Intel To Lower Quad Core To Dual Core Pricing In Q3

[dafloppyone]

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.

 

[kevpuk]

Nice info

..although a little confused now.....ahhh ! so many choices

 

[HighlandeR]

Some good news, but im at a loss as to when Q3 is considering since April is considered Q2? does that make Q3 like July?

I cant wait that long for the price cuts....

According to the report :

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2007/03/12/intel_core_2_price_cuts_when_amd_barcelona_hits/

Its all due to happen when Barcelona core hits us thats due June and the desktop versions are due a good month or 2 later so thats anytime July/August, does that mean thats when Intels new chips/major prices drop ?

 

[fumbles]

So what does that mean in terms of £?

 

[HighlandeR]

So what does that mean in terms of £?

Well checking the link its relinked to a chinese site here:

http://www.hkepc.com/bbs/hwdb.php?tid=753250&tp=Intel-c2d-e6050&rid=753256

Its suggesting that the Q6600 (quad core) which is like 550 quid now will cost about £330-£360 come Q3, and the E6850 dual core will release @ 3ghz at around £200 the price of the E6600 now.

Course most have overclocked there £100 C2D cpus to around 3ghz and beyond so can proberly ignor all this hubba well maybe the newer chips will overclock even better

Only issue is where they say Q3... seems to suggest this is around June/July time frame, ie when Barcelonas released so looks like its not quite April for the full price cuts....

 

[spb251272]

Q3 is July -Sept, i.e the third quarter of the year. I still don't think it's worthwhile holding off on an upgrade till then. You can get all the performance you need right now for no more than £200

Penryn is due out Q1 08 on 45nm - that's when I'll upgrade to quad core

 

[HighlandeR]

Q3 is July -Sept, i.e the third quarter of the year. I still don't think it's worthwhile holding off on an upgrade till then. You can get all the performance you need right now for no more than £200

Penryn is due out Q1 08 on 45nm - that's when I'll upgrade to quad core

thx was wondering when Q3 was yeah since they did mention barcelona core is coming in june/july but then after the server chip versions 1st then the desktops.

Dont fancy waiting around till then E6600 it is think ill upgrade Q1 08 or when Alan wake decides to appear.

 

[FrankJH]

Q3 is any time between July and September

Really hoping Barcelona can pull a trick or two out of the hat (maybe a long shot I admit)

 

[drak3]

Even if its false info, intel's sales wont go up for sure until the ""reduce""

 

[drunkenmaster]

highlander, its suggesting the quad core 6600 will be like £350 in q2, and along the lines of $266, that will be, max of hopefully £170, conversion on current rate + vat is £161. thats insanely cheap for the quad core, now remember. intel only dropped to amd prices to try to beat them on cost when they were clearly behind in performance with a pressler up against x2's.

i can't see a single sane reason for intel to drop the price of a quad core 6600 to £160 at all. if it was fast then there would be nothing at all to require not only a price drop but an incredible price drop. now rumour starting is always fun, but do Intel already know they are going to get completely destroyed by barcelona?

ok, fanboyism aside, fans of either company, can anyone give a different reason for intel to drop the quad core price by that much? its going to be 2x e6600's, for £160, £40 a core, they really can not be making to big a profit on those.

 

[drunkenmaster]

Q3 is any time between July and September

Really hoping Barcelona can pull a trick or two out of the hat (maybe a long shot I admit)

you do realise that, if you look at the updates to the core, the increases in instruction sets, the improvements all around, improved prefetching, improved everything. its gonna definately be a lot faster than an X2, we've just got to see by how much. basically most of the improvements in the conroe are done to the X2, a couple things are different, one thing is missing but it was deemed to not improve performance. lots of tweaks, the x2 can basically do, internally, almost everything the conroe can do but with the advantage of mem controller onboard and faster interconnects between all the cores. if amd are saying there will be a double digit performance jump over conroe/kentsfield, i have no doubt thats true. they ALWAYS underplay how much better they are because if they say 25% and they are only 22% faster every fanboy, website, reviewsite and magazine focus's only on that. if you say its 15% faster and its 20% faster, all those same people say, WOW, you rock.

my guess is the prices are so people stick with intel, a faster amd that costs twice as much isn't going to appeal to many. they will only really just be on a new design, newish process with most likely lowish yields, but it will be 65nm. for this round i think pricing might win over performance because, we're talking quad cores for almost nothing here. theres going to be basically no games that need more than a dual core for a couple years.

 

[HighlandeR]

highlander, its suggesting the quad core 6600 will be like £350 in q2, and along the lines of $266, that will be, max of hopefully £170, conversion on current rate + vat is £161. thats insanely cheap for the quad core, now remember. intel only dropped to amd prices to try to beat them on cost when they were clearly behind in performance with a pressler up against x2's.

i can't see a single sane reason for intel to drop the price of a quad core 6600 to £160 at all. if it was fast then there would be nothing at all to require not only a price drop but an incredible price drop. now rumour starting is always fun, but do Intel already know they are going to get completely destroyed by barcelona?

ok, fanboyism aside, fans of either company, can anyone give a different reason for intel to drop the quad core price by that much? its going to be 2x e6600's, for £160, £40 a core, they really can not be making to big a profit on those.

Naturally i cant say that price is final but the chinese link suggest by Q3 the Q6600 price is gonna be $266, course converted to uk would send us Ukers nutz.....price will proberly end up being £250-300+

Hard to tell but then these price cuts are starting apparantly April and then more cuts later on in Q3.

still its far too far to wait, if u gonna do an upgrade go for it now