Rumour control: Intel to launch budget quad core CPU

Posted at: 11:34am 13th June 2008 by Ben Hardwidge

Core 2 Quad 8000 chips could be out by the end of the year

Intel may have reduced the price of its 2.4GHz Core 2 Quad Q6600 to just £131.20, but this is still a hard ask if you’re on a tight budget, especially when you can pick up a 2.1GHz Phenom X3 8450 for £91.17. However, it looks as though Intel may have a budget quad-core CPU in the works, at least if the rumour mill is to be believed.

The folks over at DigiTimes claim to have spoken to motherboard makers who have anonymously informed the site about Intel’s plans for a new Core 2 Quad Q8000-series of CPUs. The site claims that the new CPUs are a response to AMD’s new triple-core Phenom X3 CPUs, and will be available towards the end of this year.

According to DigiTimes’ sources, the Core 2 Quad Q8200 will have 4MB of Level 2 cache, and will have a 1,333MHz FSB and a 7x multiplier, making for a core clock of 2.33GHz. The site also notes that the chips won’t support Intel’s TXT (Trusted Execution Technology) and VT (Virtualization Technology) features.

Disappointingly, though, the site claims that the price of the chips will be set at around $203 US (£104.39) each in quantities of 1,000, which means that the CPUs might not be a great deal cheaper than the Q6600 by the time they make it to retail. That said, this is all rumour at the moment, and if the chips are indeed in development then the pricing may well change in the future. If Intel can produce a decent quad-core chip for under £100 then it could be onto something.