Much has been made of Intel's hexa-core Gulftown processor - thought to be productised as the Core i7 980X - but whilst Intel remains tight-lipped in regards to retail availability, the rumour mill continues to point at a March launch window.
According to the Apple enthusiasts over at French website macbidouille.com, Intel will introduce its range-topping desktop processor as part of a refreshed Mac Pro on March 16.
We've already suggested that Intel may launch its high-end onslaught in March 2010 in an effort to beat AMD's Thuban to the hexa-core punch, and the proposed date of March 16 sounds about right.
Whether or not the Gulftown part will be a timed exclusive for Apple remains unknown, but previous rumours have suggested that Apple's new Mac Pro will feature a hexa-core Intel processor at its heart, along with 10 Gigabit Ethernet and 8GB/16GB memory modules - pushing the maximum installed memory limit up to 128GB.
Intel's Gulftown, a 32nm, six-core derivative of Bloomfield that's armed with hyper threading, 12MB of L3 cache and all the goodness of LGA1366, is a 12-thread CPU that's on track to become the most powerful desktop processor to date. Expect to see it at next month's CeBIT.
