Intel's roadmap has already indicated that Bloomfield, its first Nehalem-based chip, would ship as a 2.66GHz mainstream chip in Q4 '08, accompanied by 2.93GHz performance and 3.2GHz extreme parts.
We were pleasantly surprised to see a mainstream Nehalem-chip scheduled for as early as Q4, but reports now suggest that Intel could be preparing to launch its first Bloomfield processors in September, toward the end of Q3.
According to DigiTimes, sources at motherboard manufacturers have stated that Bloomfield processors will now launch in September along with Intel's X58 chipset. Retail availability of the new chips, however, is said to be expected in October.
Earlier this month, HKEPC, claimed Intel's 2.66GHz Bloomfield part will retail at a surprisingly low $284, in one thousand unit quantities.
With Intel yet to make an official statement, it's all rumours for now, but we get the impression that the long-awaited successor to the Core microarchitecture is closer than we think.
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