Intel Corp. announced Wednesday that it is offering its resellers instant rebates on certain models of its dual-core Intel Pentium D processors, a move that makes the chips more affordable and has potential to boost their popularity significantly.

Resellers purchasing select Intel Pentium D processors between February 5, 2006 and April 22, 2006 from any Intel authorized distributor are eligible for instant product rebates: $40, $60, $80 instant rebate on the Pentium D models 820, 830 and 840, respectively. The promotion is not effective for Intel Pentium D processors 805 or 840 Extreme Edition as well as 65nm Intel Pentium D 900-series chips.

The Intel Pentium D processors 820, 830 and 840 cost $241, $316 and $530, respectively, in 1000-unit quantities. The rebates make purchasing of the Intel Pentium D 800-series more appealing and potentially allow system assemblers to build computers featuring processors with two execution cores more affordable.

The move by Intel Corp. is performed without any significant announcements: the company only unveiled the information for its partners. However, the effects of the move are likely to affect end-users seeking to buy dual-core processor-based computers.

It is not the first time when Intel pushes dual-core processors aggressively. In a bid to offer its customers a very affordable dual-core microprocessor, Intel Corp. plans to release Intel Pentium D model 805 chip in March, 2006. The chip will work at 2.66GHz clock-speed, will utilize 533MHz processor system bus and will cost $163 or $178 in 1000-unit quantities.