Intel plans to announce a new notebook platform – Huron River – in the first quarter of 2011 as well as launching several new desktop CPUs later in 2010, according to sources from motherboard and notebook makers.
The Huron River platform includes a 6-series chipset (Cougar Point), Sandy Bridge processor, and wireless modules codenamed Rainbow Peak and Taylor Peak, the sources indicated.
Sandy Bridge processors will adopt a 32nm process and be available in both dual-core (Sandy Bridge-DC) and quad-core (Sandy Bridge-QC) versions. Sandy Bridge will also integrate a GPU codenamed Ironlake which supports DirectX 10.1.
Cougar Point chipsets will feature SATA 6Gbps, but will not support USB 3.0 natively.
For the desktop segment, Intel plans to launch an entry-level Pentium E6700 CPU with core frequencies of 3.2GHz in the second quarter of 2010 with a price the same as the current E6600. Intel is expected to drop the prices of its other E6000-series CPUs along with the launch.
Intel will launch another two dual-core CPUs in the second quarter, the Core i3-550 and Core i5-680, with frequencies of 3.2GHz and 3.6GHz, respectively, and both featuring an integrated GPU. However, the Core i3-550 will not support Turbo Boost technology.
Intel will launch two Core i7 CPUs, Core i7-880 and Core i7-970, in the second quarter or the third quarter with a six-core version Core i7-970 adopting a 32nm Westmere design also ready for the third quarter.
Source: DIGITIMES
