Intel discontinuing Core i7 940

Out with the old chips, in with the new Sku?

Intel has told partners it will be discontinuing its Core i7 940 chips, probably to make way for the still speculated Core i7 950.

In a notification to partners, Intel said that last orders on tray and boxed 940s will be accepted through July 10, 2009, with last shipments for the boxed variety going out on December 4, 2009. Tray quantities of Intel's 940 Nehalem delights, however, will apparently be shipping all the way through November 5, 2010.

Whispers have it that Intel is gearing up to release two new SKUs at the Computex trade show in Taiwan in early June, namely the 3.33GHz Core i7 975 and the 3.06GHz Core i7 950. It is believed pricing for the 975 could settle around the $US1,000 mark, while the 940 should weigh in at around $US560. Atomic will have its best people (well, Justin Robinson) on the ground, so we'll be keeping you informed.

An Intel spokesperson confirmed that the company has "communicated our shipment plans for our Core i7 940 processor to our customers," adding, however, that it is "actively shipping it at this time and plan to through 2009".

As for the rumoured new Chipzilla chips, we were unsurprisingly fobbed off with a "can't comment" but told to "stay tuned".

See Intel's product change notification.