Intel Adds Pentium E5500 and Core i5-680

Even though Intel usually puts up a resounding press announcement whenever it unleashes a new central processing unit, (or solid state drive, or other hardware), the chip maker seems to have decided against it this once, as it quietly refreshed its desktop CPU lineup. Nevertheless, with market watchers being who they are, it was inevitable that this development would soon be picked up on. Basically, the chip giant has added two new CPUs to its collection, one of which can be seen as one, if not the highest-performing model of its type.

The first of the processors is the Intel Pentium E5500. As the weaker of the duo, it has a front-side bus of 800MHz, 2MB of L2 cache memory, a clock speed of 2.80Ghz and two threads. This CPU is compatible with socket LGA 775 motherboards and will be aimed at the mainstream and users from the entry-level market, as they are unlikely to afford the higher price points of Intel Core CPUs, even though the extra power usually offsets the extra costs.

Speaking of Core Series central processors, the second newcomer to Intel's desktop-aimed collection can be seen as the strongest dual core hailing from Santa Clara to date. Predictably designed for the LGA 1156 socket, it has 4 threads, 4MB L3 cache memory, integrated graphics and a thermal design power of 73W. Obviously, the clock is what makes this chip stand out, at 3.6GHz, which is higher than even that of the Core i5-670 (3.46GHz).

The Pentium E5500 is based on the 45nm manufacturing process, whereas the new Core i5 is constructed on the more advanced and energy efficient 32nm technology. They can be found with price tags of $75 and $294, respectively, and, the Core i5-680 at least, should also show up as an option on high-end desktop systems soon.