Both Intel and AMD are cooking up Central Processing Units with 4 execution engines and promise dinner will be ready by the fourth quarter.

While Intel's Quad Core, codenamed Kentsfield, will be based on existing the Conroe micro architecture and be known to us as a 2.66 GHz Core 2 Extreme Edition (probably X7000), AMD's answer will debut in the form of the new K8L "Deerhound". K8L uses existing socket L infrastructure, continues with DDR2 support but also offers a unified L2 Cache. While a shared L2 cache doesn't represent much on it's own, if AMD's Quad Core shares the cache across all four execution engines, they will once again be able to claim a technological advantage in multi-engine CPUs. It's still not likely that AMD will manage to wrestle the performance crown back from Intel.

X-Bit labs reports here and here.

The rumours are that Intel is indeed launching the Kentsfield in the fourth quarter of this year. Details are expected to immerge at the end of this month at IDF.

In this humble idiot's opinion, quad core is a good thing. While it's a bit of a trick for Intel to suggest that a quad core CPU will offer better performance than a dual core, there would certainly be no situation where a user has to worry about execution resources. Even if it would really be no faster at any given task, burning a DVD, encoding media and playing a SMP optimised game all at the same time is no sweat when you have 4 execution engines.

eWeek reports.

Toms Hardware Guide have gotten hold of a Core 2 Quadro and run it through a battery of tests. Not surprisingly the Quad Core processor is between 0 and 25% faster than a dual core most of the time, but occasionally achieves double the performance when situations are suitable. Overclocked to 3.33 GHz, the Core 2 Quadro scored 10,722 in 3DMark05. Can't scoff at that. Also not surprisingly though, THG made foolish game test choices. Never mind, they're trying.

THG reports

The Kentsfield based Core 2 Quadro QX6700 (quad-core, 2.66 GHz) can outperform the Core 2 Duo X6800 (dual-core, 2.93 GHz) by as much as 80% in favourable testing circumstances. This is pretty impressive.

Generally speaking, the shortcomming of parallelism is that the more independant factors involved, the less efficient the whole is. These tests suggest that Quad Core can in fact be just as efficient as Dual Core, although admittedly, these tests were pre-approved by Intel.

AnandTech reports.

According to reports (or just perhaps rumours) coming out of Intel Developer Forum (IDF), Intel's next major architectural update to the Core 2 will be Yorkfield, a true quad-core design.

Although true quad means having all four execution engines on same piece of silicon connected with the same L2 cache, the reality of any performance gains over the Kentsfield are unlikely to be substantial. Getting sufficient raw performance out of 4 processors as to show the difference between what a quad and what is essentially a pair of duals would require a feat of programming genius.

Furthermore, Yorkfield fits nicely into Intel's transition to 45nm fabrication, and while that means a 70% reduction in size, a 45nm quad core would still be 40% larger than a 65nm dual core, meaning increased costs and yield issues.

It's much more likely this move is part of an 8-core initiative.

AnandTech have written an excellent resource on Core 2 Quadro compatible motherboards.

This is great for anyone thinking seriously about the possibility of installing a quad core Intel processor on their existing board.

AnandTech reports

Intel have launched the Core 2 Quad QX6700 and the reviews are out.

All in all, it offers improved performance in multi-threaded applications and multitasking operations to the tune of around 50%, but due to the reduced clock frequency, looses ground to in gaming.

HardOCP and Hardware Secrets review.

