Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 Preview from Taiwan
by Anand Lal Shimpi & Gary Key on June 6, 2006 7:35 PM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
Final Words: Conroe Availability and Pricing
While Intel's Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Extreme processors will be released at the beginning of Q3 of this year it will take some time for all of Intel's shipments to be Conroe based. The scary statistic is that by the end of this year, only 25% of Intel's Performance Mainstream desktop processor shipments will be based on Conroe. The remaining 75% will still be NetBurst based, meaning they will be Pentium 4, Pentium D and Pentium Extreme Edition.
Given how competitive Core 2 Extreme is with the Athlon 64 FX-62, you would expect no one to want to purchase a NetBurst based processor if they can get a Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Extreme for a competitive price. Intel does have a plan to deal with the over availability of undesirable Pentium Ds and limited supply of Conroes; Intel would do what anyone would do if you're trying to move a lot of undesirable product: cut the price.
By the time Conroe ships, Intel's Conroe and Pentium D pricing will be as follows:
| CPU | Price |
| Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 (2.93GHz/4M) | $999 |
| Intel Pentium Extreme Edition 965 (3.73GHz/2Mx2) | $999 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 (2.67GHz/4M) | $530 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 (2.40GHz/4M) | $316 |
| Intel Pentium D 960 (3.60GHz/2Mx2) | $316 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 (2.13GHz/2M) | $224 |
| Intel Pentium D 950 (3.40GHz/2Mx2) | $224 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 (1.86GHz/2M) | $183 |
| Intel Pentium D 940 (3.20GHz/2Mx2) | $183 |
| Intel Pentium D 930 (3.00GHz/2Mx2) | $178 |
| Intel Pentium D 920 (2.80GHz/2Mx2) | $178 |
| Intel Pentium D 820 (2.80GHz/1Mx2) | $133 |
| Intel Pentium D 805 (2.66GHz/1Mx2) | $93 |
While the Pentium D has never been as attractive as AMD's Athlon 64 X2, at these prices some of them may be difficult to resist. The $93 Pentium D 805 will be particularly hard to ignore, when was the last time you could build a solid two processor workstation for a few hundred dollars?
The Pentium D 805 aside, the rest of the Pentium D line becomes extremely attractive after these price cuts take place, especially when you consider that AMD's cheapest dual core offering is still hovering around the $300 mark.
Intel's price cuts are very aggressive, to the point that they are the talk of the town in Taiwan. Every single motherboard manufacturer we met with asked us about Intel's price cuts and, more importantly, how AMD would respond. We've been told that AMD will respond with a series of price cuts of its own, the questions when and how much remain unanswered. Next week, in Taipei, AMD will be speaking with many motherboard manufacturers about its response to Intel's threat.
Despite the lower pricing on the Pentium Ds, it's not like Conroe ends up being all that expensive. The entry level E6300 and E6400 chips are both priced at $183 and $224, respectively, which is far from high. As attractive as the Pentium D's pricing may be, Conroe's performance and lower power consumption may still end up driving more demand than there is supply.
For the Dells of the world, Conroe availability shouldn't be too much of an issue because companies like Dell get first dibs. For years of not going with AMD, all while demanding something more competitive from Intel, you better believe that Dell is going to soak up every last Conroe that it can.
The problem then becomes what happens after Dell and HP have eaten their lunch, unfortunately the concern is that aggressive pricing won't be enough to reduce retail demand for Conroe. What we're worried about happening is a very small supply of Conroes on the retail market in late Q3/early Q4, resulting in much higher street prices than what you see in the table above. In the worst case scenario for Intel, Conroe's limited retail availability could result in a price to performance ratio equal to or worse than AMD's Athlon 64 X2.
The benchmarks we've seen show Conroe as a very strong competitor to the Athlon 64 X2, availability could be what limits how much lost ground Intel can regain before AMD has a chance to respond with K8L.
While performance here is extremely strong, we also haven't even touched on the overclockability of Conroe; from what we've seen, hitting above 3.5GHz on the highest end parts isn't too far fetched on air cooling alone. The absolute highest we've seen on air is 3.8GHz from a Core 2 Extreme X6800 processor. By the time Conroe officially launches, we'll be able to provide a full set of performance tests but so far we're seeing even more data to support the idea that Intel really has a winner on its hands.
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peternelson - Tuesday, June 6, 2006 - link
"once Core 2 Duo is available"who said it was going to be AVAILABLE ? ROFL
Maybe for Christmas? After Dell and Alienware get their orders to the front of the queue.
JarredWalton - Tuesday, June 6, 2006 - link
Almost makes you want to grab one of the cheapest Dell systems just to get the CPU, then sell off the rest. Almost. I would guess Core 2 Duo will be available in the retail market, but just with prices 20-50% higher than what we're currently listing. Over time, the prices will drop to more reasonable levels. Probably post-Christmas is when widespread availability at normal prices will occur.bob661 - Tuesday, June 6, 2006 - link
That sucks for the early adopters. I guess my wife will get an upgrade next summer.peternelson - Tuesday, June 6, 2006 - link
Yeah buying a Dell is desperate but could work.But then how do you know they took proper anti static precautions building it ?
Furen - Tuesday, June 6, 2006 - link
If the CPUs will be in short supply you can bet Dell will price these quite high. Dell will still have crappy Celerons and Pentium Ds to throw into cheat systems.NeonAura - Tuesday, June 6, 2006 - link
Guess that's the nail in the coffin for AMD's current revision. Intel looks to have the top.neweggster - Tuesday, June 6, 2006 - link
In regards to that what would you think could give AMD any performance lead? If im right by all the benchmarks. Intel is the crown here, how can AMD catch what steam has been converted into pure power for Intel here? I don't see anyway AMD can be crowned anything in performance, or are you refering to some benchmarking that really doesn't effect gamers and high end performance junkies?
I am a bit concerned for AMD here as intel is actually pulling so hard ahead of AMD in performance on its new cores that im afraid poor old AMD can't catch up. If you look at what Intel is providing now vs AM2 its clear that every new release of new tech from intel is far advanced and performing well ahead in the benchmarks.
Regs - Wednesday, June 7, 2006 - link
This is actually good. The CPU desk top market has been so stagnant lately. I'm tired of the same old 5% performance boost upgrades. Of course, when you over clock an architecture -- scalability isn't in your vocabulary. Who here upgrades a 2.0GHz A64 to a 2.4GHz A64? Doesn't happen often.AMD's future is looking brighter than ever today actually then when it was holding the huge performance crown (presently still does). In a business sense a fast performing car can only get you so far when there is a blind man behind the wheel.
Do not doubt AMDs performance envelope has ended. They have plenty of room to improve and show how far they can take their intuitive designs.
AnnonymousCoward - Wednesday, June 7, 2006 - link
It's not that dire. Remember when the Athlon 64 was released, and AMD had a 20% advantage in Half Life 2 performance over similarly priced Intel CPUs? Intel still came back. AMD is a big company, and it's not like one processor that finally beats AMD (an Intel first in ~4 years) will put AMD in serious trouble.Calin - Wednesday, June 7, 2006 - link
Intel had the advantage over AMD in laptop performance/watts (and marketing oomph with Centrino). Now, Intel will have the advantage in desktop and laptop performance. As long as AMD keeps their advantage in the servers arena (where real money are), AMD is not in trouble.When the Conroe will transition to servers, people will think: "Better performance and lower thermal? At lower price? From Intel? Where do I sign?". That will be trouble for AMD