Intel Launches Dual-Core Pentium Extreme Edition

Intel today officially launched its dual-core Pentium Extreme Edition 840 processor with the announcement that PC makers Alienware, Dell and Velocity Micro are selling systems based on the company’s new chip.

“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, vice president of Intel’s Digital Home Group.

The 3.2GHz 840 is priced at around $1,000 and is geared towards high-end systems for ‘computer hobbyists and entertainment enthusiasts’. Cheaper models are expected to follow.

Today’s launch coincides with the 40th anniversary of Moore’s Law which states that the number of transistors on a chip doubles roughly every two years. Moore, one of the founders of Intel, made the observation in an article in the April 19, 1965 issue of Electronics magazine.

Intel had been expected to officially launch its Extreme Edition Pentium 4 processor range on 20 April, but the early announcement ensures the range is launched ahead of rival AMD (Advanced Micro Devices), which is expected to roll out its dual-core Opteron chips on 21 April.

Meanwhile, The Register says widespread availability is more important: “So far neither company has been able to offer that. In any case, neither company is the first to ship a dual-core processor in commercial quantities - IBM’s been doing it for some time, though you’d have a job getting one of its Power chips to work in a desktop.”

The Inquirer goes as far as saying the dual core Pentium 4 launch is a ‘huge step backwards’ for Intel: “Word out of Intel HQ is that one of the dictats of the post Barrett order is to under promise and to over deliver. The other new order is no spin. Intel is about to fail miserably and publicly on both accounts.”

The new Pentium Processor Extreme Edition 840 runs on Intel’s 955X Express chipset also launched today along with WIMAX, Intel’s first broadband wireless technology chip.