Details of Intel’s upcoming 6-core/12-thread Xeon (Gulftown) processor – and the CPU tipped to appear in the upcoming Apple Mac Pro refresh – have leaked, and while original predictions were that the hexacore chip would be branded the Core i9, it now seems that it will slot into the Core i7 Extreme range with an “X” suffix. First to the base will be the Intel Core i7-980X Extreme Edition, running at 3.33GHz.
The 32nm chip has 12MB of cache and supports both Hyper-Threading and Turbo Boost. Apple already offer a 3.33GHz processor on the Mac Pro; however that’s a quadcore Xeon chip rather than the six cores in the new i7-980X Extreme.
The presumption is that Apple and Intel will negotiate some sort of early-access or temporary exclusivity deal, that will see the Core i7-980X Extreme show up in the Mac Pro workstation a few weeks ahead the regular March 2010 launch. In fact, it’s expected that Apple will offer at least one SKU with two of these processors, adding up to a total of 12 cores and 24 threads..
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Nokia Hackerbox makes geeks work for their N900 [Video]
Nokia’s product strategy may not meet with universal approval, but they can certainly teach most of us a thing or two about wrapping presents. Mint Digital’s Utku found a strange black box waiting for him at the office today, unmarked aside from a Nokia logo and a miniUSB port. An included card pointed him to hackerbox.co.uk, and the combined tech minds of Mint Digital eventually managed to get the box open.
Video demo after the cut
Inside – after a suitably theatrical puff of smoke – was a Nokia N900, together with a whole load of accessories. They’d also dropped in Modern Warfare II for the PS3, a mini Christmas cake and a Starbucks gift card, together with – somewhat bizarrely – a small model of a fox.
It’s obviously just a promotional thing – and it worked, we guess, since we’re writing about them now – but we can’t help but wish Nokia put the same magic and intrigue into their cellphone range as they did into this unusual box. We’re not saying we want to have to mount a phone and use Hyperterminal before we can make a call, but a shot of the unusual is what many of Nokia’s phones seem sorely lacking in right now.
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