Intel has advanced its enthusiast-level quad-core processor family with the introduction of the Intel Core 2 Extreme processor QX6800.

The company's twelfth quad-core processor, QX6800, runs at 2.93 GHz - the fastest native clock speed yet reached.

Intel said that the new processor is ideal for those gamers, digital design professionals, and enthusiasts who crave the highest performing computers they can get their hands on.

At the recent Game Developer's Conference in San Francisco, several software developers demonstrated new games that have been "threaded" to take advantage of multiple processor cores and threads.

Intel believes that the increased performance of its new processor can help deliver smoother game play, more realistic game effects, and more life-like artificial intelligence.

Some of the most exciting titles of the year such as Crytek's Crysis, Gas Powered Games' Supreme Commander, and Flagship's Hellgate London have undergone substantial joint engineering efforts to use more than two processing threads to their advantage.

In fact, one of the first games ever developed for the PC, "Flight Simulator X," is also entering the quad-core era, and according to Intel, is a great match for extreme multi-core processing delivered by the new Intel Core 2 Extreme quad-core processor.

The latest version of the game with service pack one (SP1) is due to be out later this month.

The Intel Core 2 Extreme processor QX6800 is based on Intel's industry-leading 65 nanometer process, key to enabling the large 8 megabyte cache. A 1,066 MHz system bus is supported, and the processor is available now at a cost of $1,199 (Rs 51,191).