Intel Corp. has not had an opportunity to boost clock-speeds of its dual-core central processing units (CPUs) significantly so far, but according to a rumour that cites roadmaps of the world's largest chipmaker, the company would introduce a speed boost for its new Presler chip and will lower the prices on dual-core products this April.

Intel will unveil its Intel Pentium D 960 processor on the 23rd of April, according to a news-story from The Inquirer web-site. The part will feature 3.60GHz clock-speed, 4MB of cache (2MB per core), will utilize 800MHz processor system bus and is highly likely to be drop-in compatible with Intel dual-core infrastructure ?computers running Intel 945-, 955- or 975-series chipsets and featuring 05B platform compatibility guide (PCG 05B).

Intel Pentium D 900-series processors code-named Presler employ two separate processing cores on a single piece of substrate. The chips are produced using 65nm process technology.

The release of the new microprocessor at $637 price-point is likely to catalyze a massive drop on other models, such as Intel Pentium D processors models 950, 940, which prices are supposed to plummet to $423, $316 respectively, and so on. It is yet unclear whether the entry-level dual-core CPUs will be priced below $241, the minimum price-point for current dual-core offerings.

Clock-speed increase and price drops will help Intel to increase the pressure on its rival Advanced Micro Devices in the dual-core space, where chips from AMD became more popular among performance enthusiasts. While ability to produce in higher volumes is on Intel's side, the company will still need to improve the implementation of the 65nm dual-core offerings by adding power-preserving functionality, which is likely to allow systems running the CPUs to be quieter.

The information is unconfirmed and Intel Corp. did not comment on the matter.

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