On the eve of the 40th anniversary of Moore’s Law, Intel Corp. today said that OEMs Alienware, Dell and Velocity Micro are now selling desktop PCs and workstations using its first dual-core processor-based platform.

Aimed at computer hobbyists and entertainment enthusiasts, Intel’s dual-core processor-based platform includes its Pentium processor Extreme Edition 840 running at 3.2 GHz and the 955X Express chipset.

The platform is meant to allow computer users to take advantage of high-definition video, high-quality sound and 3-D visualization for their audio, video, digital design and gaming tasks, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based chip giant said.

Dual- and multi-core processors, include two or more full execution cores within a single processor enabling simultaneous management of activities.

When combined with Intel’s hyper-threading technology, which allows each execution core to present itself as two logical processors, the Pentium Extreme 840 can process four software threads simultaneously by efficiently using resources that otherwise may sit idle.

Intel noted that it has more than 15 multi-core projects under development for desktop, mobile and server products and plans to introduce its high volume dual-core Pentium D-based platform this quarter.

The Intel Pentium Processor Extreme Edition 840 is $999 and the Intel 955X Express Chipset is $50 in 1,000-unit quantities.

Concurrently, Intel said a desktop motherboard including the express chipset is available to OEMs.

“With dual-core processor-based system availability, today is a historic date for the computer industry as PCs begin having ‘two brains’ instead of one,” said Don MacDonald, VP of Intel’s digital home group, in a statement.

“Moore’s Law is about giving you more computing capabilities without an equivalent increase in cost,” he continued. “This is what bringing dual-core processors to PCs is all about."

By: DocMemory
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