Transcript Why has the price of the Intel Core2 Quad Q6600 CPU

Joshua Gigg (426026)
Released January 8th 2007
Made by Intel, a leading
manufacturer of CPUs
 The Core 2 range initially came
out in August 2006
 The Core 2 Quad Q6600 has 4 cores which
run individually of each other at 2.4Ghz
 Quad Cores are being used by applications
that need many simultaneous processes
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 Games
 Video/Photo Editing
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At release the Q6600 cost $851 (Williams 2007, Table)
April 7th 2007, the price was reduced to $530
 When the 45nm version of the Core 2 Quad was
released
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July 22nd 2007, the price was further reduced to
$266 (Meade 2007, para. 2)
 An updated version, Q6700, was released
 As was the extreme version, QX6850, was released
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Current price is $190 (Newegg.com, 2008)
Drop of 77% in price since launch
But why?
Intel spend vast amounts of money on R&D to find the
next generation of CPU
 The move from 65nm to 45nm shows this
 65nm chips (Q6600) are now cheaper than the 45nm
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 Outdated
 Slower – although not by much
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Core i7 is the new technology
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Just been released
New Socket, so new motherboards
It will be slow for people to migrate to it
Therefore it may be a while before Core 2 Quads get
cheaper
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Currently, in the US, the Q6600 costs $190
 This is the equivalent of £114
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In the UK, it costs £140 (eBuyer.co.uk, 2008)
 Which is $220 based of current exchange rates
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This is an increase of 15%
In the UK, we have VAT, which is 17.5%
 With VAT removed from the UK price, it would still be
£119, which is 4% higher still
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This is at a period of weak conversion.
 When the conversion rate was £1 = $2, then the
difference would be 40%, which is much higher
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AMD released their Quad Cores (Phenom X4)
Their equivalent CPU is the 9750
 Currently costs £120
Intel lowered their prices after AMD launched their
processor
 AMD Motherboards are generally cheaper than Intel

 Q6600 uses Socket T
 9750 uses the AM2 socket
Socket T supports more processers, meaning more
modern computers are likely to have it and therefore
cheaper to upgrade to use the Q6600
 Market demand for Intel is much higher
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CPUs are made on silicon wafers
The bigger the wafers, the more CPU chips
can be made for less money
 This also means more areas on the wafer are bad
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The higher yield on silicon wafer means lower
costs
This is passed onto the consumer and lowers
the prices
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Pure Silicon is very rare on Earth
Silicon Dioxide (Silica) is commonly found
Refining takes place using chemical methods
 Chemicals such as Hydrogen and Chlorine are used
at high temperatures to purify the Silica
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Silica is dangerous to breath and can cause
lung problems (Davy, 2007)
The EU introduced COSSS in 2002
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Intel opened their fabrication plant in 2006 at a
cost of $2 billion (Independent IE, 2006, para. 3)
It was one of three in the world
Made the latest chips, including the Core 2 Quad
range
Ireland has a limit of 0.1mg.m3 of dust in the air
(Davy, 2007)
 Intel have to ensure that their staff are trained and not
at risk
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Health and Safety drives up the costs of
production
This in turn pushes up the selling price
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As newer CPUs (i7) come out, the older
(Q6600) ones get cheaper
New technologies (65nm to 45nm) are
pushing out the older ones
Things are cheaper in the States
Competition always pushes quality up and
prices down
Bigger silicon wafer yields means less costs
Silicon is expensive to purify
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Williams, R. (2007) Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600. Retrieved November 29
2008, from http://techgage.com/article/intel_core_2_quad_q6600/
Meade, O. (2007) Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 price cuts engaged. Retrieved
November 29 2008, from
http://hardware.gotfrag.com/portal/story/38834/
Newegg.com (2008). Retrieved November 8 2008, from
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115018
eBuyer.co.uk (2008). Retrieved November 8 2008, from
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/131950
Davy, C (2007) Silica Essentials. Retrieved November 25 2008, from
http://www.bohs.org/resources/res.aspx/Resource/filename/742/Session
_3a__Silica_Essentials__Colin_Davy__HSE.pdf
Independent IE (2006) Intel opens $2bn Fab 24-2 plant. Retrieved
November 29 2008, from
http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/intel-opens-2bn-fab-24-2plant-94287.html