Intel Planning New Budget Quad-Core CPU Lineup
The the coming months, AMD is planning to launch a series of quad-core and triple-core processors to strengthen the company's hold on the sub-$200, even sub-$150 market segment. Intel is reportedly planning a rival lineup of quad-core processors to counter AMD in the segmet. While the Core 2 Quad Q8000 series from Intel makes for its current low-end quad-core CPU lineup, the new lineup will be categorized under the Q7000 series.
Characteristics of the Q7000 series include a total L2 cache size of 2 MB (1 + 1 MB), which is half of that of the Q8000 and a sixth of that of the Q9000 series. The processors will use a narrower 800 MHz FSB and will be built on the 45nm manufacturing process. They will come with rated TDPs of 65W. The first model in this series will be the Core 2 Quad Q7500, which comes with a clock speed of 2.60 GHz. The chip will be priced under US $150, straying into AMD's budget quad-core chip territory.
Characteristics of the Q7000 series include a total L2 cache size of 2 MB (1 + 1 MB), which is half of that of the Q8000 and a sixth of that of the Q9000 series. The processors will use a narrower 800 MHz FSB and will be built on the 45nm manufacturing process. They will come with rated TDPs of 65W. The first model in this series will be the Core 2 Quad Q7500, which comes with a clock speed of 2.60 GHz. The chip will be priced under US $150, straying into AMD's budget quad-core chip territory.