Intel lining up Q3 Pentium D price cuts?

Intel hasn't launched the dual-core Pentium D 960 yet - it's due late April, we understand - but already it's planning to cut the processor's price, sometime in Q3, according to the latest claims coming out of Taiwan's system builder community.

Sources cited by DigiTimes allege the 960's price will fall from $530 to $316 in Q3, a drop of 40.4 per cent. Intel will cut the price of other 9xx Pentium Ds at the same time - a second set of price cuts to the range, which is due to become less expensive on 23 April, the sources say, adding weight to earlier claims of Pentium D price cuts in the coming months.

Having come down from $637 to $316 in April, the 950's price will fall again, in Q3, to $241, making for cuts of 50.4 per cent and 23.7 per cent, respectively. The 940's price will end up at $209, down 13.3 per cent on the $241 Intel will be charging for it from 23 April onwards, itself down 43 per cent on the $423 the chip maker charges for it today.

As we've noted before, the 920 is due to be dropped, and judging by the apparent lack of a price-change, so too is the 930.

The cuts come as no great surprise. Q3 is scheduled to see the arrival of 'Conroe', Intel's first 65nm dual-core desktop CPU to be based on its next-generation architecture. Conroe will have double the cache of the current Pentium D 9xx line-up, and will not only deliver greater performance but consume less energy, the company claims. ®