Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Processor

Description: This is an Intel Core 2 Quad processor with a frequency of 2.4GHz, 1066MHz FSB, and an 8MB cache. Leaders of the pack seeking monster performance, look no further. With four execution cores, the Intel Core 2 Quad processor blows through processor-intensive tasks in demanding multitasking environments and makes the most of highly threaded applications.

In a shocking price cut, Intel trimmed the price of the Q6700 Core 2 Quad processor in half, and trimmed the price of other processors by as much as 30 percent.

In all, Intel reduced the price of fourteen processors, ranging from the mainstream desktop to its Xeon line for servers. The company also introduced several new models.

The most noteworthy reduction, however, was the Q6700, now priced at $266, down from $530. Intel also slashed the price of the corresponding Xeon processor, the X3230, in half as well, to $266 as well. Both chips run at 2.66 GHz, and include an 8 Mbyte cache. The company also launched the Core 2 Duo E8300 (6M Cache, 2.83 GHz, 1333 MHz FSB) at $163, and the Core 2 Duo Processor E7200 (3M Cache, 2.53 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB) at $133.

Intel did not give any specifics as to the reasons for the cuts, which the company usually attributes to seasonal pricing adjustments. "We continue to provide greater value to users over time, as we've been doing for many years," Intel spokesman Dan Snyder said in an email. "Also, 45nm continues to ramp at a rapid pace, with shipment cross over sometime in Q3'08."

Intel's 45-nm fabrication processes theoretically allow the company to produce its processors more cheaply than rival AMD, which that it will begin shipping volume shipments of 45-nm parts this summer, with products appearing in the fall. To maintain its profit margin, AMD has had to play an increasingly complex game of minimizing its manufacturing costs while maintaining as high as selling price as possible, in order to fund future development and manufacturing. Intel also trimmed the price of the Q6600, a 2.40-GHz quad-core chip, from $266 to $224, a difference of 16 percent. The price of both the Q6700 and Q6600 are now even more in the ballpark of AMD's Phenom processor, and the reductions will place even more pressure on AMD's triple-core Phenom offerings.