Intel's next-generation "Penryn" desktop processors may not reach retail shelves until next year, but their secrets will be released before long -- on September 11, some gossip says. Numerous leaks about the new quad-cores have been widely available in both print and on Web sites, making Penryn almost a soft launch.

The first wave will come in the form of new Xeon server and workstation processors featuring the Penryn-like "Harpertown" core at clock speeds from 2.16GHz to 3.0GHz. These processors will feature a 45-nanometer-process core with a full 12MB of Level 2 cache and a front-side bus speed of 1333MHz.

Rumor has it that Intel is also looking to get IT gearheads all hot and bothered with an Extreme Xeon X5460 running at 3.16GHz. On one hand, the thought of an Extreme Server is amusing. On the other hand, it's oddly compelling, so I can hardly wait to see the Intel marketing plan.

The next big announcement from Intel looks to be an upgraded high-end platform for its new 1333MHz-bus Core 2 processors. The Intel X38, expected to ship in early fall, will replace the venerable i975X as the enthusiast's desktop platform of choice. This chipset will join the wildly popular Intel P35, which is currently at the top of everyone's shopping list, and finally fill the last hole in the company's product line.

Patience is a virtue, so hardcore gamer may prove glad to have bypassed the P35 and wait for the X38. The upcoming chipset offers new enthusiast-class features such as PCI Express 2.0 and DDR/3-1333 support.

PCI Express 2.0 is one of the prime ingredients of the X38 platform. Neither Intel's P35 nor G35 chipsets support the new version, so the X38 will be the first commercially available PCI Express 2.0 chipset.

True to its name, the new standard doubles both the power and bandwidth available to PCIe graphics slots, freeing all but the highest-end graphics cards from the chore of connecting to a power supply. PCI Express bandwidth will double from 2.5 to 5 gigabits per second, but this will likely not have an immediate impact on performance. The X38 will also support dual PCI Express x16 slots, but there is still no official word on potential AMD CrossFire and Nvidia SLI support. Expect one, and maybe both, at launch.

Today's Intel P35 platforms are limited to DDR-3/1066 memory, which is ample for any Core 2 processor, but enthusiasts were chomping at the bit for DDR/3-1333 support. The X38 may remove mainstream DDR-2 from the support list, but ultra-high-speed DDR-3/1333 helps push memory bandwidth to unheard-of levels.

Dual-channel DDR/2-800 can handle more than 12GB/sec, and dual-channel DDR-3/1066 ramps this up to 17GB/sec. A DDR-3/1333 configuration, on the other hand, jacks bandwidth beyond 21 gigabytes per second. True, a lot of this bandwidth is pure overkill, even for a 1333MHz-bus Core 2 Quad, but the extra headroom certainly can't hurt (assuming latencies and costs are kept in check). Overclocking has also been improved, and the X38 will reportedly be the most enthusiast-friendly platform Intel has ever released.

The Pentium Is Dead, Long Live the Pentium?

The Intel Pentium label is steeped in history, having gone through six top-level brand-name changes since its introduction in 1993 and multiple core revisions in between. The streak ended with the Pentium D, which was the last holdout of the NetBurst architecture and was soon replaced by the Core 2 Duo. Now that the Core 2 series has multiplied to over 20 different processors at myriad budget levels, Intel has decided to pull the plug on the last remaining Pentium 4 and Pentium D models and call an official end to an era.

These soon-to-be-spiked processors include the Pentium 4 600 series and the remainder of the Pentium D 900 series, most of which were still in production for OEM suppliers who wanted them. This move hardly comes as a surprise, as the Pentium 4/D models were on life support anyway. With even entry-level buyers flocking to the Core 2 Duo, it spelled doom whatever way you looked at it.

Will Intel also deep-six its entry-level Celeron line? There might be some market value left in the label, but let's face it, any single-core design is now a dead CPU walking. For instance, the $500 to $700 laptop segment is red hot right now, but even there it's a dual-core world, with not only Core 2 Duo price cuts but two new, bargain-priced dual-core processors courting retail vendors such as HP and Gateway. One is AMD's Mobile Athlon 64 X2 TK-53.

The other is a hybrid with traces of DNA from both the old Pentium M and the original Core Duo seen in the first half of 2006, before the Core 2 Duo burst onto the scene. What's its name? Pentium Dual-Core (not to be confused with Pentium D).

Since the Core 2 emerged, Intel has been a near-unstoppable juggernaut, rolling from one success to another and crushing its opponents along the way. It wasn't that long ago that enthusiasts would have scoffed at buying an Intel CPU, let alone a motherboard with an Intel chipset, but it's now de rigueur for any hardware junkie. The new X38 platform should be another feather in Intel's cap, especially if the company can pull off both SLI and CrossFire support, while Intel's move into -- actually, invention of -- the Extreme Server market displays the confidence of a company at the top of its game.