sorry for the noobness... but.... will intel stop manufacturing q6600's when Nehalem comes in q4 08'?  is that what 'phased out' means?  will it drop any further?  i read that the first batch of Nehalem are the high end models and the mainstream models wont come till q1 09'.... so if this is true... how will this high end models affect q6600 prices - if at all?
 
because i am cheap... and i have been waiting for several months now for the q6600 to go down to the lower $100 range... right now looking at newegg, its priced at $185 (not boxed)  
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115018
 
or should i just go ahead and buy now, assuming that there wont be any q6600's to buy once they get 'phased out'.... i mean i dont get it.... newegg still has slow single core processors for sale for like $55.. these are like ancient... will q6600 always be available?
 
sorry for rambling - bottom line question... will the q6600's drop in price in q4 08' ???  cuz i need one soon...
 
fill me in please    

$100 for a Q6600?  Yea, right.
 
Seriously, Intel does reduce prices.  The Q6600 has seen the big 50% and 40% discounts in the past.  Based upon Intel's history you can expect smallish (10 to 20%) price reductions from this point on.  Will the Q6600 ever hit $100?  Most likely not.
 
That said, IF Nehalem is like 250% faster than Penryn or Conroe the market demands will cause the Q6600 to drop like a rock.  250% isn't going to happen, so expect normal price reductions of the Q6600 from this point on.
 
BTW, there are roadmaps the indicate when price drops will occur.  I have not beeing keeping up with the drops (I already have a Q6600), but I suspect there is a drop comoing between now and Oct 1.  Intel usually times reductions about 90 days before a new chip hits the market.

I am wondering about this myself to be honest. I too have hopes of a price drop.
 
My best guess is that the best price on a Q6600 will end at around 150$ thats just a guess and I could and probably will be very wrong lol

Thanks for the quick reply StevieD....
 

this point on until when?  will intel continue to manufacturing q6600's?
 
 

it already happened this past weekend - q6600's (non-boxed) on newegg got cut from $195 to $185 and $210 to $200 (for boxed)  
Intel Processor Pricing Roadmap(Effective July 20 08'):
http://files.shareholder.com/downl [...] _Price.pdf
 
i am just wondering if there will be any further price cuts?  i dont want to wait so long that they stop manufacturing q6600's.... will that happen?
Intel Nahelem Roadmap
http://www.dvhardware.net/article27862.html

This was the last price reduction for the Q6600 on Intel's roadmap as it plans to discontinue this chip before the end of the year.
 
You got a gamble here.  Sometimes discontinued chips get cheaper as retailers mark them down to flush them out of their inventory.  Other times, prices go up due to demand.
 
Personally, I suspect prices will go up when it's officially discontinued.  There's a number of motherboards (a lot of pre-780i nVidia, Intel 945 and Rev 1 of the 965 & 975) don't support Penryns, so the Q6X00 are the only quads they can upgrade to.

Thank you for the reply exit2dos - this is the kind of answer i was looking for... although....
 

how do you know?  can you link me to some proof?  i just want to be absolutely firm on my decision
 
like i mentioned on my first post, there are some places, like newegg that still sell older cpus (thus my confusion).... is that simply because they still have some in stock?  or is intel still making these ancient cpus?
 
Thank you guys for the replies                

PERSONALLY, if i was you, i would go ahead and buy it
seeing how something will always drop in price, or something will always get replaced by something better, or something will get discontinued eventually, there would never be a time to upgrade!
 
maybe if and when the q6600 drops in price, than you'd see the q9450 not too far off, than wait for that... you get my point right?  this may sound naive, but you have to admit, its true

If you wait too much it will just disappear. I just did a search at newegg for E6600. Guess what, it's not $100, it's just not there at all. I bet that will happen to Q6600 too in 6 months or a year.

buy now think later. Good price, if only I could afford it. Will probably last a year before it comes down to 150 so 30 saving for such a long wait. If you wait until it comes down to 100 man you probably be dead.

http://translate.google.com.au/tra [...] n&ie=UTF-8
Shows Intel's Q3 pricecuts.
 
And here is a copy of the roadmap showing the Q6600 will end at the end of the year:
http://en.expreview.com/2008/06/10 [...] am-market/
 
Of course, if Intel gets behind on it's 45nm production, it may keep the Q6600 for another quarter.

Wow, you're not kidding. I just googled about the q6600 sales.

If you can wait 6 years you will probably be able to find a complete Q6600 system in a thrift store for $15 or $10.

 
lol - and maybe by that time there will be desktop applications which will make parallel use of 2 of those four cores  

alright guys.... i guess im going to buy it now
 
thank you everyone for helping me decide!