Would like to know how much is Intel planning to charge for its revamped Core
2 Duo desktop processors, due Q3? Not as much as you might expect, it would
seem, if the latest information coming from motherboard-maker moles is to be
believed.
Intel is going to shave off around 70% off their Core 2 Quad Q6600 (2.4GHz,
1066FSB) price in Q3, pushing Quad Core into the mainstream by second half of
this year. The current price for Q6600 stood at $851 and Intel is going to lower
it to $530 on Apr 22nd. By Q3, Intel is going to further push down the price of
Q6600 to $266 and incidentally, it will be priced similarly to a Core 2 Duo
E6850 (3GHz, 1333FSB). Certainly, it will be more worth it to get a Q6600 than a
E6850. Intel also plans to release a higher clocked Q6700 (2.66GHz, 1066FSB) at
$530 and a QX6800 (2.93GHz, 1066FSB) replacing QX6700 in the $999 price point of
the Extreme Edition segment in Q3.
The E6540's price isn't yet known, but the E6550 is said to be set to be
priced at $163. The E6750 will apparently come in at $183 and the E6850 at $266.
That compares to the current top-of-the-line Core 2 Duo E6700, priced now at
$530, though it's expected to fall to $316 on 22 April. Q3 is also expected to
see the arrival of the 2.2GHz Core 2 Duo E4500 - another new roadmap edition -
at $133. Q2's 2GHz E4400, which will also debut at $133, will see its price cut
to $113 when the faster chip arrives.
In CPU related news,
Intel announced that more efficient quad-core Xeons that work at an
energy-efficient 50 watts per processor will officially be on the market
starting today. Each of the four cores in its new Xeon L5320 and L5310 will
consume just 12.5 watts of electricity, according to Intel. The company claims
the new Xeons use between 35 percent and nearly 60 percent less power than its
existing 80-watt and 120-watt quad-core server products. The L5320 operates at
1.86 GHz and the L5310 at 1.60 GHz. They both feature 8M bytes of on-die cache
for faster memory data communication. In quantities of 1,000 units, the L5320 is
priced at US$519 and the L5310 at $455.
