Initial Intel 'Nehalem' CPUs as cheap as chips
$284 for a next-gen quad-core
14th July 2008 09:32 GMT
Pssst! Want an Intel 'Nehalem' processor on the cheap? Well, just go and ask the chip giant for one. It's 2.66GHz 'Bloomfield' CPU has been price at just $284, it has been claimed.
That's the batch price, of course. To get it, you'll have to buy a 1000 CPUs at once - boxed Bloomfields will come in slightly higher than that.
As previously reported, the 2.66GHz Bloomfield - Intel's desktop Nehalem - will also be made available in 2.93GHz and 3.2GHz versions. The pricing, posted by Chinese-language site HKEPC, confirms the latter will be an Extreme-branded gaming PC part - it'll cost $999. The mid-range Bloomfield will cost $562.
All Nehalem CPUs will require new motherboards, thanks to their inclusion of an on-board memory controller capable of connecting to DDR 3 memory. They also use Intel's new QuickPath Interconnect (QPI) bus and fit into 1336-pin sockets.
Currently, the only Nehalem-friendly desktop chipset known to be in the works is the X58, based on the 'Tylersburg' chipset.


Intel Core i7 I7-920 Quad Core Processor (2.66GHz, 4x256kB, 4.8GT/s QPI, LGA 1336 Socket B)
Asus P7P55D Motherboard (Intel Socket H LGA1156, P55 Express, ATX, 16GB DDR3)
Intel Core i5 750 Qaud Core Processor (2.66GHz, 8MB L3 Cache, 2.5 GT/s Bus, Socket H LGA1156)
Asus M4A785TD-V EVO Motherboard (AMD Socket AM3, 785G, ATX, 16GB DDR3, 5200 MT/s Bus)
Micro Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Quad Core Processor (3.2GHz, 6MB L3 Cache, 4x512kB L2 Cache, 2000 MHz Bus, Socket AM3)