Aggressive Intel Quad-core Price Cuts Before “Barcelona”

AMD is expected to ship its native quad-core desktop CPUs, now dubbed K10, in Q3 2007.  Intel guidance already states the company will accelerate the ongoing price war through Q3 2007 — a price war that has already taken its toll on AMD and Intel profits. 

The AMD-Intel price war peaked just after Intel launched its Core 2 Duo architecture; AMD aggressively cut prices on its Athlon 64 products the day after the Intel Core 2 Duo desktop launch. Intel will return the favor just in time for AMD’s next-generation processors.

Intel Core 2 Quad
Model
Core
Frequency L2 Cache
FSB Q3’07
Pricing
QX6800 2.93 GHz 8MB 1066 MHz
$999
Q6700 2.66 GHz 8MB 1066 MHz
$530
Q6600 2.40 GHz 8MB 1066 MHz
$266

Intel has scrapped plans for the quad-core 2.13 GHz Core 2 Quad Q6400, but instead added plans for a quad-core 2.66 GHz Q6700.  However, Intel’s guidance will cut the price of the Q6600 and the Q6700 dramatically — Intel will cut the price of the Q6600 to a more discounted price than the Q6400 was ever expected to launch at.

The Q6600, launched last month, sells in quantities of 1000 for $851.  By mid-April Intel guidance suggests this processor will already price down to $530.  The next price cuts, labeled “Q3 2007” will coincide with any launch events for the AMD quad-core products.

In addition, Intel has added a 2.93 GHz quad-core Extreme processor, scheduled for a $999 launch.  The 2.66 GHz quad-core Extreme processor, QX6700, will phase out before Q3 2007, as it is effectively replaced by the Q6700 processor.