Intel's Nehalem chips to get 'Core' branding

Intel's next-generation desktop processors will be branded "Intel Core" with an "i7" identifier for the first wave of products.

The i7 identifier will apply to the first crop of high-end desktop processors, according to George Alfs, an Intel spokesperson. Other identifiers will come later that will "complement" the i7, said Alfs.

There will be a separate black logo for the highest-end offering called the Extreme Edition. Model numbers will differentiate each chip.

"The Core name is and will be our flagship PC processor brand going forward," Sean Maloney, Intel executive vice president and general manager, said in a statement.

Intel is trying to simplify branding. In the past "it's been Core Duo, Core Solo...Basically, we're going to simplify Nehalem down to just Core," Alfs said.

Currently known by the code name Nehalem, the desktop Core i7 processors are slated to ship in the fourth quarter and will be based on a new microarchitecture that will have faster chip-to-chip communication and be better at doing multiple tasks simultaneously--what Intel calls hyper-threading, among other improvements.

The Core i7 processors will also be Intel's first processors to put all four cores on one piece of silicon. (Something that Advanced Micro Devices has already achieved with its Phenom and Opteron processors.)

Core i7 chips are expected to have a special appeal to enthusiast gamers because of the increased performance that typically comes with a new Intel microarchitecture. Content creation will also be a target market, Intel said.

Versions, due later, will be targeted at the server market and, after that, the mobile space, where certain versions will integrate a graphics engine onto the same piece of silicon as the processor.