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Intel quad-core Kentsfield to be named Core 2 Quadro

post #1 of 62
9/19/06 at 6:21am
Thread Starter 
Intel is expected by the end of this month to officially name its Kentsfield quad-core desktop processor as the "Core 2 Quadro," according to an overseas report.

Citing sources at leading Taiwan motherboard makers, DigiTimes claims the first model will be an Extreme version, the Core 2 Extreme QX6700, which will be available starting in mid-November.

"The QX6700, which will be clocked at 2.66 GHz, will target the high-end gaming market as well as to counter AMD's fourth quarter introduction of its Socket-AM2 Athlon 64 FX-64 CPU (3.0 GHz core speed, 2x1MB L2 cache)," according to the report.

In a bid to trump AMD's planned launch of its quad-core Deerhound server chip in 2007 and quad-core Greyhound desktop varient in 2008, Intel in the first quarter of 2007 is also expected to launch a new 65nm quad-core CPU called the Core 2 Quadro Q6600.

"The Socket-775 Q6600 CPU will have a core speed of 2.4 GHz, a built-in 2x4MB L2 cache and support a 1066 MHz FSB (front side bus), plus Enhanced Intel Speedstep technology, Intel Virtualization and Execute Disable Bit functionalities," DigiTimes sources said.

Those sources added that the quad-core CPUs can be paired with either Intel's high-end 975X or mainstream P965 chipsets, although a minor change in the design of the power-supply module on P965-based motherboards is required.

Intel reportedly declined to comment on the report.
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post #2 of 62
9/19/06 at 6:58am
Next up from apple:

The Mac Quadra
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post #3 of 62
9/19/06 at 7:00am
Oh come on now...to target the high end gaming market with a quad-core chip, games have to first be SMP-aware. How many games utilize more than 1 core very efficiently? Not many.

I hope the availability of consumer and pro multicore chips will push developers to write heavily-threaded apps. As difficult as it may be to write such an app, it has to be done...and it will separate the boys from the men (weed out the bad devs.)
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post #4 of 62
9/19/06 at 7:01am
Quote:
Originally Posted by g3pro

Next up from apple:

The Mac Quadra

Indeed.
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post #5 of 62
9/19/06 at 7:06am
quadra x2 = Mac Pro Octo
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post #6 of 62
9/19/06 at 7:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by kim kap sol

Oh come on now...to target the high end gaming market with a quad-core chip, games have to first be SMP-aware. How many games utilize more than 1 core very efficiently? Not many.

Right now this is true, however, going forward the games will be better designed for multiple cores. World of Warcraft (for example) has been make [slow but] steady improvements and plan on more over time.

Of course the real reason for more cores is not so much the gaming market, but other markets, such as photography and video..
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post #7 of 62
9/19/06 at 7:17am
Quote:
Originally Posted by kim kap sol

Oh come on now...to target the high end gaming market with a quad-core chip, games have to first be SMP-aware. How many games utilize more than 1 core very efficiently? Not many.

With XBox360 and PS3 heavily multi-core, you can expect this to change quickly. It is a chicken-and-egg problem. If there are few machines that have multiple cores, there is little to be gained by going through the effort of writing software that takes advantage of it. And if you have a short sighted attitude then if there is no software to take advantage of it, there is no point in having multi-core hardware. On the other hand, hardware stays working for years at a time so there is an opportunity for software to catch up and continually eek more out of the hardware you already have.

Quote:
Of course the real reason for more cores is not so much the gaming market, but other markets, such as photography and video..

That's not what Intel seems to think.
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post #8 of 62
9/19/06 at 7:31am
nvidia already has the quadro name?
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post #9 of 62
9/19/06 at 7:57am
After so many stagnant years with Gsomething it is so refreching CPUs that comes out on the market as opposed to just appear on the rumors sites ( To self: stick to old G4 until next year, sooth nerves with 20" TFT)
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post #10 of 62
9/19/06 at 8:45am
Quote:
Originally Posted by akerman

nvidia already has the quadro name?

Wasn't quadro a generic word in one of the Latin-based languages? It's just a matter of whether nVidia filed a trademark that applies to CPUs.
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post #11 of 62
9/19/06 at 8:48am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Programmer

That's not what Intel seems to think.

