Intel's Desktop CPU Roadmap @ June, 2008

We have once again managed to get our hands on Intel's internal roadmap for their desktop processors. This is the latest roadmap, as of June 2008. We posted part of it in our pre-launch look at the Intel Bloomfield (Nehalem desktop) processor. Here it is, if you have not seen it yet.

It shows Intel introducing three Bloomfield models in the Extreme, Performance and high-end Mainstream levels by the 4th quarter (October-December) of this year. The 3.2 GHz Bloomfield XE will immediately replace the Core 2 Extreme QX9770 and QX9650 processors, while the 2.93 GHz Bloomfield P1 will start supplanting the Core 2 Quad Q9650 (3.0 GHz) and completely replace it by the first quarter of 2009.

Much earlier than that though, in the next three months, Intel plans to introduce two new quad-core processors - the Core 2 Quad Q9650 and the Core 2 Quad Q8200. The Q9650 will be nothing new - just a multiplier-locked version of the Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 processor but it will be much cheaper so hooray...

Those on a budget (like us!) will be more enthusiastic about the Core 2 Quad Q8200. This 2.33 GHz part will have just 4 MB of L2 cache but it will be cheap, quoted at just US$ 203 in quantities of 1,000. It will not support the Intel Trusted Execution Technology (TXT) and Virtualization Technology though, but they are unlikely to be of any great importance to those who are actually looking to buy it - cheapskates like us!

Finally, Intel will cut the price of the dual-core E8400 in this coming quarter (July-September) and drop it to the low-end mainstream (MS1) tier. It will replace the slower E8xxx models and completely phase out the 65nm Core 2 Duo E6xxx series.

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