Intel and AMD will both launch hexa-core processors during the first half of 2010. Intel’s Core i7 980X processor, code-named Gulftown, have been out in the wild since last summer when the first benchmarks and overclocking results appeared. With a launch in March/April Gulftown isn’t that far away and now it seems Intel will beat AMD to market as the Phenom II X6 launch is slated for May now.
At OC Workbench they have published information that claims AMD Thuban will be named Phenom II X6 and the first models will appear in May, and that the processors will be found everywhere at Computex in June.
The AMD 890FX chipset will accompany Thuban out on the market, but will arrive before the processor. Most motherboard manufacturers have come a long way in designing their 890FX motherboards and the claimed launch in April sounds quite feasible.
Previous stories have claimed that Thuban will debut at 2.8GHz and will be branded 140W TDP with AMD’s sturdy 45nm technology. It will have 3MB L2 cache and 6MB shared L3 cache for keeping the cores busy at heavy loads.
AMD hasn’t confirmed the story and unlike Gulftown, Thuban has kept a very low profile so far.
