Intel bids farewell to Pentium D as Core 2 Duo seen in Q4

Intel is preparing end of line dates for its Pentium D family as it is expected to formally announce its Conroe processors on July 23.

The latest Intel roadmap shows that the firm hopes to achieve a crossover position by the fourth quarter of this year, with Core 2 Duos replacing the desktop mix.

Intel has, in fact, several quarters to go before the Conroes, launched to rave previews last week, will become available in any real quantities. It does stand the risk of generating demand for these processors that it may be unable to supply in the short term.

That is probably why Intel has told its original equipment manufacturing (OEM) partners that there will be no price cuts on the Conroes at least up to November.

The E6700 (4MB) will cost $530; the E6600 (4MB) $316; the E6400 (2MB) $224; and the E6300 (2MB) $183. Next year will be curtains for the Celeron D too, with Intel proposing to introduce the Conroe-L in the second quarter of next year. By this time, the firm will have ramped sufficient volumes to be able to release a cut down Conroe.

Before then, according to the roadmaps, Intel will introduce the Conroe 4300 – a 800MHz version of the CPU. It will introduce the business ready Bearlake Q chipset in Q2 2007.

But on October 1, Intel will introduce the 3GHz 925 – with no VT included at $133 to fill a certain hole in the market. That introduction will be followed by price cuts on the 915 and the 820 to $113 and $93 respectively.

The 6xx series will also have their prices slashed, with the 661, a 3.6GHz chip, dropping from $400 to $163.

The 541 will fall to $84, the 531 to $74, and the 524 to $69 per unit for orders of 1,000 units.