During IDF, Intel announced the dual-core version of its Atom ("Diamondville") processor for low-cost "nettop" PCs. The Atom 330 will be soldered onto a low-cost D945GCLF2 mini-ITX board that has gigabit Ethernet, S-video, six-channel audio, eight USB ports, and PCI expansion. Intel did not specify the Atom 330's clock speed, nor its power consumption.  
 

 

The D945GCLF2 motherboard is an enhanced version of Intel's D945GCLF ("Little Falls"). Like the Atom 230, the Atom 330 uses 45nm technology, features a 533MHz frontside bus, and is designed to work with Intel's 945GC chipset (the 82945GC northbridge and 82801GB southbridge). Unlike the Atom 230, however, the Atom 330 features dual cores, plus second-level cache that has been doubled from 512MB to 1GB.  
 
There was an interesting looking motherboard sitting out at one of the many Atom presentations we attended this week. We asked the Intel product manager what it was. He said that this was the new Atom dual core with a heat sink removed to expose the 1 MB of cache memory. We quickly snapped a few photos. Below is what we saw.  
 
 
 
The product manager said he forgot his screw driver, so he could not remove the fan and heat sink from the Atom 330 processor so we could see that too. We think he was really just protecting his paycheck.  
 
We are very sure that none of the other IDF journalists got to see this motherboard, because it was late on the last day of IDF. There was food and drinks being set up in the main exhibit hall, something that is much more important for some reporters, than a first look at a new product. X