I think they are targetting the kind of gamers that would buy Alienware's high end systems.

Right now, the effect of a quad core on games is pretty small, I agree, it's a chicken & egg situation. Gamers have to demand better multi-core support..
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post #12 of 62
9/19/06 at 8:51am
so which mac will this go in? you think we will see a devoted mac to gaming. that would really increase sales. ....the odds are slim that they can fit this in a imac right.
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post #13 of 62
9/19/06 at 9:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by MacsRbetterthanPC

so which mac will this go in? you think we will see a devoted mac to gaming. that would really increase sales. ....the odds are slim that they can fit this in a imac right.

Not without them changing their policies. I don't think the Intel quad chip with proper cooling would fit in an iMac anyway. It has the cooling demands of two of their dual core desktop chips so it's going to need an enclosure that is a lot larger than what can be stuffed behind a 30", quietly and aesthetically.
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post #14 of 62
9/19/06 at 9:08am
Bring power, but FIRST AND FOREMOST, bring a quiet Mac. We do not want noisy Macs! Thanks.
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post #15 of 62
9/19/06 at 9:36am
Quote:
Originally Posted by MacsRbetterthanPC

so which mac will this go in? you think we will see a devoted mac to gaming. that would really increase sales. ....the odds are slim that they can fit this in a imac right.

to bad that with a intel chip set you have no sli
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post #16 of 62
9/19/06 at 9:37am
Quote:
Originally Posted by JeffDM

Not without them changing their policies. I don't think the Intel quad chip with proper cooling would fit in an iMac anyway. It has the cooling demands of two of their dual core desktop chips so it's going to need an enclosure that is a lot larger than what can be stuffed behind a 30", quietly and aesthetically.

I disagree. The current conroe chips have EXCELLENT cooling. They run around 28degrees idle and 34 degrees (cels) under load for an hour. Which makes this even cooler (no pun intended) is this is JUST WITH A HEATSINK AND NO FAN!! Crazy eh? According to anandtech the kentsfield and clovertown chips run about the same temps as their little brothers conroe and woodcrest.

Even though they will be the same temps... keep in mind that conroe isn't in the current iMacs... merom is. Which is the lower power core 2 duo. The heat difference between conroe and merom is minimal... the big difference is power consumption. I find it intriguing that apple didn't stick a conroe in there. Maybe Merom is cheaper? Maybe iMac is designed for low power consumption (small ps)? Either way, merom will be quad core as well around this time.

So yah you can expect a quad core iMac sometime in the future. It probably won't be kentsfield though.

 

 

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post #17 of 62
9/19/06 at 9:38am
Quote:
Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Intel is expected by the end of this month to officially name its Kentsfield quad-core desktop processor as the "Core 2 Quadro," according to an overseas report.

Citing sources at leading Taiwan motherboard makers, DigiTimes claims the first model will be an Extreme version, the Core 2 Extreme QX6700, which will be available starting in mid-November.

"The QX6700, which will be clocked at 2.66 GHz, will target the high-end gaming market as well as to counter AMD's fourth quarter introduction of its Socket-AM2 Athlon 64 FX-64 CPU (3.0 GHz core speed, 2x1MB L2 cache)," according to the report.

In a bid to trump AMD's planned launch of its quad-core Deerhound server chip in 2007 and quad-core Greyhound desktop varient in 2008, Intel in the first quarter of 2007 is also expected to launch a new 65nm quad-core CPU called the Core 2 Quadro Q6600.

"The Socket-775 Q6600 CPU will have a core speed of 2.4 GHz, a built-in 2x4MB L2 cache and support a 1066 MHz FSB (front side bus), plus Enhanced Intel Speedstep technology, Intel Virtualization and Execute Disable Bit functionalities," DigiTimes sources said.

Those sources added that the quad-core CPUs can be paired with either Intel's high-end 975X or mainstream P965 chipsets, although a minor change in the design of the power-supply module on P965-based motherboards is required.

