INTEL is preparing to release a new budget quad-core processor for desktops, at Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada. The release of the new quad core CPU will probably put a lot more strain on AMD since its 4x4 architecture still lacks the power to fight INTEL's Core design.

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 chip is expected to run at 2.40GHz with 8MB L2 cache integrated on the chip. The CPU will use 1066MHz processor system bus and will probably have a price tag of $851, which is much higher than that of the Core 2 Duo 6700 chip, which costs $530. That's not so good but is still somewhat lower than the price of the X6800 and QX6700.

INTEL's offensive that is planned to begin with the unveiling of Q6600 will continue with the launch of new Core 2 Duo processors with E6850, E6750 and E6650 model numbers that will have a working frequency of 3.0GHz, 2.66GHz and 2.33GHz clock-speeds respectively and 1333MHz processor system bus in Q3 2007. At the time of the launch, INTEL will also launch the new Bearlake-based motherboards that are supposed to support DDR3 memory and a DirectX 10 compatible integrated GPU.

2006 was a good year for INTEL and 2007 could be even better. Of course you can't expect to sell much when your high-end CPUs cost so much, but that will change when the new AMD "stars" appears. I hope that they will prove to be as competitive as I've heard, because this could be the only reason behind a possible price drop in the high-end CPU market.