Intel's first dual-core chip now shipping

IDG News Service - Intel Corp. has begun volume shipments of the Pentium Extreme Edition 840 processor, the company's first dual-core processor, a company executive said today.
The chips are being shipped to hardware makers ahead of an official launch, expected to take place soon.
"The launch will be in the immediate future," Abhi Talwalkar, vice president and general manager of Intel's Digital Enterprise Group, told reporters at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) in Taipei. He said that Intel's dual-core announcement is "imminent."
Intel and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. are both close to launching dual-core processors based on the x86 instruction set. AMD is likely to be first, with the launch of its first dual-core Opteron processors, which is expected on April 21. The date marks the two-year anniversary of the introduction of Opteron, which was AMD's first 64-bit chip.
Talwalkar declined to comment on when exactly Intel plans to launch the Pentium Extreme Edition 840. But in a presentation at IDF, he showed off a Dimension XPS computer from Dell Inc. based on the chip and said the system would be available sometime this month. The Pentium Extreme Edition 840 has two processor cores, each running at 3.2 GHz.
Talwalkar downplayed the possibility that AMD could beat Intel to market with a dual-core chip, saying that being first was not important. "This is not a race," he said.
Rather, the launch of these first dual-core x86 chips is the beginning of a significant transition within the industry, Talwalkar said, noting that Intel currently has 15 processors in development that are based on dual-core and multicore technology. Following the launch of the Pentium Extreme Edition, Intel will introduce a second dual-core chip, called the Pentium D. That announcement is expected before the end of June.