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Intel has sampled one of its 600-series CPUs to some of its clients in Taiwan and has also given more details of technology support for its 945/955 chipsets for the dual-core Smithfield CPUs, which are slated for launch in the second quarter of next year, according to sources at Taiwan motherboard makers.

Intel will use a codename, the P4P, to distinguish its 600-series chips that feature support of Intel’s Speedstep technology, Enhanced Memory 64-bit Technology (EM64T) and Execution Disable Bit (EDB) capability, the sources noted.

Intel also informed local makers that its 945/955 northbridge would support a system bus running at 1066MHz and DDR2-667 memory, while the ICH7 southbridge will come with four ports for Serial ATA2, Matrix RAID and HD audio support.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Intel’s rival, seems, however, to be still one-step ahead of chipmakers in the development of dual-core CPUs, with market reports saying that AMD has already sent samples of its dual-core Opteron chips to a number of select clients.

http://www.digitimes.com/bits_chips/a20041231A2003.html

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