Intel discontinues its Core i7-970 due to lack of demand

CHIPMAKER Intel is discontinuing its six-core Core i7-970 processor in both OEM and retail guises.

Intel's Core i7-970 chip sits on the bottom rung of the firm's six-core ladder,  heading up the high-end Core i7 line that sits just below the firm's Extreme Edition units.

Launched at the tail end of Summer 2010, the chip runs at 3.2GHz and under 'Turbo Mode' can clock up to 3.46GHz. The 32nm part with thermal design power of 130W almost immediately received a significant price drop, and is currently being hawked for somewhere in the region of £430, if you can find it in stock.

Now Intel has announced that its Product Discontinuance Program Support for the chip began on 6 July 2011 and will end with the firm shipping the last Core i7-970 chip a year later. For boxed chips, that is to say those in retail packaging, after 27 January 2012 it'll be first come first served for remaining stocks.

An Intel spokesperson told The INQUIRER that the firm supports chips for as long as there is demand, a sentiment echoed in Intel's published literature that states, "Market demand for the products listed in the 'Products Affected/Intel Ordering Codes' table below have shifted to other Intel products."

Aside from waning demand, Intel is readying its Sandy Bridge-E chips, which should slot into the firm's Core i7 range of high-end, enthusiast and low-end workstation processors. Reports suggest that the Sandy Bridge-E chips will turn up at the tail end of 2011, meaning that a clearing of the decks is needed.

Intel also discontinued three mobile chips, the Core i5-540UM, Core i7-660 and the Celeron U3400. µ