Get Your Wallets Ready, Core i7 Is On for Next Week

This time next week, users will finally be able to get their hands on the latest Intel desktop platform, which will come to support the company's new Core i7 processors. The Nehalem-supporting motherboards will be based on Intel's next-generation X58 chipset, which means that an upgrade will also require a user to purchase a new processor, memory and, quite possibly, a new power source as well. However, you have to be a real computer enthusiast if you are planning to upgrade to this next-generation Intel platform. That's because these new products aren't likely to come even close to cheap, so you’d better prepare yourself to dig deep in your wallet.

 

With less than one week to go, Intel Core i7 processors and X58-enabled motherboards have already made their debut on various websites of online retailers and, from the way things stand at this time, the new hardware will probably leave quite a dent in your budget. In fact, the best thing you can do is to hope that Santa has already found out about the new Intel platform and that you've been good enough this year to get it.

 

Mentions of pricing for the Core i7 processors have already been made on several occasions, with the three models rated at prices ranging from approximately US$370 to a good US$1,400. As for the motherboard, things have been a bit unclear so far, but now that the these online resellers have already uploaded some of the new X58-enabled models, we get a pretty general idea of what to expect from a financial point of view.

 

The lowest Core i7-based desktop is bound to cost you somewhere around US$1,000, that is, if you already have a high-performance PSU, hard disk and PCI Express graphics card. That's because, at this point in time, the cheapest X58-based motherboard is priced between $400 and $500. These figures are likely to remain the same next week upon launch.

 

With that in mind, a completely new Core i7-based system could bring the total cost to somewhere very close to $2,000, while systems with better specs could easily top that amount. This is also why most users are likely to turn to desktop platforms built to support Intel's LGA775 processors, which come at more affordable prices.