Intel Drops Prices on Select 65nm Processors

Intel today has announced price-drops on many models from their 65nm line-up, including the Q6600 and E6850. The Q6700 sees the biggest drop, from $530 to $266, while the Q6600 sits comfortably at $224. For some Dual-Core action, the fast E6850 has dropped 31% in price, and all three Xeon-equivalents to these models have had their price dropped respectively as well.

While these prices drops are nice to see, I wish we saw them sooner. Because Intel’s own 45nm line-up is becoming more readily available, the decision between these price-dropped models or the newer product is made more difficult. This of course excludes the Celeron’s and Pentium’s, since there are no 45nm models for those, yet.

The Q6600 drop is a good one though, since even the lowest 45nm Quad-Core (Q9300) sits at $290 on most e-tailers. The E6850 is well-priced at $183 as well, but if that’s a “to e-tailer” price, then it would still be priced the same as the E8400, which we find to be a much better option. If you happened to read our review of the E8400, then you’d know why.