Intel Corp. on Sunday added its six-core Core i7-970 central processing unit (CPU) to the price list. The chip giant has not made any formal announcements on the matter of its six-core microprocessor that does not belong to the "Extreme" family. The chip's price, however, is very high even for computer enthusiasts.

Intel Core i7-970 operates at 3.20GHz and contains six cores with Hyper-Threading technology, which allows it to process up to 12 threads of code at once. The CPU has 12MB of L3 cache and features 6.40GT/s Quick-Path Interconnect. The product is compatible with LGA1366 motherboards and has 130W thermal design power. The CPU is made using 32nm manufacturing process and has code-named "Gulftown" core.

Intel's first "non Extreme" processor costs $885 in 1000-unit quantities, which is much higher even compared to advanced quad-core microprocessors and is not so much cheaper compared to the company's flagship product.

Intel's top-of-the-range Core i7 980X six-core chip operates at 3.33GHz and comes with unlocked multiplier, which makes it easy to boost the clock-speed by the end-user.

In the fourth quarter of the year Intel, according to unofficial sources, plans to reveal a rather six-core chip currently marked as “≥i7-970” (meaning faster than the model 970). It remains to be seen what will be the difference between the “≥i7-970” and the current i7-980X as logically they should have the same feature-set as well as the same clock-speed and the only natural difference between Extreme and non-Extreme is the unlocked clock-speed multiplier on the former.

Tags: Intel, Gulftown, Core, 32nm