14 DAY TRIAL // Intel may have launched its third-generation Core series of central processing units on April 23, but it is only over the past day and a half that the products finally reached stores.
The newest desktop and laptop CPUs are based on the 22nm manufacturing process technology and are all quad-core models. Six of them have 4 threads and seven have eight.
At the bottom of the list we have the Core i5-3450 (4 threads, 3.1 GHz / 3.5 GHz, 6 MB cache, 77 Watt TDP) and Core i5-3450S (4 threads, 2.8 GHz / 3.5 GHz, 6 MB, 65 Watt TDP), both priced at $174.
The other chips with only 4 threads have prices of $194, save for the Core i5-3570K (3.4 GHz / 3.8 GHz, 6 MB cache, 77 Watt TDP), which sells for $212.
Meanwhile, the Core i7-3770 (3.4 GHz / 3.9 GHz, 8 MB, 77 Watt) is the first 8-threaded part and has a suggested price of $278.
The tags go progressively higher, but the Core i7-3820QM and Core i7-3920XM leap quite a bit farther than their siblings.
The former (2.7 GHz / 3.7 GHz, 8 MB, 45 Watt) ships for $568, while the latter (2.9 GHz / 3.8 GHz, 8 MB, 55 Watt) demands a full $1,096.
Keep in mind that these are the announcement prices. Listed prices are a bit higher, by around $10. Core i7-3770K is exhibit A, at $349.99, and Core i5-3570K is offered for $249.99.
At the time of this article's writing, European vendors didn't seem to have added the CPUs to their websites, even though there are many systems based on them available. Exchange rates would suggest that prices range between 131 and 828 Euro, but we expect higher marks.
And now we reach the other piece of interesting information: the price cuts on the second-generation Sandy Bridge Core i7-2600K and Core i7-2700K.
The former should be 10 Euro cheaper ($13/$10), meaning 255-260 Euro (Amazon US has it at $308.98, which is lower than what exchange rates would have one think, $337). As for the latter, it hovers at 275 Euro (15 Euro lower), $364 according to exchange rates, but $329.49 on Amazon.
