Intel has taken a sharp knife to its price list, slashing what it charges for its microprocessors by up to 61 per cent as the company makes way for its Core 2 Duo desktop and mobile CPUs. The chip maker also introduced some old-style Pentium D parts.

The new Pentium Ds are the 3.4GHz 945 - a version of the existing 950 but without Virtualisation Technology. It comes in at $163, operates over an 800MHz frontside bus, has 4MB of L2 and is fabbed at 65nm. The 805 - 2.66MHz, 533MHz FSB, 2MB L2, 90nm - is introduced at $93.

Other Pentium D 9xx chips saw their prices cut today by 18 per cent to 40 per cent - the 920 and 930 were left untouched, at $178. The 820 now costs $113, down 37 per cent. Selected Pentium 4 5xx and 6xx chip prices were reduced eight per cent to 61 per cent.

Celeron D prices were also cut, by between eight per cent and 19 per cent.

Intel's price cuts weren't restricted to desktop chips - it also adjusted what it charges for its Centrino Duo - regular and low-voltage - bundles, though the prices of its Core Duo CPUs remained unchanged. The cuts made were nothing to get excited about - the reductions all amount to less than a single percentage point.

The cuts accompany the formal release of the Core 2 Duo desktop chip 'Conroe'. As expected, Intel added the E6300, E6400, E6600 and E6700 to its price list, at $183, $224, $316 and $530, respectively - what it was only yesterday charging for its top four Pentium D chips. Intel also introduced the Core 2 Extreme X6800 at $999. The Pentium Extreme Edition 955 and 965 also remain priced at $999. ®

Read Reg Hardware's Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Extreme review here

Read our Core 2 vs Athlon 64 FX report here

Read our Core 2 performance preview here

Read our AMD Athlon 64 FX-62 and Socket AM2 review here