CPU+GPU CPU+IGP?

Intel is preparing the launch of new quad-core processors for laptops next month, Yahoo! News informs today. "We're bringing quad-core to mobile in August," said Sujan Kamran, regional marketing manager for client platforms at Intel in Singapore. Specifics of the forthcoming quad-core chips are missing, but Australian PC maker Pioneer Computers is already taking preorders for laptops based on an unreleased quad-core mobile chip. This CPU is branded as Core 2 Extreme QX9300 and is said to work at 2.53GHz. Pioneer Computers is now offering it in its DreamBook Style 9008 laptops for US $1,390, more than the laptop's basic price ($1,399) without the CPU.

Intel's next addition to the budget Core 2 Duo E7000 series, the E7400 is slated for fourth quarter 2008. This processor at a US $133 price-point will come with a 2.83 GHz core clock with a 1066 MHz front-side bus (FSB), with 3 MB of L2 cache and a rated TDP of 65W. More importantly, a high FSB multiplier would mean that at its price it could be overclockers' delight.

Intel Corporation unveiled its Intel Centrino 2 Processor Technology products for laptops today, powered by five new Intel Core 2 Duo processors. Close to 250 innovative consumer and business notebook PC designs are on the way, including those equipped with the right combination of powerful processors, graphics and battery life to enjoy viewing stunning high definition videos and myriad other computer and Internet activities.

Intel also introduced the world's highest-performing dual-core mobile processor, the Intel Core 2 Extreme processor running at a brisk 3.06 GHz, as measured by SPECint*_rate_base2006, an industry benchmark.

Intel launches the Centrino 2 mobile plaform this Monday, the 14th. Centrino 2, codenamed Montevina is behind launch-schedule owing to issues detected in the integrated graphics controller. The chipset released will be that which supports discrete graphics controllers from ATI or NVIDIA.

Intel Centrino 2 for now is targeted towards the business-class and enterprise segments. The chipset supports DDR3 memory which brings in a certain level of energy efficiency with added performance. At the heart of it would be a 45nm processor based on the Penryn architecture. Initially dual-core processors, with quad-core based notebooks later. The wireless network controller supports the newer 802.11n and WiMAX standards. Security and management features come in through the vPro technology.

These 45nm dual-core processors are said to run at 25W, an efficiency increment over previous generation running at 35W.

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.

Relations between NVIDIA and Intel have not been at their best of late, with each trying to take every opportunity to take pot-shots at each other. There is still uncertainty about NVIDIA getting the technology assistance to devise a motherboard chipset for Intel's next generation desktop processors.

However, the Ultra Low-Cost PC (ULPC) market has been an overnight success for several companies, be the likes of ASUS and their dozens and dozens of laptops and upcoming desktops for the ULPC market or others like MSI and ECS trying to bring ULPC to the desktop with their motherboard solutions.

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.

Gigabyte announced that a new low-priced tablet PC, the M912V. This ultra-portable and affordable tablet PC has a 8.9" frame has a screen that swivels 180 degrees. It has a screen resolution of 1280 x 768 px. The LCD is backlit to enhance battery life. At the heart of this is a 1.60 GHz Intel Atom processor, 1GB of DDR2 memory, a 160GB SATA HDD, 802.11b/g wireless, Bluetooth, and a 1.3 megapixel webcam. Connectivity includes 3 USB 2.0 ports, 56k modem, NIC, an ExpressCard slot, and an internal expansion slot for HSDPA.

With so much packed, the M912V tipps the scales at only 2.86 lbs. Gigabyte's new netbook will be available for purchase later this month with a price tag of $699.

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

Amidst this whole 'nGOHQ' saga, and us getting astonished at the way things turned out, here's what we missed:

NVIDIA is in talks with AMD over a possible technology-transfer agreement over PhysX, say industry sources in Hong Kong. In a not-so-recent article by HKEPC, it is said:

The competition heats up with compact-computing. MSI has released a special motherboard which could compete with the VIA Pico-ITX board. This compact motherboard has a hardwired Intel Atom N230 processor clocked at 1.60 GHz that is passively cooled by an aluminum heatsink, it shares this heatsink with a Intel 945GC northbridge that's the core-logic used accompnied with a ICH7 southbridge. It features an integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 and Realtek ALC 888HD audio.

While the board doesn't feature an onboard PSU unlike the offering from VIA, it features two DDR2 slots for DDR2 667/533 MHz, two SATA II ports, an IDE connector, ports arranged in the standard ATX fashion. A PCI slot is provided. The board features onboard ethernet along with 6-channel audio. This board has started selling in Japan, where it's priced at approx. US $95 and measures 19cm x 17cm.

As of today, AMD is close to over a year and a half behind Intel with the implementation of the DDR3 system memory standard, and it doesn't look like we are going to see a DDR3 AMD platform only until late this year or early next year. Chilian website CHW.net published slides of the roadmaps for AMD chipsets in the months to come, also published are slides refering to the details of the next generation southbridge by AMD, even though the latest entry, the SB700 is only teething and only the latest motherboards with 7-Series chipsets feature this.

