Intel Unveils 'Core 2' CPUs

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So we’ve outted the fact that everyone only wants quad core and that clock speeds don’t excite like they used to but Intel has given dual core a timely shot in the arm with a major revision.

Formerly codenamed ‘Conroe’ (for desktop) and ‘Merom’ (laptop), Intel has revealed the new chips will be officially called 'Core 2 Duo'. Both lines will be fabbed at 65nm and use a similar numbering system to the existing Core range to tell the models apart. Conroes, for example, will run a range from 4000 to 6000 with the 4200 clocked at 1.6GHz while Meroms will run from 5000 to 7000 with the 6700 hitting speeds of 2.66GHz.

Making things (even?) more complicated will be the introduction of a new generation of single core chips called ‘Core 2 Solo’ which is hideously confusing for the average Joe to say the least. An Extreme edition for gamers will head up the range called the ‘Core 2 Extreme’ with an actual (not just linguistically misleading) dual core version promised in the not too distant future.

All of which makes me think this naming system is already getting way out of hand and is now sitting a little too close to the inherent math in Roman Numerals. On the bright side Intel is claiming performance boosts of up to 40 per cent with the new processors(let’s see once we get them in the lab) which one again potentially balances the pleasure/pain principle of the universe.

Link:
Intel UK

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