It becomes a good tradition of Intel Corporation to start selling not-yet-released Intel Celeron processors before the actual official announcement. Last September Intel began to sell its Celeron 2.0GHz a number of days before the launch in Japan (see this news-story), now the same happens to Celeron 2.30 and 2.40GHz chips: both were seen for sale in Tokyo, Japan, by Akiba PC Watch this weekend.

Intel Celeron processors 2.30 and 2.40GHz are based on the Northwood core made using 0.13 micron process technology. The CPUs utilize the Socket 478-pin packaging and feature 400MHz Quad Pumped Bus. Like all current-generation Celeron processors, the novelties are equipped with 128KB of L2 cache, their Vcore is 1.525V.

Celeron 2.30GHz chips are priced from approximately $119 to $129, while the elder 2.40GHz Celeron CPUs cost from roughly $129 to $140.

It is interesting to note that Intel originally planned to unveil Celeron 2.30 and 2.40GHz processors in the second and the third quarters respectively (see this news-story), so, with earlier appearance of the faster products on the arena, I suppose that Intel had changed its plans again.

Either the company wants to boost the demand on lower-end microprocessors, or simply wants to be even more aggressive with offering faster products for lower price. For instance, with introduction of the Celeron 2.30 and 2.40GHz processors, Intel can phase-out the 2.20 and 2.0GHz Pentium 4 CPUs and put something like Pentium 4 2.40 or 2.50GHz on their places in the bottom of the Intel Pentium 4 family. In addition, Intel may also eventually ship more its Pentium 4 processors with 800MHz Quad Pumped Bus support into the market, though, it is only an assumption.