Here we go, a leak that proves once and for all that the Gulftown CPUs from Intel are on schedule for early next year. Gulftown is the code name for Intel’s first ever dual socket using hexacore chips. If this stays on track then buying a high-end computer next year might be the absolute right thing to do. Which means you will need to wait out this holiday season. Of course, PCV buyers can just go on ahead with the holiday splurging. This only applies to Mac buyers.
It was already rumored that the next-generation Mac Pros will be running on Intel hexacore processors. The Mac Pro is just about due for an update right now, especially because the fastest Mac right now is the QuadCore iMac and not the current Mac Pro. But that’s only because the iMac line has been newly updated.
Coming from HardMac, this leak provides the information that gear junkies have been looking for. The new Intel processors will be 32nm and will clock at 3.33GHz with 12MB L2 cache. Despite the increase in speed and crunching power, these CPUs will consume less power than the current line.
Also, it seems like these CPUs will be included into an existing brand – Core i7. There are rumors that the new chip will be Core i9 but now it seems more like educated guessing than actual leaked information. The proper name of the Chip is thus to be Core i7-980x Extreme Edition. The timeline for the current launch is the March of 2010 and that could be really good news for Mac buyers.
Apple has landed temporary exclusive deals with Intel before and rumor has it that they will do it again. So Mac Pro users might become the world firsts to experience the super powerful chip. Also, Apple usual doubles the CPUs on the Mac Pros and the previous rumors all say this. Thus, the new Mac Pro just might have 12 cores instead of 6 and with each core doubled by threading, we could be looking at 12 cores and 24 threads! Now that’s some serious power.
So the buying advice for is definitely to hold on to your horses. However, most of us do not need all this power. If you are an amateur or even a semi-professional in sound and even video, do yourself a good turn and buy the top of the line iMac. You will get more bang for your buck, less waiting (compared to the Mac Pro) and of course — less spending. However, if you are overcome with gear-lust, you will just have to hold on. If Apple does land an exclusive deal with Intel, we could get a taste of this raw power as early as February.
The current Mac Pro
So far, the Mac Pro has been the choice for professional across the globe who swear by OS X and need as much power as they can possibly get. Intel might’ve released the chip sooner but the company probably does not want to harm its partners during the holiday season, so nothing has been mentioned publicly. Also, Intel is eager to announce the next-generation of Atom and may be they did not want this six core beast to steal the lime light away from the new Atoms.
Whatever the case may be, 2010 sure is going to start with a bang for use techies. With so many gadgets getting released, Q1 2010 is going to leave use breathless from all the coverage. Not that we half mind such an onslaught! [read]
