Intel has now officially confirmed big drops in prices on Xeon, Pentium III and Celerons it made yesterday. Later today, Intel is expected to announce new members of the different three clans, in a bid to keep pace with AMD and its Athlon microprocessor range. Xeon chips The 800 MHz with 256k cache (.18) drops from $901 to $697. The 733 MHz with 256k cache (.18) drops from $644 to $505. The 666 MHz with 256k cache (.18) drops from $499 to $425. The 600MHz Xeon stays the same at $425, a sure sign of its exit from the line-up. The 550 MHz with 2MB cache (.25) stays the same at a whopping $3,692, as does the 1MB cache 550MHz at $1,980, and the 550MHz with 512k cache (.25) at $931. Pentium IIIs Intel's figures are for Slot One processors. Bear in mind that the firm is introducing Flip Chip packaging for Coppermines simultaneously (see reference to previous story below). The 800 MHz (.18) now costs $647, the 750 MHz (.18) $530, the 733 MHz (.18) $455, the 700 MHz (.18) $417, the 666 MHz (.18) $337, the 650 MHz (.18) $316, the 600 MHz (.18) $241, the 550 MHz (.18) $193, the 533 MHz (.18) $193, and the 500 MHz (.25) $193. When processor prices either remain the same or became the same as higher speed chips, that means they are effectively end of line material. Celerons The 533 MHz (.25) now costs $127, the 500 MHz (.25) $93, the 466 MHz (.25) $73, the 433 MHz (.25) remains at $69. These are OEM prices and refer to trays of 1,000 units. Refer to our earlier channel story here for details of channel pricing, and also links to the Intel and AMD price adjustments, and the Intel roadmap. ®