Intel Corp., the world’s top maker of x86 central processing units (CPUs), on Monday slashed pricing on numerous desktop and server microprocessors. As a result of the price-cut the most affordable desktop quad-core chip at Intel now costs just $224. Pricing of dual-core chips and single-core chips was also reconsidered.

The two chips which price was decreased by 50% are Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 and Intel Xeon X3230 for 1P systems, both of which operate at 2.66GHz, sport 8MB of cache and use 1066MHz processor system bus. The aforementioned quad-core microprocessors now cost $266 in 1000-unit quantities, down from $530. Intel also reduced the price of Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 and Intel Xeon X3220 (2.40GHz) by 16% to $224.

A little less than a year ago Intel already decreased pricing of certain quad-core microprocessors by 47% - 50%, hence, the order of magnitude of the most recent price slash is not surprising. What is a little surprising is that Intel keeps the price of its quad-core chips at $224 and above, whereas AMD already lowered the cost of its most affordable chip with four processing engines – AMD Phenom 9550/9500 – to $209 in business quantities.

In addition to make its quad-core processors which are mostly aimed at performance-demanding users Intel also slashed the pricing of numerous quad-core chips aimed at masses. Besides, the chipmaker quietly introduced several new processors, including two Intel Core 2 Duo chips made using 45nm process technology.