Aug 5, 2011 12:08 GMT  ·  By

Intel continues to clean its processor lineup as recently the chip maker has announced that in about a year's time it will discontinue three older CPUs that were built using the 45nm and 32nm production process.

The chips affected by this change are the Core i5-760, the Core i5-655K and the Core i7-875K, all of these being replaced by newer processors based on the Sandy Bridge architecture.

Intel's partners can still place orders for the three CPUs until February 24, 2012, and Intel plans to continue to ship these up to August 10, 2012. The discontinuance program covers both the tray and the boxed version of these processors.

The Core i5-760 and Core i7-875K processors are based on the Lynnfield architecture introduced by Intel in September of 2009, and were the first of the company's CPUs to integrate a PCI Express controller.

The Core i5-760 has a base clock of 2.8GHz, packs four processing cores and 8MB of shared Level 3 cache memory and its release price was set at $205.

Its more powerful brother, the Core i7-875K also includes four processing cores and 8MB of shared L3 cache, but has its core clocked slightly higher at 2.93GHz, while its initial price was set at $342. The K at the end of its name designates the fact that the chip comes with an unlocked multiplier.

The last processor to be discontinued by Intel, the Core i5-655K, is the only one of the three CPU models to be built on the Clarkdale core using a 32nm fabrication process.

Just like the Core i7-875K, this CPU also features an unlocked multiplier, but it features only two processing cores and a smaller 4MB Level 3 shared cache. The base operating frequency of the chip is set at 3.2GHz and Intel introduced it at the $216 price point. All the processors discontinued today by Intel use the LGA 1156 socket.