Intel News ReleaseIntel Ignites Quad-Core Era

World’s Best Microprocessor Gets Even Better

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Nov. 14, 2006 – Intel Corporation today kicked off the computer industry’s multi-core PC era by delivering four computing “brains” inside a single microprocessor with the introduction of the Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® 5300 and Intel Core™2 Extreme quad-core processor families. These products deliver immense speed and responsiveness for general purpose servers and workstations and for digital media creation, high-end gaming and other market segments that crave absolute performance.
Intel began the transition to multi-core technology 4 years ago with Hyper-Threading Technology (HT Technology), followed by the introduction of the industry’s first dual-core PC processors in April last year. Intel recently refreshed its entire product line by introducing over 40 new processors, including those based on the revolutionary Intel® Core™ microarchitecture, a more powerful yet energy-efficient design.
“Today’s announcement ushers in another new era in computing,” said Paul Otellini, Intel’s president and CEO. “The capabilities of quad-core microprocessors will bring new possibilities for science, entertainment and business. I’m incredibly proud of what Intel’s employees have achieved with these new products.”
Intel has made this next step in the computer’s ongoing evolution as fast and easy as possible through continued investment in silicon process and manufacturing technology, innovative and tailored product design, and a myriad of software developer tools and programs.
Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor 5300 series
Extending the leadership established by the Dual-Core Intel Xeon 5100 series processors, the new Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor 5300 series sets new world records** on key industry standard benchmarks:

• A Dell PowerEdge 2950 server running BEA JRockit JVM delivered a record breaking SPECjbb2005 result of 210,065** BOPS, as much as 61 percent better than the next result.
• Using the SPECint_rate_base2000 benchmark, which measures integer throughput, Fujitsu-Siemens PRIMERGY TX300 S3 set a new world record with a score of 200**, up to 63 percent better than the previous record.
• A HP ProLiant ML370 G5 server running TPC-C benchmark, which measures database performance, shattered the previous record by as much as 42 percent with a score of 240,737** tpmC at $1.85/tpmC.
• An IBM System x3650 server running the LS-DYNA 3-vehicle-collision workload, a leading high-performance computing benchmark, set a new record for a single-node performance**.

In addition, OEMs have published record-breaking** results on SAP-SD 2-Tier**, SPECWeb 2005**, SPECfp _rate_base2000**, Fluent** and SPECapc 3dsmax Rendering** benchmarks. The chips deliver up to 2.5 times the performance of the fastest competing processor** for the ultimate in powerful, dense and energy-efficient general purpose servers.
Quad-core Intel Xeon Processor 5300 series servers provide more headroom for server virtualization than any other two-processor, standard, high-volume server platform. The new processors deliver up to 50 percent faster** performance within the same thermal envelope and at the same cost as the previous generation Dual-Core Intel Xeon processor 5100 series launched less than 5 months ago.
Four Intel Xeon processors are launching today at clock speeds ranging from 1.60GHz to 2.66GHz, with front side bus (FSB) speeds ranging from 1066MHz to 1333MHz, and thermal design power (TDP) of either 80 watts or a performance-optimized 120 watt option. In the first quarter next year, Intel will launch two more quad-core Xeon processors – a low-voltage version for ultra-dense deployments with a TDP of only 50 watts and a processor designed for single-socket workstations and servers.
Intel Core 2 Extreme quad-core processor QX6700
The world’s best desktop processor for multimedia applications, the Intel Core 2 Extreme quad-core processor QX6700 is up to 80 percent faster** than the company’s current Intel Core 2 Extreme Processor X6800.
This is the world’s first quad-core desktop processor available for unmatched, highly threaded performance. Ideal for today's games with incredible performance for tomorrow’s highly threaded games; the Intel Core 2 Extreme quad-core processor QX6700 is available at 2.66GHz with a 1066MHz FSB. The processor runs on Intel’s existing 975X Express chipset family.
The company plans to offer a mainstream quad-core processor starting in the first quarter next year under the Intel Core 2 Quad processor brand name. The processor will be an ideal choice for processor-intensive, highly threaded programs such as entertainment, gaming and multimedia activities.

Pricing and Availability
Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor X5355 2.66GHz 1333MHz 8MB 120W
$1172
Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor E5345 2.33GHz 1333MHz 8MB 80W
$851
Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor E5320 1.86GHz 1066MHz 8MB 80W
$690
Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor E5310 1.60GHz 1066MHz 8MB 80W
$455
Intel Core 2 Extreme quad-core processor QX6700 2.66GHz 1066MHz 8MB 130W
$999

Intel