Intel effects substantial prices cuts across its range of chips

Intel announced price cuts across a wide range of chips used in mobile telephones and desktop on Monday. Included in the products which will be available at revised prices are its quad-core chips, prices of which have been reduced 40 per cent.

Intel's Core 2 Quad Q9650 processors will now be available for US$316, a 40 per cent cut on the December price. Other Core 2 Quad chip prices have been slashed 16 per cent to 20 per cent. The quad core chips find application in high-end desktops like gaming systems.

Industry analysts believe that the move comes as a response to rival Advanced Micro Devices introduction of the Phenom II quad-core chip priced between $235 and $275.

Intel has also cut prices of its Xeon chips for servers and Celeron processors for mobile devices by up to 48 percent.

The quad-core Xeon 3370 and Celeron 570 chips will now cost $316 and $70 respectively which reflect cuts of 40 per cent and 48 per cent respectively from the December prices.

Intel also announced launch of three power-efficient quad-core chips with the "s" moniker. The Core 2 Quad Q9550s processor of the series features 12MB of L2 cache and consumes 65 watts of power.

Priced at $369, the chip is a power-efficient version of the Core 2 Quad Q9550 chip, which draws 95 watts of power. These chips are also more efficient than the earlier versions that consume 95 watts.

These chips are also more eco-friendly as they consume less power-hungry are more compact devices and serve to advance technology a step closer to a more powerful and more portable future.