Intel has finally launched their new "Core 2 Duo" and "Core 2 Extreme" series processors this afternoon from their headquarters in California. Conroe desktop chip availability is set for "early August" with the mobile Merom version arriving later on that month. Here"s a quick rundown of the desktop chips with prices listed in USD:
Desktop Chips
Core 2 Extreme X6800 - 2.93GHz - $999
Core 2 Duo E6700 - 2.66GHz - $530
Core 2 Duo E6600 - 2.40GHz - $316
Core 2 Duo E6400 - 2.13GHz - $224
Core 2 Duo E6300 - 1.86GHz - $183
Preliminary benchmark results are handing the processor crown back to Intel, with a middle of the road E6600 Core 2 Duo chip giving an overclocked AMD FX-62 a run for its money. AMD tried to upstage the Core 2 Duo launch by detailing its new 4x4 and K8L platforms, which promise to close the processor performance gap before the end of the year.