Intel is to align the launch of its next-generation desktop processor, 'Conroe', and its upcoming 965 family of chipsets, delaying the latter and bringing forward the former.

So claim Taiwanese motherboard-maker sources cited by DigiTimes.

Conroe is the first desktop processor to be based on Intel's next-generation architecture, the successor to today's NetBurst technology. Essentially, Conroe takes key NetBurst features and integrates them into a new core developed on the back of what the company learned when it created today's Pentium M chips.

According to recent roadmaps, Conroe - along with its mobile sibling, 'Merom' - is due to debut in Q3 2006. DigiTimes' moles suggest we should look to July 2006 for a tighter timeframe. The 965 chipsets were due to debut in Q2, but if the report is correct, they will now appear in Q3, in July.

Pulling chipset and CPU into such a close alignment suggests Intel may be planning to release the two together as a Centrino-like desktop platform. Intel is expected to launch the second such platform, its Viiv home media centre system, next month, and it has already hinted that the third, codenamed 'Averill' and targeting enterprise desktops, will arrive in 2006. ®

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