Intel to Part Ways with Single-Core

[One4yu2c]

DigiTimes

Intel will begin the phase out of single-core processors for desktops in first quarter of 2008 with the launch of an entry-level dual-core series, the Celeron E1000, according to sources at PC makers. The company will also add two 45nm processors in its E4000 family during the quarter.

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[Yellowhello]

'Bout time single core was dropped, because there are dual-core CPU's that are going dirt cheap now a days.

[One4yu2c]

Did you catch the price of that 1.6GHz dual-core Celeron on an 800MHz fsb? $53/1,000 units. Granted, retail pricing will be higher (lest you're building 1,000 rigs), but what a juicy price-point that is for a dual-core part.

[Yellowhello]

Originally Posted by One4yu2c

Did you catch the price of that 1.6GHz dual-core Celeron on an 800MHz fsb? $53/1,000 units. Granted, retail pricing will be higher (lest you're building 1,000 rigs), but what a juicy price-point that is for a dual-core part.

What makes it even better it that these part are still Conroes but this less cache. If these OC well, these could be just as good if not better than the Conroes with the full cache with non-cache-intensive software.

[simple_inhibition]

but you have to wonder how the 512kb L2 cache will affect overall performance.

[polobunny]

Probably quite a lot. :/
Interesting news, though.

[One4yu2c]

At equal clockspeeds, I'd venture a guess that the reduced cache, like most things, will be mostly noticeable in benchmarking as opposed to real-world performance. Ramp that 1.6GHz clockspeed up to modern speeds, and you're going to have a pretty decent budget priced chip on your hands, especially as developers continue to push the multi-core revolution.

I don't see Celerons becoming the next diamond in the rough, but will say that just a couple of short years ago, enthusiasts would be frothing at the mouth at the concept of an efficient (more so than the X2 series) dual-core, 512KB part, and most applications (save for high end gaming) have not become drastically more demanding since then...