Will Intel ever release an eight core (or six core?) Core 2 CPU for LGA775? With the new 45nm fabrication process, an 8-core CPU within TDP limits may be possible. Imagine eight SETI@Home workunits being crunched simultaneously...

A Core 2 'Octo' CPU (taken from http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/10/29/intel_penryn_4ghz_with_air_cooling/page40.html).

If Intel does not release a Core 2 CPU with more than four cores, will they reintroduce 'hyper-threading' into a future Kentsfield XE CPU? (Just like the Pentium Extreme Edition - a Pentium D with 'hyper-threading' enabled).

Or will the strain on the memory bandwidth of current motherboards by so many CPUs cores (both physical and virtual) make such a CPU unfeasible?

[Different Socket I know ...] Nehalem (Microarchitecture) Wikipedia article. Variants with 2/4/8 cores, with 4/8/16 threads respectively, debut 2nd half of 2008 (supposedly).

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"Living by the wisdom of computer science doesn't sound so bad after all. And unlike most advice, it's backed up by proofs." -- Algorithms to live by: The computer science of human decisions.

[Different Socket I know ...] Nehalem (Microarchitecture) Wikipedia article. Variants with 2/4/8 cores, with 4/8/16 threads respectively, debut 2nd half of 2008 (supposedly).

Nehalem will very likely be a 'Core 3' architecture, which won't be backward compatible with current LGA775 motherboards.

I was asking whether 6 or 8 core CPUs will materialise on the 'Core 2' architecture.

Nehalem will very likely be a 'Core 3' architecture, which won't be backward compatible with current LGA775 motherboards.

I was asking whether 6 or 8 core CPUs will materialise on the 'Core 2' architecture.

Not 6 or 8 core According to the Roadmap on that link I gave, Which shows Wolfdale (Dual core Penryn) and Yorkfield (Quad Core Penryn) as the only two Penryns remaining before Nehalem, I would guess there just wouldn't be enough silicon real estate + pins + RAM bandwidth on the current architecture, but I've been suprised before.

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"Living by the wisdom of computer science doesn't sound so bad after all. And unlike most advice, it's backed up by proofs." -- Algorithms to live by: The computer science of human decisions.

The simple Answer is NO.

From 2H2008 Intel are concentrating on Nehalem, which is a total restructure of the chip architecture. It is not a Core '3'. It is a totally new design of chip, it will also finally include Intels intergrated memory controller, helping to reduce memory bandwidth issues we currently see.

Nehalem will start as 45nm in 2008 then progress down to 32nm in 1H2009. I'm not 100% sure but I don't think they will be backwards compatible. You will more than likely need a Stoakley-Seaburg or Caneland platform motherboard.

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