Intel reportedly declined to comment on the report.

amd 4x4 should be out by then and that will have a lot for cpu and ram bandwith then intel.
Also amd quad-core cpu will be two dual core cpus on the same die. It will true quad-core.
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post #18 of 62
9/19/06 at 9:46am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe_the_dragon

amd 4x4 should be out by then and that will have a lot for cpu and ram bandwith then intel.
Also amd quad-core cpu will be two dual core cpus on the same die. It will true quad-core.

We'll see about that. All of the AMD roadmaps I've seen state otherwise. On top of that AMD was supposed to start 65nm process development on cpu's in 2005, early this year they were stated to do it by the end of 2006, now there have been reports of it being sometime in 2007. Time will tell.

 

 

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post #19 of 62
9/19/06 at 9:52am
Quote:
Originally Posted by emig647

I disagree. The current conroe chips have EXCELLENT cooling. They run around 28degrees idle and 34 degrees (cels) under load for an hour. Which makes this even cooler (no pun intended) is this is JUST WITH A HEATSINK AND NO FAN!! Crazy eh? According to anandtech the kentsfield and clovertown chips run about the same temps as their little brothers conroe and woodcrest.

Let me guess, was that in a standard ATX / BTX case? Those are cavernous compared to the iMac.

Quote:
Even though they will be the same temps... keep in mind that conroe isn't in the current iMacs... merom is. Which is the lower power core 2 duo. The heat difference between conroe and merom is minimal... the big difference is power consumption. I find it intriguing that apple didn't stick a conroe in there. Maybe Merom is cheaper? Maybe iMac is designed for low power consumption (small ps)? Either way, merom will be quad core as well around this time.

Heat is power. For every watt of power put into a computer system, one watt of heat has to be removed. A Conroe at full load will produce twice the heat as a Merom. A Kentsfield at full load load will produce about twice the heat as a Conroe. I they all end up at the same temperature, then the cooling system has to move more heat to maintain that temperature.

Merom is not cheaper. It's a little slower and a lot more expensive.
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post #20 of 62
9/19/06 at 9:57am
Apple is in a pickle. They just released the Mac Pro and updated XServes with the dual-core Zeons, and now quad-core CPUs will be out in November. Does anyone know how quickly Intel stops supplying a given CPU once a newer one is in production?
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post #21 of 62
9/19/06 at 9:58am
Quote:
Originally Posted by kim kap sol

Oh come on now...to target the high end gaming market with a quad-core chip, games have to first be SMP-aware. How many games utilize more than 1 core very efficiently? Not many.

I hope the availability of consumer and pro multicore chips will push developers to write heavily-threaded apps. As difficult as it may be to write such an app, it has to be done...and it will separate the boys from the men (weed out the bad devs.)


When they were testing these processors last month they were using video encoding, and rendering, and mostly things that Apple's Pro Applications, and Adobe's CS applications do, and there was like 70% overall increase in performance.
I can't even begin to remember where I saw it, but this right after I started saying Apple probably would skip Kentsfiled, and Clovertown, and wait until the end of 2007 when intel released the **true quad core processors** with the ODMC before the switched away from Woodcrest.


(**Kentsfiled, and Clovertown are two dual cores on one die - the following processors will be quad cores, and have an On Die Memory Controller according to previous reports from intel**)
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post #22 of 62
9/19/06 at 10:00am
Quote:
Originally Posted by kim kap sol

Oh come on now...to target the high end gaming market with a quad-core chip, games have to first be SMP-aware. How many games utilize more than 1 core very efficiently? Not many.

I hope the availability of consumer and pro multicore chips will push developers to write heavily-threaded apps. As difficult as it may be to write such an app, it has to be done...and it will separate the boys from the men (weed out the bad devs.)

Oh come on now, Spinal Tap, thinking takes over here. There amps went to 11 and thier computer has 4 and yours has 2. Who are these machines marketed to? Like telling a good joke it is always advised to know your audience, and I think that 4 is better for this crowd. Even if only one is used, until they get their butt kicked by a single chip system, but then there are always arguing points.

