Just one day after the the early AMD launch of their new Shanghai series of processors, Intel has pre-launched the first members of their much-heralded Nehalem series of chips. The early delivery of the new AMD chip was covered here in this column yesterday, but that timing advantage did not last long. Intel made Nehalem processors available in Tokyo late last night. The new Intel processor is scheduled for delivery worldwide tomorrow.

The Core i7 processor, the first of the Nehalem processors to be introduced, was rolled out first by Irasshaimase! Stores in Tokyo today. The i7 is aimed squarely at gamers, and is a desktop processor. Irasshaimase! is not alone. Giant retailer Sofmap is also showing i7 processors, motherboards, and pre-built system on its Web site, as reported by CNET today. Other retailers, both brick and mortar stores and Web-based sellers, are expected to follow suit quickly.

The i7 processors being shown by Sofmap include a 2.66 GHz chip selling for $340, a 2.93 GHz unit retailing for $660, and a 3.2 GHz processor retailing for $1,160. The site also show a series of 2.66 GHz processor bundles which include the Windows Vista Home “DSP Version.” The Delivery Service Provider (DSP) version of Vista is typically bundled with other “qualifying” hardware. This OS is being pushed very hard in Japan.

The specifications shown on the site match those that have been announced by Intel on their Web site. In summary, the specs include LGA1366 socket application, Quick Path Interconnect (QPI) rated at 4.8GT/sec (gigatransfers per second) buss connection, 8MB L3 cache, and a 130 watt TDP (Thermal Design Power) configuration.

There is no information available yet comparing the new Nehalem processors from Intel with the new Shanghai processors from AMD. There will be a race over the next several days to acquire hardware and build test systems, then release comparison testing statistics using common benchmarking software. Like the rest of the computing world, we eagerly await the results of those tests.

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Entry was posted on Sunday, November 16th, 2008 at 6:13 pm under Intel, Japan, Microsoft, Retail, Technology.

Read more entries by Michael W. Jones.
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