Direct from Computex, HotHardware have some exclusive pictures of a still unnamed pair of 45nm Penryn-based quad-core microprocessors from Intel. There were some interesting markings on one of the processors that allude to the possibility of it being based on A1 silicon and they have got a comparison shot next to a Kenstfield chip up as well.

Penryin processors are based on Intel's LGA771 packaging, the packaging that is used with Intel's current Xeon processors. These processors will be housed in a dual socket LGA771 motherboard (Skulltrail) that will feature multiple PCI Express x16 slots. They will probably only support FBDIMMs - at least in the beginning - making it pretty obvious that like AMD, Intel has simply transformed a dual socket server platform into a dual socket desktop platform. Pricing has not been discussed, but it will be interesting to see if Intel sells both processors at a discount and in a bundle, or if both will be sold separately.

Looking at the pictures more closely, we see "HT" plus one other character written on the lower CPU's heat-spreader, but that is not a reference to Hyper-Threading. To the right "A1" is also written on the IHS, alluding to the possibility that these particular processors are based on A1 revision silicon. If these processors are based on A1 silicon, we know this particuar revision of Penryn has been up and running in Intel's lans since early January.