14 DAY TRIAL // Rumors say that Intel's famous up-coming Conroe processor will be launched on the retail market in less than two months' time, for prices starting at US$93, according to X-bit Labs.
Other information was published on an Asian web-site, which revealed the release date of the Intel Core 2 Duo processors that is almost certain to be 23rd of July, 2006, and that the number of models launched will be, as we already knew, limited.
As a result, the company will offer five new chips in total -four Core 2 Duo processors and one Core 2 Extreme chip. Furthermore, the desktop Conroe chips series with a 1066MHz bus will include Core 2 models E6700, E6600, E6400 and E6300 that will operate at 2.67GHz, 2.40GHz, 2.13GHz and 1.86GHz, respectively.
The E6700 and E6600 models will sport 4MB unified L2 cache, whereas the E6400 and E6300 will have 2MB unified level-two cache. Other than that, the prices for the processors are said to be higher than expected - $530, $316, $224 and $183 for the E6700, E6600, E6400 and E6300, respectively.
The most sophisticated Core 2 series model will be Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800, which will operate at 2.93GHz, use 1066MHz processor system bus and be equipped with 4MB level-two cache. The company announced that it will be available at a price of $999 in 1000-unit quantities and that it will provide enhanced performance and other extraordinary features which are not offered by the rest of the Core 2 Duo processors.
As many other manufacturers, Intel stated that it will lower the cost of its dual-core microprocessors based on the aging NetBurst architecture - Pentium D - before it will release the company's latest desktop chips, which boast low-power high-performance micro-architecture.
Consequently, starting 4th of June, Intel will cut prices of Pentium D 960 to $224, while the models 930, 920 and 820 will cost $178.
The price cutting strategy was introduced by Intel not only to make some room for its "aging" Pentium D, but also to compete against its "biggest threat" on the market - AMD's Athlon 64 X2 chips, which offer more advanced features than the ones featured by Intel's products.