Intel prepares six-core Xeon

Quad-core and Octo-core might be the current next-gen craze for desktops and servers, but Intel seems wants to pitch a line of CPUs in-between as well. Intel will be adding on to their Xeon lineup with the “Dunnington” core later this year, a CPU that will have a total of six cores under the hood.

Dunnington, which was announced three years ago, is intended to be an enterprise-class chip and will feature 3MB of shared L2 cache per pair of cores, and shared 16MB L3 cache. According to the leaked slides, it'll use the 'somewhat dated' 1066MHz FSB, and is probably aimed at preventing the Opteron from regaining any ground once AMD gets back on their feet.