Intel Atom in illicit CPU-Z liason

THE LAUNCH OF products based on Intel's Atom chip marchitecture draws ever closer. As is traditional for the industry, the closer the launch date, the more leaky the vendors, and Atom is no exception.

For hardware nerds eager to get a look at processor tech specs, CPU-Z is the daddy of Windows software problems so we are sure it is with a geeky glee that our man Fudzilla managed to grab a snapshot of the programme running on an Atom chip.

You can see the gory GUI right here.

CPU-Z identifies the chip as a codename Silverthorne, but based on Core 2 architecture. The model that Fudo has seen runs at 1.33GHz, which is a 10x multiplier on the standard 133MHz front side bus.

Expect CPU-Z to properly identify Atom chips just as soon as Intel officially smashes a bottle of champagne against this one. µ

Andrew Thomas adds: Whilst having the deepest respect for ex-Inq hack Fudzilla, I can't help but notice that the screenshot shows a stepping one piece of silicon. Considering that Intel can get up to stepping three or four before making production silicon, it strikes us as somewhat strange that CPU-Z isn't flagging this particular chip as an ES (Engineering Sample) device as illustrated below.

Could the screenshot possibly have been tampered with in some way?