The Intel Core i7 980X (Gulftown) processor debuts with the following features:

• Six processing cores
• Support for SMT (simultaneous multi-threading), allowing up to 12 threads to be processed simultaneously
• 32 KB instruction + 32 KB data L1 cache per core
• 256 KB L2 cache per core
• Large 12 MB L3 cache shared by all 6 cores
• An integrated memory controller (IMC) supporting three channels of DDR3 memory
  - Memory clock speeds of up to 1066MHz
  - Memory bandwidth of up to 32 GB/s
  - Up to 6 memory sockets
• 2x Intel Quick Path Interconnect (QPI); up-to 25.6GB/sec bandwidth
• Addition of 7 new SSE4 instructions
• Monolithic processor design (all six cores on a single die)
• Fabricated using Intel's 32nm 2nd generation high-k metal gate process technology

What you need to remember is that this year, we will likely see different models and clock frequencies for Gulftown as well. And here's a shocker, we expect an 8 core version maybe next year. In fact an 8 core version is already in the works for the server platform under codename Beckton.

The current line-up comes together in the Nehalem family architecture, each product series tagged with its own product codename. Bloomfield for example is the current Core i7 quad core line based on socket 1366 whereas Gulftown is the 6-core processor codename. I placed these into a little chart, let's have a look:

Architectural changes for Gulftown then. The increase of additional physical cores brought the processor towards a 1170 million transistor count architecture. As mentioned it is built-up on a 32nm fabrication process. Gulftown will pack 64KB of L1 cache per core and 256KB of L2 cache per core. Those are supplemented by a large pool of shared L3 cache, which in the case of the six-core model is 12MB.

Of course, the processor has Turbo Boost, QPI (Quick Path Interface), the move forward to an integrated triple channel DDR3 memory controller allowing the product heaps of memory bandwidth, and the return of Hyper Threading (Pentium 4 era technology), which this time really makes an astonishing difference. We'll explain all these in the following pages.

Nehalem brought along improvements with significant changes in the Intel approach to CPU and system scaling and DRAM memory management. Let's walk through them.

Gulftown processor die on a 32 nm wafer