Pat Gelsinger of Intel says that they will be in a position to shrink their chips to a 10 nanometer silicon fabrication process within the next ten years.

Referring to Intel co-founder Gordon Moore and his famous law, Gelsinger said: "There was a time where Intel and his colleagues wondered whether they could reach 100nm chips." continued, "But we did do that, and today we see a clear way to get to under 10 nanometers. With Moore's Law we always have about 10 years of visibility into the future, so beyond 10 nanometers, we're not sure how we'll do it".

Gelsinger said that "We are putting more and more of the periodic table onto that silicon scaffolding. Today we use about half of the elements on the periodic table. When [Intel co-founder Robert] Noyce and Moore started, they used six elements, more elements have to be added to facilitate such a shrink".

OCZ Technology Group, a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory, today announced the expansion of its Intel Extreme Memory modules lineup, the latest memory solution that implements a high-performance specification optimized and predefined for the Intel X38 and X48 chipsets. The new modules are rated at DDR3-1333 and DDR3-1600 and feature the all-new Intel branded black XTC heatspreader. With a long history of providing the most innovative products to the enthusiast community, OCZ is excited to take advantage of Intel's interest and development of overclocking platforms with these latest additions to the series.

The co-general manager of Intel's Digital Enterprise Group, Pat Gelsinger told Custom PC that NVIDIA's CUDA programming model would be nothing more than an interesting footnote in the annals of computing history.

Gelsinger says that programmers simply don't have enough time to learn how to program for new architectures like CUDA. Says Gelsinger: "The problem that we've seen over and over and over again in the computing industry is that there's a cool new idea, and it promises a 10x or 20x performance improvement, but you've just got to go through this little orifice called a new programming model. Those orifices have always been insurmountable as long as the general purpose computing models evolve into the future.". The Sony CELL and the fact that it didn't live up to all its hype as something superior to current computing architectures proves his point.

Gelsinger tells that Intel's Larrabee graphics chip will be entirely based on Intel Architecture x86 cores, and the reason for that is so developers can program for the graphics processor without having to learn a new language. Larrabee will have full support for APIs like DirectX and OpenGL.

With announcements coming in from of rolling out Solid State Drives (SSD) and that it would become a prominent player in the SSD business, Seagate is still in requirement of trade relationships with a NAND Flash manufacturer, add to that it doesn't have production facilities of its own.

This has gotten analysts to speculate on where Seagate will source its chips from, a possibility being buying Intel's share of the Intel-Micron JV. Such a buy-out would set Seagate back by close to $1 bn. Another possibility would be to acquire SanDisk or Hynix (Hyundai) which focus on making entry-level solid state drives, but are a major players in the overall NAND flash market. If it will be SanDisk, Hynix or any other flash maker remains to be seen, but it wouldn't come as a surprise if Seagate announces the acquisition of a flash company soon.

Now that Microsoft officially confirmed support for Windows XP until year 2014, Intel has decided to skip upgrading to Windows Vista. The chip giant won't upgrade the computers of its own 80,000 employees to Microsoft's Vista operating system, according to a person close to Intel's IT department. "This isn't a matter of dissing Microsoft, but Intel information technology staff just found no compelling case for adopting Vista," the person said. There's no official reason for this decision, but it's quite obvious that Vista is still not mature enough to succeed Windows XP. Sad but true. Meanwhile, the next version of Windows codenamed Windows 7 is scheduled to go on sale in January 2010. By skipping Vista, Intel dooms its workers to Windows XP for at least two more years.

Two 45nm Phenom X4 and an Ultra-Mobile CPU Slated for Q4

NordicHardware reports that in Q4 2008, Advanced Micro Devices is slating two models of 45nm Phenom X4 quad-core chips along with a cheap ultra-mobile CPU aimed to compete with the Intel Atom and VIA Nano processors for release. The two new Phenom parts would be based on the new Denreb core to be succeeded by Propus based CPU's in Q1 2009.

Apart from retail models, AMD plans to release a CPU targeted for the ultra-mobile consumer electronics market. The CPU would be derived from the tested K8 architecture that is supposed to give it a design advantage over competing products from Intel and VIA. A major design advantage is of the memory controller being integrated on die that effectively eliminates the northbridge, saving on power consumption. The CPU has a rated TDP of 8W.

Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, today announced that its HyperX 1800MHz DDR3 memory has been certified under the Intel Extreme Memory Profile (Intel XMP) validation program to offer PC builders and gaming enthusiasts, more performance memory options and tuning flexibility when constructing high-performance systems using select Intel X38/X48-series chipsets.

The just released TOP 500 Supercomputing ranking list verifies that the wide majority of today's systems are based on Intel multi-core processors and able to evaluate and calculate large volumes of data and complex algorithms very rapidly. 375 or 75 percent of the ranked supercomputers are based on Intel processors -- more than ever before. In the year 2000, only four - yes four - systems were based on Intel architecture, illustrating just how rapidly the leading processor architecture for supercomputers has been embraced. Intel's push into quad-core based systems is also well represented. In just over one and a half years since the first quad core processor, more than half (257 systems) now contain four-brained Intel chips.