CeBIT 2007 coverage from Taiwan (Part 2) - Bearlake, MCP73 and 8800OC (Page 3)

Intel Bearlake continued!

As far as onboard graphics solutions goes, Intel will also be launching two new chipsets based on the Bearlake core. The first will be the G33 which will come out in May and support hardware DX9 graphics. The second and most spectacular will be the G35 which will come out sometime in Q3 with hardware DX10 graphics. There is no word on 3D performance yet but you'd expect that a DX10 part should be required to offer half decent performance and with Intel said to be producing their own discrete graphics chipsets sometime next year, we should start to see things in the 3D area rapidly improve from Intel.

Intel's range of Bearlake chipsets will be produced using .65nm process technology which means more usable chipsets per wafer. As a result, this enables Intel to provide more chipsets to their partners at a better price which in turn enables them to tighten their grip on AMD and try and consolidate on their already strong Core 2 platform position. Not only that but Intel intend on massive price cuts to their Dual Core processors with a clear push to Quad Core which will mean Dual Core will become mainstream, hence the massive price drops. Some sources have claimed that the upcoming 3GHz E6850 (like X6800 but with 1333 FSB) will cost just $266 USD which is a 75% price drop for a slightly faster CPU.

We'll leave you with some pictures of ABIT's upcoming and working P35 motherboard called abit IP35. Keep in mind this is a very early revision and the cooling will may well change to a fancier heat pipe solution - take note of the single PCI Express x16 slot.

Clearly Intel are looking like they'll end up posting great revenue figures for 2007 and 2008 is shaping up to me yet another good year for Intel as they attempt to push the sword deeper into AMD's chest.