Intel plans to launch a six-core processor

A central unit codenamed Dunnington arrives on the throne of the Xeons.

Intel has recently leaked plans to increase the number of cores working on a silicon wafer again soon. However, the design of the model, codenamed Dunnington, is a little different from what has been the norm so far, as tripling is a new direction for the processor manufacturer in terms of dual-core individuals.

Seeing the data presented in the presentation, the core pairs made at 45 nm are arranged in groups of three and can manage 3 MB of second-level cache per pair. However, it is not over here, the six cores can access an additional 16 MB of L3 shared storage. Communication with the chipset is via a 1066 MHz system bus, and although no information is yet available on the final clocks, the typical dissipation of the chip will not exceed 130 watts.

Dunnington, which is foot-compatible with quad-core Tigerton processors, may be released in the second half of 2008.