14 DAY TRIAL // That Intel is finally selling its third-generation Core CPUs may not be as great a piece of news as some might think. After all, we've known for a while about the start of shipments being set on April 29, 2012.
There are some things that consumers might want to line up to learn about though, like, say, special discounts.
And by discounts, we don't mean measly price cuts of 10 Euro, like the ones applied to the second-generation Sandy Bridge Core i7-2600K and i7-2700K.
We mean real, massive special offers, the kind where a price is cut by $50 or even $70.
That would be 37.73 and 52.83 Euro, respectively, but exchange rates aren't relevant here in any way, since only one store from the US provides the discounts.
That said, people who have a Microcenter brick and mortar shop in their neighborhood should pay a visit.
The 3.5 GHz Core i7-3770K sells for $289.99 there, $70 less than the MSRP of $359.99. Special deals exist for the Core i5 3450 / 3570K and Core i7-3770 too.
As if that wasn't enough, Microcenter put three ASUS motherboard on special sale too: P8Z77-V PRO LGA 1155 Z77 ATX, P8Z77-V LX Socket 1155 Z77 ATX and GA-Z77X-UD5H LGA 1155 Z77 ATX.
We can't say for certain how long the special offers will last, but we'd still suggest haste. Go here to see all the special deals.
And now we may as well summarize what makes the new CPUs so good: the 22nm process technology, the 3D tri-gate transistors and the HD 4000 graphics.
Not all new central processors have the HD 4000 GPU, but the benefits of the 22nm and 3D transistors are everywhere: better performance and lower power draw. The only so-called “problem” is that the desktop parts run hotter than they should because of an intentional design choice.