Intel cuts chip prices

INTEL HAS given its Core 2 Quad CPUs and several Core 2 Duos a bit of a price snip. The chip maker is also set to slash prices on its currently very pricey SSDs.

After releasing two brand spanking new 2.66 GHz Core 2 Quads - the Q8400 (95W) and the Q8400S (65W) - Intel decided it was time to give the prices on its other offerings a short back and sides.

The Core 2 Quad Q9300 has seen a price reduction of 19.92 per cent, going down from $266 to $213, the Q9550S got a 13.28 per cent cut from $369 to $320, the Q9400S went from $320 to $277 and the Q8200S saw a 13 per cent snip from $245 to $213.

Meanwhile, over in the Core 2 Duo camp, both the SP9400 and SL9400 saw a 10.13 per cent cut, both going down from $316 to $284. The Core 2 Duo SU9400 was reduced by 9.3 per cent, from $289 to $262.

The firm's new quad cores, the Q8400 and Q8400S are priced at $183 and $245, respectively.

More new processors are due sometime towards the end of May and these are rumoured to include some Celeron and Pentium Dual-Core bits, two new Core i7s and the Core 2 Duo E7600.

The two new core i7s are the 950 and 975, priced at $562 and $999, respectively.

VR-Zone also reckons Chipzilla will be slashing its SSD prices, claiming"Intel 80GB X18-M and X25-M will see their prices dropped from $385 to $335 while 160GB versions will be lowered from $760 to $660. However, the prices of the SLC models remain unchanged at $410 for 32GB and $790 for the 64GB."

Great. But we still can't afford one. µ