Intel Core i7 970 6-core CPU launched without fanfare

The 3.2Ghz Core i7 970 microprocessor form Intel is available in retail for nearly $900 this morning. The chip hit the market quietly, and should be a good fit for demanding PC hobbyists who want to build a fast computer to crunch numbers on things like video compression or 3D offline rendering. With 6-core and multithreading, the Core i7 970 appears to the operating system like a 12-core processor.

If you want to build a gaming system, you might want to stick to the 4-core version of the Core i7, as gaming performance does not always scale with the number of cores. In any case, I’m sure that you will read plenty of reviews before spending $900… happy modding!