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Running at 2.93GHz, it tops the first Core 2 Extreme, the 2.66GHz QX6700, which was released, back in November 2006 when Intel also released Quad-Core Intel Xeons for the server and workstation markets. Both chips have a 1066MHz system bus and 8MB of L2 cache.

As well as gamers, the target market for the new chip includes media professionals and their intensive use of multimedia - Intel highlights the release of software from the likes of Adobe, Cakewalk and DivX to make use of all four cores for multi-threaded processing. For example, the Intel Core 2 Extreme quad-core processor QX6800 is up to 65 per cent

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faster than the Intel Core 2 Extreme dual-core processor X6800 when it comes to video encoding, it states.

Available immediately, the QX6800 is priced at $1,199, based on 1,000 unit orders.

'The performance and technology leadership we are delivering with our enthusiast quad-core processor lineup is a direct result of the reliability provided by Intel's manufacturing and engineering strength,' said the general manager of Intel's Digital Home Group, Eric Kim. 'This translates to user benefits such as better gameplay with more intelligent computer-generated opponents and less wait time for demanding high-definition media editing.'

According to Intel, games such as Crysis, Supreme Commander and Hellgate London are among those that have already been 'threaded' to take advantage of multiple cores. They have 'undergone substantial joint engineering efforts with Intel to use more than two processing threads to their advantage,' it states.

Microsoft Flight Simulator is another game that will benefit from multi-core use, claims Intel. Specifically, Microsoft Flight Simulator X, Service Pack One (SP1), due out later this month: 'Flight Sim X SP1 greatly increases multicore utilization and will scale as more threads are available leading to reduced load times as well as frame rate improvements and greater visual complexity during flight,' said Flight Sim Program Manager at Microsoft Game Studios, Phil Taylor.