Intel Phases Out 19 Core-i3, i5, i7 and Pentium CPUs
Intel has notified its partners to prepare for a significant change in desktop processor supply in 2012, which clears the company's product portfolio to accommodate the Sandy Bridge-E processors as well as the upcoming 22 nm product generation.
Intel is set to phase out the Core i7-930, i7-950, i7-960, i7-980 and i7-990X on the LGA 1366 platform to its end-of-life cycle. The LGA 1366 platform was first introduced in November of 2008. It represented Intel's high-end desktop platform. To this day, this platform continues to hold its own in performance against to today's top processors (Bulldozer, Sandy Bridge and Sandy Bridge-E). The LGA 1366 was replaced by the LGA 2011 (Sandy Bridge-E) on November 14, 2011.
Intel is set to send the Core i3-540, i5-650, i5-660, i5-670, i5-680, i7-860 and i7-870, along with the Pentium G6950 and G6960 on the LGA 1156 platform to its end-of-life cycle. LGA 1156 was first introduced in September of 2009. It represented Intel's mainstream desktop platform. The LGA 1156 platform was short-lived with its replacement by the LGA 1155 (Sandy Bridge) in January of 2011.
The LGA 1366 and LGA 1156 boxed parts will be available for order until June 29, 2012. Tray SKUs will be available until December 7, 2012 or until supplies are depleted.
Along with the processor discontinuance, Intel also announced the phasing out of its H55, P55 and H57 chipsets.

Now if only they'd phase out the Core 2s and consolidate the remaining SB Celerons and Pentiums into the Core i# nomenclature.
That piece of junk is pretty much useless except for basic office applications.
And still, everywhere I go the machines they use in businesses either have core 2 duo's or i3's.
Except for this book store that had an Atom checkout machine. LOL.
Why? Do you really want to go spend your hard earned dollars on a three year old platform that's more expensive and slower than the current one? These aren't cheap chips they're phasing out, and you could upgrade your system to Sandy Bridge for about the same cost and see WAY better performance.
i was kinda upset about the lack of 19 core processors as well...
Combined with my 4870 it still plays all dx9 and most dx10 games perfectly.
I guess the list of games that are top of the line graphics intensive, fun, and have a satisfyingly singleplayer experience is too short to warrant a full system upgrade for me.
Maybe next year with new generations of intel and nvidia products I'll be compelled to upgrade, but for now, my system is good enough
I had a very similar experience, except this was when I first got into building PCs, back in late 2006, when AMD was at the top of their game. I finally finished building an amazing 939 system with an Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe motherboard and Athlon 64 X2 3800+ with ONE WHOLE GB of DDR400 RAM and a 7600GT.
But then, what seemed like only a few weeks went by and AMD released their AM2 platform, compatible with DDR2 memory. Suddenly all 939 components went extinct faster than the dodo and DDR memory became an endangered component as DDR2 became cheaper, faster, and more plentiful. I was like, FML. Of course, not long after that Intel released their Core 2 Duo line of processors and the rest is history.
Fortunately, that 939 system served me well until September of this year, where I finally decided to upgrade to an i5-2500K, with a motherboard that is ready for Ivy Bridge and PCI-E 3.0. I also upgraded to a 560 Ti which I got for LESS than that 7600GT I first bought in 2006 for $186!
Only 6 years and the landscape has completely changed. Now there are Core i5s and i7s everywhere and AMD no longer competes with Intel in desktop CPUs, though arguably that has been the case for a while now.
They already discontinued all of the "DUO" and Original "QUAD" E, and Q series. I snagged a Q9550 before it was - Which in my opinion is as good as any chip out there for gaming performance even now. The others are "faster" but not worth a complete new unit at this time. Probably won't need to upgrade till the next gen after sandy-e arrives. 60FPS at 1080P is fine already by me! Adding a second video card will make unit from 2008 last even longer! Solid chip
im willing to bet money that more people bought the wrong mother board in intels side than on amd.
I think the 1155 i3, i5, and i7 CPUs are nice and consoliated (i3 2100, i5 2300 2400 2500, i6 2600 and 2700), but the Pentiums and celerons could be consoliated - how about just one (maybe two) pentiums, and that's it? Oh, and screw atom! AMD Fusion is a lot better!