I use Pro apps and I hope they take advantage of the cores, I hope so since they are Apple apps, but then I never hold my breath.
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post #23 of 62
9/19/06 at 10:02am
James Bond in OctoPC.
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post #24 of 62
9/19/06 at 11:58am
Core 2 Quadro..... POWAAAAAA!
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post #25 of 62
9/19/06 at 12:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by JeffDM

Wasn't quadro a generic word in one of the Latin-based languages? It's just a matter of whether nVidia filed a trademark that applies to CPUs.

yeah wtf?
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post #26 of 62
9/19/06 at 4:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dmegatool

quadra x2 = Mac Pro Octo


octo ..... (also oct- before a vowel) combining form eight; having eight : octosyllabic. ORIGIN from Latin octo or Greek okt? ‘eight.’

I like octad

MacPro Octad ...... hmmmmm ?

octad .....|?äktad| noun technical a group or set of eight. ORIGIN mid 19th cent.: via late Latin from Greek oktas, oktad-, from okt? ‘eight.’

-Robert

BTW I could not find quadro in the dictionary but his seems cool, 2 quadruplicate cores ( and i can hear steve saying " ..... and there is TWO of them ...") ..... mmmmm maybe not!

quadruplicate ..... adjective |kwäˈdroōpləkit| consisting of four parts or elements • of which four copies are made. verb |kwäˈdroōpləˌkāt| [ trans. ] multiply (something) by four. • [usu. as adj. ] ( quadruplicated) make or provide in quadruplicate. PHRASES in quadruplicate in four identical copies. DERIVATIVES quadruplication |kwäˌdroōpləˈkā sh ən| noun ORIGIN mid 17th cent.: from Latin quadruplicat- ‘quadrupled,’ from the verb quadruplicare, from quadruplex, quadruplic- ‘fourfold,’ from quadru- ‘four’ + plicare ‘to fold.’
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post #27 of 62
9/19/06 at 4:49pm
An updated Mac Pro in Jan seems fitting. Dec doesn't seem like the right time to introduce it.
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post #28 of 62
9/19/06 at 7:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by onlooker

the following processors will be quad cores, and have an On Die Memory Controller according to previous reports from intel**)

If intel can pull that off they will only be a few years late.
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post #29 of 62
9/19/06 at 7:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe_the_dragon

If intel can pull that off they will only be a few years earlier than AMD.

I fixed your quote there for ya.
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post #30 of 62
9/19/06 at 8:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by troberts

Apple is in a pickle. They just released the Mac Pro and updated XServes with the dual-core Zeons, and now quad-core CPUs will be out in November. Does anyone know how quickly Intel stops supplying a given CPU once a newer one is in production?


how are they in a pickle?

there is no redesign required to switch the Mac Pros from their dual core chips, to the quad core chips.. In fact Anandtech.com has already tried it out and OSX saw all 8 cores.

http://anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=2832
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post #31 of 62
9/19/06 at 8:12pm
maybe for a very high end workstation ... two quad chips + two nvidia quadro gpus ....
:|
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:|
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post #32 of 62
9/19/06 at 11:27pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by JeffDM

Let me guess, was that in a standard ATX / BTX case? Those are cavernous compared to the iMac.



Heat is power. For every watt of power put into a computer system, one watt of heat has to be removed. A Conroe at full load will produce twice the heat as a Merom. A Kentsfield at full load load will produce about twice the heat as a Conroe. I they all end up at the same temperature, then the cooling system has to move more heat to maintain that temperature.

Merom is not cheaper. It's a little slower and a lot more expensive.

Your numbers are off Jeff. Anand has already dropped engineering samples of the four core designes into a Mac Pro, and they worked fine. We already discussed this a few days ago, and I started a thread on it which no one seemed to be interested in.\
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post #33 of 62
9/19/06 at 11:28pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by doh123

how are they in a pickle?

there is no redesign required to switch the Mac Pros from their dual core chips, to the quad core chips.. In fact Anandtech.com has already tried it out and OSX saw all 8 cores.

http://anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=2832

Shoot, didn't see yours!
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post #34 of 62
9/20/06 at 2:44am
Quote:
Originally Posted by melgross

Your numbers are off Jeff. Anand has already dropped engineering samples of the four core designes into a Mac Pro, and they worked fine.

