Updated at 10:30 a.m. PDT: adding processor retail price discussion.
Intel reduced prices on desktop processors late Sunday, with a many of the cuts coming on quad-core processors. The price moves come just before Advanced Micro Devices' planned earnings announcement on Tuesday.
Intel's Core 2 Quad processors saw a heavy concentration of cuts. The 2.66GHz Q9400 was cut 14 percent to $183 from $213, while the 2.5GHz Q8300 fell 11 percent to $163 from $183, among other standard-power Core 2 Quad price moves.
The Core 2 Quad "low power" chips also saw cuts. The Q9400S, for example, was cut 12 percent to $245 from $277.
A Core 2 Duo desktop processor (two cores), the 2.93GHz E7500, fell 15 percent to $113 from $133.
Pentium desktop chips got cuts ranging up to 14 percent, while the 2.2GHz Celeron E1500 was reduced 19 percent to $43 from $53.
A Xeon server processor, the 2.66GHz X3330, was cut 14 percent to $188 from $219.
Update: These price cuts, however, do not necessarily reflect retail prices of Intel chips. Newegg, for example, lists the Q9400 at prices lower than Intel list prices, as one reader points out. That said, Intel's Sunday list-price cuts may affect retail prices in the future.
Updated on January 19 at 8:15 a.m. PST with additional information throughout.
On Sunday, Intel instituted broad price cuts on processors, spanning the Core 2 Quad, Core 2 Duo, Pentium dual-core, Celeron, and Xeon product lines.
Some of the cuts are in response to Advanced Micro Devices' recently-introduced Phenom II "Dragon" desktop platform. AMD's Phenom II X4 940 (3.0GHz), for instance, is priced at $275.
Intel cuts were concentrated on quad-core chips like the Q9650 (3.00GHz), reduced 40 percent, to $316 from $530, to counter AMD's Phenom II. But Celeron processors received some of the largest reductions. The mobile Celeron 570 (2.00GHz), was slashed 48 percent, to $70 from $134, for example.
Some Xeon processors also received hefty cuts. The price on the X3370 (3.00GHz), for instance, was cut 40 percent to $316 from $530.
The Pentium dual-core E5200 was reduced 24 percent to $64 from $84.
The mobile Core 2 Duo P8600 was shaved 13 percent, to $209 from $241. The P series of mobile Core 2 Duo processors have a thermal envelope (Thermal Design Power or TDP) of 25 watts versus 35 watts for mainstream mobile chips.
Intel also introduced new processor models such as the desktop Core 2 Duo E7500 (2.93GHz), priced at $133 and the Core 2 Quad Q9550s (2.83GHz), which is a low-power variant--with a thermal envelope of 65 watts--of the 95-watt Q9550.
Update on August 10 at 11:00 p.m. with official Intel pricing:
Existing Q9550 drops from $530 to $316. Pricing for new processors: Q9650 priced at $530, Q9400 at $266, E8600 at $266, and E7300 at $133.
The Xeon X3660 is reduced from $530 to $316.
Intel says it plans to roll out a bevy of midrange processors, all built on its new 45-nanometer manufacturing process, on Monday. Game computer vendors, among others, are expected to follow suit with new machines.
Intel Core 2 Quad processor
(Credit: Intel)The Core 2 Quad Q9650 heads the list of updated chips, according to Intel. It has a core clock speed of 3GHz, a 12MB level-2 cache, a 1333MHz front-side bus, and is rated at 95 watts. Generally, the larger the level-2 cache memory, the better the performance. The front-side bus (FSB) carries data between the processor and other silicon.
Several retailers already have the new processors listed on their Web sites. TheNerds.net has the Q9650 listed at $576, one of the lowest prices on the Web. Retailers' prices are typically higher than Intel's official list prices, so the prices announced by Intel Monday will likely be lower than those retailers' offerings.
A bit further down the list is the Core 2 Quad Q9400 with a clock speed of 2.66GHz, 6MB of cache, and a 1333MHz FSB. This has a list price of $284 on TheNerds.net.
Core 2 Duo chips will also get a refresh. The E8600 has a clock speed of 3.33GHz, 6MB of cache, and a 1333MHz FSB. The E7300 runs at 2.66GHz with 3MB of cache, and has a 1066MHz FSB.
Game PC vendors such as Falcon Northwest and Dell's Alienware unit plan to announce new systems based on the processors Monday, according to sources.
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