Although the platform will make fundamental changes, Nehalem will reportedly be known as Core i7 for at least all its desktop variants, which will include dual- and quad-core mainstream processors as well as a 3.2GHz Extreme processor for high-end gaming desktops.

The reason for the change is unclear, though Intel will have an increasing number of cores with the new architecture and so will have a harder time maintaining a simple naming scheme for its processors as for Core 2, which has been split into Solo, Duo, and Quad variants. The i7 refers to Nehalem as the seventh x86 platform generation to come from Intel.

The alleged slip doesn't indicate whether the naming will apply to mobile processors, although these in recent years have kept the same name as their desktop counterparts. Workstation- and server-class processors have usually kept to the Xeon naming system.

Intel is believed ready to announce its first Core i7 processors on August 11th but with shipping only taking place in the fall. Notebook-ready versions are still due in early 2009.