The real quad-core: A peek at AMD's Barcelona

It's been a rough week for AMD fans: not only did the long-awaited 4x4 disappoint in just about every way conceivable, but the company also announced that it had finally produced its first 65 nm chips--a few days after Intel announced that, having conquered 65 nm, it will now move toward a 45 nm process. Fear not AMD fans, there's hope on the horizon yet. Ars Technica's resident processor expert Jon Stokes takes a close look at AMD's upcoming Barcelona: the world's first "native" quad-core chip. As you'll recall, the Barcelona houses four cores on a single die--in contrast to Intel's quad-core Kentsfield, which some have accused of being quad-core in name only. At any rate, Barcelona looks awfully promising; the only question that remains is whether AMD will have arrived at the quad-core party too late.

For a closer look at Barcelona: 
- see Ars Technica's preview of the chip