Intel slashes quad-core pricing

If you're an Intel fan, there's good news in the pipeline: the chip manufacturer has announced massive price cuts for the bulk of their quad-core product lines.

According to BetaNews, the manufacturer is cutting prices on quad-core 'mainstream' chips by up to forty percent in response to the launch of the Phenom II X4 range from rival AMD. In order to compete with the Phenom II X4 940 3.0GHz processor – which is sold in batches of 1,000 for $275 – Intel is slashing the cost of its 3.0GHz Core 2 Quad Q9650 from $530 to $316.

The price reduction aren't just at the top end, either: the company is reducing its standard power quad-core chips – desktop-oriented chips ranging from the Q8200 to the Q9550 – by between 16 and 20 percent.

During CES we wrote that it would take a price drop on Intel's part to beat out the similarly-performing Phenom II X4 chips – and it seems that someone at the company is listening.

The bad news for anyone interested in the higher-end of the CPU market is that the price cuts don't include Intel's new top-end i7 processor range – and nor do they extend to the Core 2 Extreme range of gamer-oriented chips or the low-power laptop ranges. Whether this aggressive pricing move will prompt a similar drop from AMD remains to be seen.

Do you think that this price cut will be enough for Intel to keep its place on the top of the pile, or is it just evidence that AMD's latest designs have the company running scared? Share your thoughts over in the forums.