Tag Archives: intel price drop

Intel slashes price of i7 960/970, introduces i7 990x

Intel price-drop on i7 960/970

Intel has quietly introduced the i7 990x Extreme Edition CPU. The 32nm chip is pretty much identical to last year’s i7 980x in every way, except a small bump in core speed. The 990x, which fits in the LGA 1366 socket and has a core clock speed of 3.46 GHz (Max turbo frequency 3.73 GHz) is retailing for $900.

Also notable for anyone wanting to go with a 6-core processor but without the desire to shell out a thousand bucks is the i7 970, which has seen its price reduced by 34% from $885 to $583.

The CPU giant also slashed the price of the quad-core i7 960 processor. Once again the 960 has identical specs to the 950, which saw a similar price drop last year. The only difference is a 200 Mhz bump in core clock speed. The 960 is down 48% to $294.

With the recent troubles Sandy Bridge is having it appears Intel is unloading old LGA 1366 stock. It’s a good time to buy if you’re not sold on Sandy Bridge. The price-drop of the i7 970 hex-core will certainly win over a few hearts and minds of people who want a 6-core chip without breaking the bank. Those who spent nearly $800 dollars last year will be kicking themselves.

Related:
AMD slash price of quad and hex-core CPUs
i7 950 price-drop on Amazon
A Sandy Bridge too far?
Intel set to lose $1bn in sales over Sandy Bridge chipset flaw

Intel drops price of i3 processor

Core i3 550 sees 15% price-drop

Intel have announced (via their monthly pricing list) an upcoming 15% price drop for the darling of the dual-core, their i3 range of processors – specifically the i3 550. Since most games from the past 5 years or so don’t see much (if any) benefit from a quad-core, let alone a hexa-core processor, this might suite a casual gamer on a budget. The 550 supports hyper-threading and has 2 cores (or 4 threads) with a clock speed of 3.2 GHz and 4 MB of Intel Smart Cache.

Lower-end dual-core chips will also be seeing a reduction in price. Intel’s E6700 will get a 13% price cut, with the E65700 getting 15% shaved off its price tag. The lower-end E3400 dual-core will have 21% off as well.

Here’s a break-down of the pricing:

i3 550: $117 down from $138 (15% off)

E6700: $75 down from $86 (13% off)

E5700: $64 down from $75 (15% off)

E3400: $42 down from $53 (21% off)

None of the major online retailers have adjusted their prices just yet. Amazon still has the i3 550 listed for $143. We’ll watch events unfold over the coming weeks and hopefully have more to tell you on the price-drop very soon.

Related:
Intel i7 Massive Price Cuts