Intel's Atom processor family looks set to go dual-core in the third quarter of this year, the latest leaks coming out of Taiwan imply.

The desktop version of Atom was previously known by its codename, 'Diamondville'. The first Diamondvilles will be single-core parts clocked, it's claimed, at 1.87GHz. They will contain 512KB of L2 cache, sit on a 533MHz bus and consume no more than 7.5W.

Intel has yet to detail Atom speeds and feeds, but the numbers are said to come from the company's own roadmap as supplied to Far Eastern manufacturers, some of whom passed the data on to Chinese-language site HKPEC.

'Diamondvile 1' is due to ship in Q2. The following quarter will see 'Diamondville 2', it's claimed, which will be a dual-core model, which ups the TDP to 12W.

So far the only reference to dual-core Atoms is in relation to the Diamondville - 'Silverthone', the mobile version due to ship at Atom Centrino, is a single-core part but uses HyperThreading technology to simulate dual-core operation. Will we see a virtual quad-core Silverthorne in Q3?

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