Intel's Penryn Xeon processors due in November

Intel is reportedly preparing to launch its anticipated 45nm quad-core Penryn processor on November 11, according to a posting on Intel’s reseller webpage. The website listed seven Penryn models with clock speeds ranging from 2GHz to 3.16GHz operating on a 1333MHz frontside bus and packing 12MB of L2 cache.

Penryn is the first chip to use so-called High-K and metal gate transistors, which allow the company to dramatically reduce power consumption. All chips except for the 120W 3.16GHz model will have thermal ratings of 80W. The site also lists a pair of low-voltage Xeons scheduled to be launched in Q1 2008 with thermal ratings of 50W.

News of the upcoming 45nm quad-core Penryn processor launch comes short after rumors started to emerge about a September 10 launch date for AMD’s first 65nm quad-core "Barcelona" Opterons, putting some additional pressure on the struggling chip maker. Prices for Penryn-based Intel Xeon processors will reportedly range from $209 for the 2GHz model all the way to $1,172 for the 3.16GHz one.