Shortly after Intel Corp. disclosed plans to discontinue a high-end Intel Core i7 processor, the company also issued a statement claiming that it would phase out Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition model 965 processor. While the chip will be available for a while, it is already well known that the giant chipmaker is about to release a more powerful microprocessor to the market.

Intel Core i7-965 Extreme Edition processor features four cores with Hyper-Threading technology, operates at 3.20GHz, equipped with 8MB of cache and utilizes 4.80GT/s quick path interconnect bus. The chip currently costs only $999 in business quantities and is the highest-performance desktop processor on the planet.

While Intel’s official statement reads that “market demand for the Intel Core i7-965 processor Extreme Edition has shifted to other Intel processors”, it is a well-known fact that the company is preparing Intel Core i7-975 Extreme Edition chip that works at 3.33GHz and also uses newer stepping and can boast with lower power consumption. The new processor should be released shortly and therefore the model 965 will not be needed by performance-hungry enthusiasts.

Intel’s customers have to place the final orders for the Core i7-965 Extreme Edition central processing units by the 4^th of September, 2009. Intel will ship its last boxed Core i7-965 Extreme Edition on the 4^th of December and the last tray flavours of the chip on the 7^th of May, 2010.

Tags: Intel, Core, Nehalem, Bloomfield, 45nm