Intel debuts cheaper quad-core processor

LAS VEGAS--As expected, Intel announced three new quad-core processors at the Consumer Electronics Show here on Monday. And a new desktop model lowers the entry price a notch for the technology.

The 2.66GHz Core 2 Extreme QX6700 introduced in November costs $999 in quantities of 1,000, but the new 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Quad processor Q6600 is $851. The products, which spread computational chores across two dual-core chips in a single processor package, still cost more than respectable PCs.

Intel also announced two low-end Xeon chips for single-processor servers. The X3220 at 2.4GHz costs $851 in quantities of 1,000, and the X3210 costs $690 in quantities of 1,000. Servers generally juggle multiple independent tasks at the same time, a workload that's more amenable to the multicore processor technology than that of most PCs.