Off or on I don't know, but you are talking about four-core chips in a Mac Pro and he is talking about four-core chips in an iMac. Do you really believe that the iMac can handle the heat of four Conroe cores? I say not a chance in a million.
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post #35 of 62
9/20/06 at 4:51am
Quote:
Originally Posted by melgross

Your numbers are off Jeff. Anand has already dropped engineering samples of the four core designes into a Mac Pro, and they worked fine. We already discussed this a few days ago, and I started a thread on it which no one seemed to be interested in.\

I didn't see the thread you said you posted, but I did read that article, linked from another site. I think I saw it linked from Ars.

Unfortunately, the regular forum doesn't get much participation outside of threads linked to news stories. I can't find the thread you said you made, I looked a little in Current and in Future Hardware. I didn't do a search yet.

But yeah, I was talking about stuffing a Kentsfield into an iMac, not Clovertowns into a Mac Pro. The chips are similar, but the computers have two very different enclosures. iMac will go quad core, but my guess is only with the successor to Kentsfield where they are more likely to have a notebook version and all four cores on a single die, and that it's probably going to be a die shrink over what Kentsfield has.
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post #36 of 62
9/20/06 at 4:57am
Whoa whoa whoa...I was going to buy my new Mac Pro soon, but the thought keeps creeping on my mind that Dual Core will soon be obsolete,
and since I will be doing a LOT of gaming I have no choice but to wait for this 'Quad Core'.
Damn you Intel !!
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post #37 of 62
9/20/06 at 5:32am
Quote:
Originally Posted by PB

Off or on I don't know, but you are talking about four-core chips in a Mac Pro and he is talking about four-core chips in an iMac. Do you really believe that the iMac can handle the heat of four Conroe cores? I say not a chance in a million.

It handled a G5.* The same G5 the towers needed extensive air / water cooling to handle.* Four Conroes may be pushing it, but then again I think Apple did a spectacular job on the original G5 iMac design and could extend that ESPECIALLY if they dump the 17" model re: quad and keep it for the bigger machines.* Had a look at all that space behind a 20" and 24" iMac's display, right?* All the edges too.* There's space enough available to radiate the heat, "all" it requires is another tour de force from the Apple industrial design team.* They might just make it!

Of course, I'd love to see a new design outright.* Who knows, 2007 may be the year of new exteriors.
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post #38 of 62
9/20/06 at 5:37am
As for why my above post has asterisks at the end of every sentence which apparently I can't fix using an edit ... I have no idea.**
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post #39 of 62
9/20/06 at 5:48am
Quote:
Originally Posted by fuyutsuki

It handled a G5.* The same G5 the towers needed extensive air / water cooling to handle.* Four Conroes may be pushing it, but then again I think Apple did a spectacular job on the original G5 iMac design and could extend that ESPECIALLY if they dump the 17" model re: quad and keep it for the bigger machines.* Had a look at all that space behind a 20" and 24" iMac's display, right?* All the edges too.* There's space enough available to radiate the heat, "all" it requires is another tour de force from the Apple industrial design team.* They might just make it!

Of course, I'd love to see a new design outright.* Who knows, 2007 may be the year of new exteriors.

The impression I get is that the iMac Duos are a lot quieter than the iMac G5s. I had a 1.6GHz iMac for a while, the thing got a little loud, and the enclosure got a little hot, louder and hotter than any other computer I've ever owned.
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post #40 of 62
9/20/06 at 6:26am
Quote:
Originally Posted by fuyutsuki

It handled a G5. The same G5 the towers needed extensive air / water cooling to handle.

I am afraid you are mistaken here. A G5 similar to what we found in the Power Mac was used in the first G5 iMac generation and at clock speeds 1.6 - 1.8 GHz. This was just one processing core and we know very well the heat and noise problems it gave.

Later higher clocked iMacs used the low power G5, but even in this case many users report that the new Core Duo iMacs are substantially more quiet. Now a dual core Conroe tops at 10-15 Watts more than those G5s and perhaps it would fit a 24" iMac. Probably this is the reason why Apple go with 24" and not 23" (more space to cool the chip), although for the time being they decided to not redesign the MB and use instead the drop-in replacement Merom. But you cannot push it more than that. Not now at least.
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