Four cores might feel like a bit much when there are so few applications that actually use all cores. At least with desktops, but when it comes to servers and workstations there is still plenty of room for more cores. Intel has announced during the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) that on February 9 it will unveil the specifications of its new octo-core Xeon processor.
What we know now is that it is a Nehalem-EX processor, code-named Beckton, made with 45nm technology and optimized for Intel’s dual-socket architecture. The processor will contain up 2.3 billion transistors, which is almost three times more than the current Intel Core i7 (Bloomfield). This is most likely because of the large amount of cache it will have, some predict up to 24MB. The actual processor is expected to appear sometime during the spring of 2009, when an octo-core processor will go retail is still uncertain, and right now not really needed.
