Seeking to build on its lead over rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) in the race to sell quad-core processors, Intel launched three quad-core processors on Monday.One of the new chips, the Core 2 Quad, marks Intel’s first attempt to spread the new technology to a wider market than large data centers and research grids. The other two, both versions of the Quad-Core Xeon 3200, are designed for low-end, single-socket servers.To garner attention for its launch during the busy International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this week in Las Vegas, Intel had draped much of the city with advertising banners that hung from hotels, garages and airport baggage carousels.This launch gives desktop users the same performance that once required a supercomputer, Intel Chief Executive Paul Otellini said in a release. The Core 2 Quad, designed for processing bottlenecks encountered with high-definition video entertainment and multimedia, is intended for Intel’s Viiv package for digital home PCs, according to the vendor. The most likely buyers will be high-performance desktop and gaming PC users who run chip-intensive applications like Adobe After Effects, Premiere Pro 2.0, Windows Media Encoder, Snapstream and Win DVD.Rival chip maker AMD insists that Intel has merely glued two dual-core chips together, and that AMD’s “Barcelona” four-core processor will perform much better when it launches later this year. A strong impediment to the widespread adoption of quad-core chips is the scarcity of multi-threaded software than can take advantage of the four-way design. Indeed, Intel also pledged Monday that it’s actively working with software developers on enabling multi-threaded applications and next-generation games.Intel is positioning the other new chips—the Quad-Core Xeon 3200 series—based on their power efficiency for entry-level server applications such as e-mail, the Web and file-and-print. Intel is selling those chips as a 2.13GHz Quad-Core Xeon X3210 for US$690 and the 2.4GHz Quad-Core Xeon X3220 for US$851, both priced per unit in lots of 1,000. The new 2.4GHz Core 2 Quad Q6600 is also selling for $851.-Ben Ames, IDG News Service (Boston Bureau)Related Links: CES: AMD Intros Notebook, Digital Home Systems CES: Samsung to Launch New Blu-ray Disc Player CES: Bill Gates Expands Microsoft’s Digital Home Strategy CES Q&A: Bill Gates Talks Convergence, Why Tech Is FunCheck out our CIO News Alerts and Tech Informer pages for more updated news coverage. Related content brandpost Sponsored by Catchpoint Systems, Inc. Gain full visibility across the Internet Stack with IPM (Internet Performance Monitoring) Today’s IT systems have more points of failure than ever before. Internet Performance Monitoring provides visibility over external networks and services to mitigate outages. By Neal Weinberg Dec 01, 2023 3 mins IT Operations brandpost Sponsored by Zscaler How customers can save money during periods of economic uncertainty Now is the time to overcome the challenges of perimeter-based architectures and reduce costs with zero trust. By Zscaler Dec 01, 2023 4 mins Security feature LexisNexis rises to the generative AI challenge With generative AI, the legal information services giant faces its most formidable disruptor yet. That’s why CTO Jeff Reihl is embracing and enhancing the technology swiftly to keep in front of the competition. By Paula Rooney Dec 01, 2023 6 mins Generative AI Digital Transformation Cloud Computing feature 10 business intelligence certifications and certificates to advance your BI career From BI analysts and BI developers to BI architects and BI directors, business intelligence pros are in high demand. Here are the certifications and certificates that can give your career an edge. By Thor Olavsrud Dec 01, 2023 8 mins Certifications Business Intelligence IT Skills Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe