Intel's Next Desktop Launch Details Revealed
By Slimy, 15 March 2007 - 05:09 23 comments
Roadmaps reveal the refreshed Conroe with a 1333 MHz front-side-bus arriving in Q3'07, around the same time of Intel's Q3'07 price cuts. The new Core 2 Duo E6x50-series pricing will undercut pricing of current Core 2 Duo E6x00-series processors. As usual, all pricing is in 1,000 unit quantities.
With the introduction of Core 2 Duo E6x50-series processors, the entire Intel Core 2 Duo desktop lineup will fall below the $300 price point. The top of the line Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 is priced at $266 per processor and is clocked at 3.0 GHz - higher than last year's flagship Core 2 Extreme X6800 at a fraction of the X6800's $999 launch price. Slotted below the Core 2 Duo E6850 is the 2.66 GHz E6750 at $183. At the bottom end of the Core 2 Duo E6x50 family are the E6550 and E6540 processors clocked at 2.33 GHz, which cost $163 per processor. Intel's Core 2 Duo E6540 differs from the rest of the 1333 MHz front-side bus Core 2 Duo lineup because it does not have support for Intel's Trusted Execution Technology, also known as TXT.
Intel will also launch two more Core 2 Duo E4000-series processors. The Core 2 Duo E4400 will arrive next month clocked at 2.0 GHz for $133 per processor. In Q3'07, the Core 2 Duo E4400 will drop down to $113 with the introduction of the E4500. The Core 2 Duo E4500 clocks in at 2.2 GHz and takes over the $133 per processor price point. Intel will slowly phase out the Core 2 Duo E4300 processor in Q3'07. Intel will introduce the first new Pentium desktop product since it switched over to the Core naming scheme in June. Two Pentium dual-core Conroe-based processors with 1MB of shared L2 cache models will launch, the 1.80 GHz E2160 ($84) and the 1.6 GHz E2140 ($74).
News source: DailyTech

Comments (23)
redeemed - 15 March 2007 - 05:15
That's what we like to hear
wordup48 - 15 March 2007 - 05:47
so what about the new E6420 I have been hearing about? When does that come out? I think I heard Q2, but that could be anywhere from 2-14 weeks
SkyyPunk - 15 March 2007 - 06:17
faster + cheaper = yahoo!
hardgiant - 15 March 2007 - 07:01
This is starting to feel like an attempt by Intel to put AMD out of business.
winmoose - 15 March 2007 - 11:38
Hardly, this is just business as usual.
riku0116 - 16 March 2007 - 01:09
exactly... they're always trying to put each other out of business :P
Octol - 16 March 2007 - 05:37
No, it's starting to look like Intel is succeeding in putting AMD out of business, which really sucks.
I may have to start buying a couple of AMD processors to do my part in preventing this from happening.
bluarash - 15 March 2007 - 07:10
Yawn...Most of the attention of the current and next generation computing is on the GPU and not CPU (gaming and video). We really have already realized that you only need so much power to run an OS (yes, even Vista) along with a word processor and web browser.
I think the Core 2 Duo is kind of like Vista. It is nice but not a needed upgrade (yes, for the record I run Vista).
Still, it is nice to see a price reduction (and yes, even a performance increase). I, however, worry about quad core solutions, most applications have not been optimized for dual core, so really the only market for 4way and 8way systems for most individuals, companies is a server (outside of select solutions).
+Northgrove - 15 March 2007 - 07:49
They're actually found to be quite needed upgrades if you want to make full use of the Geforce 8800 line and not let the CPU bottleneck you. And games will probably not take long until they need those in turn to run smoothly in full detail modes, if history is to tell us any sort of lesson. You can't really have a slow CPU relative to the GPU or it'll cause you problems by not keeping up with the GPU.
WelshBluebird - 15 March 2007 - 09:51
I think the Core 2 Duo is kind of like Vista. It is nice but not a needed upgrade (yes, for the record I run Vista).
Still, it is nice to see a price reduction (and yes, even a performance increase). I, however, worry about quad core solutions, most applications have not been optimized for dual core, so really the only market for 4way and 8way systems for most individuals, companies is a server (outside of select solutions).
if someone is running a Althon XP, P4 or PD or an older Althon 64 (eg athlon 64 3200+ on skt 754) then a core 2 duo CPU would give a pretty big increase in performance (as long as the GPU is up to it aswell).
+Smigit - 15 March 2007 - 12:46
dangel - 15 March 2007 - 13:22
Meh, depends on resolution - for high resolution gaming (me! me! 1600x1200) the GPU is always the bottleneck once you get to a certain level of CPU throughput. My AMD64X2 will do me just fine till DDR3 mainboards hit the streets :)
I could chuck a load of money into core2duo and see little return in gaming verus buying a R600/8900 in a couple of months..
RAID 0 - 15 March 2007 - 08:34
I guess my comment wasn't good enough. :-( Thanks !!!
ramesees - 15 March 2007 - 11:51
These prices look great, and no doubt will be even lower when I do a hardware refresh next summer :D
I wonder though when the prices for quad cores are going to drop as well, as I checked that DailyTech site and it reckons that in Q3'07 the flagship quad core proc will still be $1000 (eeek
)
Nexx295 - 15 March 2007 - 12:07
I hope it'll be available for Socket 775. I hate changing the mainboard everytime I buy a new processor.
Brandon - 15 March 2007 - 12:15
I might have to upgrade to the new pentium dual cores then from my AMD 3700+
JaLooNz - 15 March 2007 - 12:24
Just pray that the quad core can work with the existing DS3... I will really be tempted to upgrade once the price drops further.
Toastyone - 15 March 2007 - 13:44
Wooo for Core 2 Duo
kenipnet - 15 March 2007 - 13:46
E6850 = $266
Q6600 = $266
Which one should i pick????? Hard choice. Thinking of going with Q6600.
+zhiVago - 15 March 2007 - 15:49
Not hard at all, it all depends on what you do.
Quadcore is much better than dual core for encoding, for example.
Just check out the benchmarks of the apps/games you use the most.