14 DAY TRIAL // Quad-core processors slowly started to make their way to the market, and a quick glance at the current offerings might let the customer the impression that they are the next average chips around. However, the supposition is far from being accurate, as the quad-core powerhorses are still out of the users' reach.
The current quad-core offering includes processors that sell for $800 at the lowest end, a price that is usually regarded as mainstream. However, if you wish purchase a pre-built system, you'll have to do with the already classical dual-core chips.
The quad-core portfolio is still limited to only 9 already-released processors, of which 7 are manufactured by Intel. Arch-rival AMD has only two quad-core chips listed, namely the 2.2 GHz Phenom 9500 at $291 and the 2.3 GHz Phenom 9600 at $322.
However, if you have a tight budget, Phenom chips are the best choice around. Phenoms are the cheapest quad-core processors on the market, and they can be purchased for as low as $216 or $225 for the more powerful 9600 model. The prices have dramatically dropped, as AMD can meet the market's demand in low-end quad-core parts.
On the other side of the fence, Intel currently retails six quad-core parts, namely the Core 2 Quad Q6600 (as low as $231), the Q6700, the 45-nanometer Q9300 model and the highest-end QX6850, QX9650 and QX9775 chips. On the server market, Intel ships the Xeon X3210, one of the most popular chips of its kind.
However, Intel's Extreme series is comprised of very expensive CPUs, that cannot be found for less than $1000. High prices are mostly due to the fact that the high-computing sector is currently dominated by Intel, as AMD currently has no matching offer.
For instance, the QX9775 chips come with a tray price of $1499, which qualifies them as the most expensive processors ever. Despite the fact that AMD has low-end offerings for about a tenth the price of Intel's mid-range and high-end chips, Intel still claims that they have mainstream-oriented quad-core offerings.
In an exclusive interview carried out by Softpedia, Intel's Zane Ball, Director of the Microprocessor Marketing Business Client Group, claimed that the upcoming Intel quad-cores will only scratch the upper segment of the mainstream market.
"I do believe that we have some rather mainstream offerings up today. On the future, I think that you'll continue to see a lot of quad-core solutions targeting let's say the upper segment of the mainstream systems' market. I think that here in Europe, in the main retail shops, you'll see plenty of quad-core offerings at some pretty reasonable system price points," he claimed back at CeBIT.
However, the lowest price point Intel estimates its quads will reach is situated around $143.
"They'll come down a bit in the future, but I don't think that quad-cores will ever hit the "2.99" kind of space. Neither I think that it needs to. You need to have a balance. I think that quad-cores are pretty mainstream today, especially for their specific target audience," concluded Ball.