Intel should confirm today that a new version of its Itanium processor, which sports a mighty 9MB of L3 cache, will be delayed until Q4 at least, and will come out as 1.6GHz instead of the originally intended 1.7GHz. Despite this delay, the new Itanium will represent a strong upgrade from current Itaniums, which provide only 6MB of Level 3 cache.

Although in many ways merely a "minor roadmap tweak", this is not the first delay for Intel recently. In particular, its mobile processor line has seen a number of delays. However, its important to note that Intel is still on track for a number of its other product lines, including the dual-core Montecito product due in 2005.

Even if you put lipstick on it, it's still a pig.