Forget about chocolate, flowers, or diamonds, because the real buying decision come Valentine's Day will be what processor to indulge in. It's no stretch to say the entire tech world will remain infatuated with Intel's Core i7 platform by the time February rolls around, but Intel won't be the only one trying to woo consumers. According to DigiTimes, motherboard manufacturers are busy preparing for a sextuplet of 45nm quad-core AM3-based CPUs from AMD in February.

* Phenom II X4 710 (2.6GHz, 6MB L3 cache)
* Phenom II X4 720 (2.8GHz, 6MB L3 cache)
* Phenom II X4 805 (2.5GHz, 4MB L3 cache)
* Phenom II X4 810 (2.6GHz, 4MB L3 cache)
* Phenom II X4 910 (2.6GHz, 6MB L3 cache)
* Phenom II X4 925 (2.8GHz, 6MB L3 cache)The same sources that have been whispering sweet-somethings to DigiTimes also say that AMD will follow up it's busy February release schedule with more 45nm CPUs in April, but they won't be Phenom parts. Instead, look for Athlon-branded chips without the shared L3 cache. Additionally, the chip maker plans to release the quad-core Athlon X4 600 family and tri-core Athlon X3 family at the same time. And if you can wait until June, sources say AMD will introduce it's 45nm dual-core Athlon X2 200 series.

Out with the old and in with the new. That's what Intel's doing with its Xeon server line of processors, as the chip maker announced in a product change notification (PCN) to customers that it plans to phase out 31 different retail boxed dual- and quad-core Xeons built around the Core architecture on a 65nm manufacturing process as it transitions to 45nm.

Specifically, six Woodcrest dual-core Xeons (5120, 5150, LV5148, 5110, 5130, 5140, 5160) and nine Cloverton quad-core Xeons (E5310, E5320, L5320, E5335, L5335, E5345, X5365, X5355) are getting the axe, in addition to variations in each lineup to bring the total up to 31, TGDaily reports.Once supply of the boxed versions run out, customers will no longer be able to order the 65nm chips though tray units will still be made available, albeit with a shorter warranty through the reseller and without a bundled heatsink/fan.

Much (digital) ink has run on the subject of dual-core Phenom derivatives. Rumor sites initially expected such chips to launch quad-core Phenoms last year, but we later heard that AMD had shelved the concept until the 45nm switch. Then, 65nm dual-core Phenom listings somehow made their way onto a price search engine in Europe, and unofficial benchmarks of a 2.2GHz model surfaced. We still haven't heard a peep from AMD on the subject, though.

Expreview now claims to have the latest scoop. The Chinese site says AMD may have given up on the 2.3GHz chip we heard about last month, but the chipmaker's October roadmap includes two new dual-core Phenom derivatives. Branded Athlon X2 7550 and Athlon X2 7750, the two CPUs have respective clock speeds of 2.5GHz and 2.7GHz, which they each pair with 3MB of total cache—likely 512KB of the L2 variety per core and 2MB of shared L3 cache per chip.The roadmap reportedly pegs the arrival of these CPUs in the first quarter of next year. However, Expreview says AMD will manufacture them using 65nm process technology, and both models will have 95W thermal envelopes. This claim sounds a tad implausible, although AMD has made some strange moves in the past.

According to the most recent details regarding NVIDIA's upcoming graphics products, the Santa Clara-based chip maker is planning to release its very first 40nm GPUs, even before competitor AMD has a chance of delivering its own 40nm-based solutions. Apparently, NVIDIA will step up to the next-generation TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) 40G process technology with the introduction of new mobile chips, codenamed N10x.

At this point in time, there are no details regarding availability and official release date but, according to VR-Zone, NVIDIA will try to be the first to offer a 40nm graphics card, thus increasing its chances of gaining the number one spot in the graphics card market. One of the most interesting aspects of the rumored release is the fact that the company is said to be considering applying the new manufacturing technology to its mobile graphics chip business, a division that has recently suffered impressive losses because of some reported faulty chips.Furthermore, the abovementioned website even suggests that NVIDIA could possibly roll out a dual chip solution for its recently released GT200 graphics core. This would ultimately increase the company's chances of regaining market leadership over competitor AMD, which took one step farther by releasing its Radeon HD 4870 X2 graphics monster.

No details regarding the future 55nm GeForce graphics cards are available, as neither when the 40nm parts are scheduled to arrive but, given NVIDIA's current situation in the market, 40nm-based graphics cards could just be one of the best solutions for it.

For the time being, AMD's graphics subsidiary, ATI, is the only graphics card manufacturer that has managed to deliver a high-performance video card solution based on the 55nm manufacturing technology. The company's entire Radeon HD 4000-series product lineup has been highly successful despite NVIDIA's latest high-end GeForce cards. The release of the dual-GPU 4870-based card has enabled ATI to claim the leading position in the graphics card market.

We PC enthusiasts have been co-opting enterprise-class hardware for our own personal systems for years now. We got our first taste of the creamy smoothness of SMP on dual-socket workstation boards long before you could get two cores conveniently packaged on the same chip. Tempted by lightning-fast access times and 10K-RPM spindle speeds, we adopted Western Digital's Raptor hard drive. And who can forget AMD's Toledo-based dual-core Opterons—overclocking marvels compatible with the same 939-pin socket as Athlon 64 X2 desktop chips. I've had what was a relatively inexpensive Opteron 165 designed to run at 1.8GHz happily chugging away at 2.4GHz on a standard desktop motherboard for a couple of years now.

Although they share the same architecture and performance characteristics as their desktop counterparts, server and workstation processors like the Opteron typically undergo additional validation testing and run at lower operating voltages. In a sense, chips that make the grade for the enterprise world are the best of the breed. That doesn't guarantee overclocking success, but it at least hints at untapped potential. When that potential plugs into a standard desktop motherboard loaded with overclocking options, we just can't resist.It's no wonder, then, that Intel's Xeon X3320 caught my eye recently. This LGA775 chip features a 45nm Yorkfield core running at 2.5GHz with 6MB of L2 cache, making it the Xeon equivalent of the Core 2 Quad Q9300. What's more, while the Q9300 has been in short supply of late, the X3320 has been more consistently available at roughly the same price.

Few things make us happier than forcing normally conservative enterprise-class hardware to jump through flaming enthusiast hoops, so we scored an off-the-shelf Xeon X3320 retail box from the folks at NCIX to see what kind of overclocking headroom we could find. Read on for the surprising results.