Intel "Launches" Core i7 (Nehamem)...

Many of you are drooling over the next big thing from Intel, and the next-gen processors are one step closer today to being in your greedy little fists.

Intel released a lot of details about the first three Core i7 CPUs today - except when you can buy them. They will be:

Core i7 920 2.66GHz, $284
Core i7 940 2.93GHz, $562
Core i7 X965 3.24GHz, $1000

Retail prices will be a tad higher. There are a lot of good changes attached to this shift, and some not so good ones. The good:

1. Direct communication between the CPU and the memory.
2. Triple-channel memory mode.
3. Many SLI/Crossfire compatible motherboards (plan on us using one)
4. Hyperthreading (8 effective processor cores from the OS's standpoint)
5. They scream.

The downside:

1. Required X58 motherboards and DDR3 memory will keep prices high for a while.
2. Linked memory will make overclocking harder.
3. Intel is busting our chops for overclocking too effectively, and may prevent significant overclocking of the less-expensive chips.
4. It's a new technology (actually several) so early adopters need to be ready for kinks.

Oh, and it's anybody's guess when this stuff will actually become available. We predict early December, but it could be the last week of November.

Here are some good links for those of you looking for more technical details:

Tweaktown
Hot Hardware
The Tech Report
Tom's Hardware

More to come...