It is known that Nehalem as well as Westmere central processing units (CPUs) will use a new platform architecture and while the company does not directly state it, the new platform will hardly use processor system busses, but rather will feature point-to-point serial bus (CSI) similar to Hyper-Transport or PCI Express. The new CPUs due in late 2008 will feature so-called dynamically scalable architecture, which means that Intel will be able to tailor its processor designs according to needs of various market segments.

In particular, Intel already announced that, among other things, it would be able to scale and configure caches, interconnect controllers as well as memory controllers. Already now Intel can reduce or increase cache sizes for various processors without many problems, whereas AMD can enable or disable Hyper-Transport links within its processors depending on their positioning (e.g. AMD Opteron processors for multi-processor servers have three HT links, whereas Athlon 64 for 1P machines have only one HT link). But Intel wants to go even further and scale the number of memory controller channels. According to PC Watch web-site, the top Nehalem processor code-named Bloomfield with four cores will have triple-channel DDR3 memory controller, whereas slightly less advanced may have less channels. Three memory channels supporting PC3-12800 (DDR3 1600MHz) memory would provide approximately 38.4GB/s memory bandwidth, up significantly from about 21.3GB/s memory bandwidth available today. Given that in 2009 Intel plans to release Nehalem processor with built-in graphics core, triple-channel memory controller may help to keep performance in 3D games on relatively high level.

In other news, Intel plans to launch two new entry level chipsets in Q3 this year to replace the current 946GZ/PL and 945G chipsets. Intel G31 Express and P31 Express support the current Core 2 Duo and Quad processors as well as the upcoming 45nm Yorkfield and Wolfdale. G31/P31 supports 1066FSB in Q3'07 and 1333FSB in Q1'08 upon validation, DDR2-800 memories up to 4GB and allows one x16 PCIe slot for discrete graphics. However, G31/P31 is paired up with older ICH7 series. For G31, it comes with integrated Intel GMA 3100 like G33, Q33 and Q35 chipsets.