Intel Processor Price Cuts and New Six-Core CPU

Intel Core i7 970 MARCHANDS €     Amazon mark...  499.00  Compare prices

Intel may have been first of the mark to release a six-core processor aimed at consumers, with the Core i7 980X, but with a price tag pushing a grand (approx. £850), it's still too expensive for most users. However, Intel has now released a (slightly) more affordable hex-core processor, the i7 970.

The Intel Core i7 970 is a processor with six cores. It's basically a slightly lower spec version of the i7 980X, with a frequency that's reduced from 3.33 GHz to 3.20 GHz. It still has all Intel's standard technology too, such as hyper-threading (6 physical cores but 12 'logical' cores via thread-level parallelism) and a Turbo mode which pushes the frequency up to 3.46 GHz (max.) when not all of the cores are in use.

Even if the price is a little more palatable, it'll still be too much for some at around £750. In other words, Intel six-core processors are still the preserve of a privileged few.

Core i5 760 and Price Cuts

Intel has, however, released another new processor, the Core i5 760. This slots into the range just above the Core i5 750, which is currently one of Intel's best-value processors for performance and price. The Core i5 760 has four physical cores and the frequency is upped from 2.66 GHz to 2.80 GHz with a Turbo mode for boosting it to 3.60 GHz (max.). It's currently selling for around $200 in the US but there's no information on UK pricing yet.

To accompany these two new releases, Intel has also slashed the prices of several existing processors. The biggest reduction is seen on the Core i7 870, which Intel yesterday announced would drop from $555 to $285 ... suddenly making it all the more appealing. Here's an overview of the cuts announced by Intel. Note that it may take a few days for retailers to adjust their prices accordingly:

Model	Old Price	New Price
Core i7 870S	-	338 USD
Core i7 870	555 USD	285 USD
Core i5 650	182 USD	172 USD
Core i3 540	137 USD	117 USD
Pentium E6600	87 USD	77 USD
Pentium E5500	77 USD	67 USD

Another new product you may have noticed in the table above is the Core i7 870S. This CPU is exactly the same as the regular Core i7 870, but with a thermal design power of 82 W rather than 95 W. In practice, that means it'll consume slightly less power and give off a little less heat.

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