Intel appears to have quietly rolled out a low-end Core 2 Duo desktop processor, the E4300. The part, which supports no more than an 800MHz frontside bus clock and contains just 2MB of L2 cache, went on sale in Japan this weekend.

The E4300 is clocked at 1.8GHz, according to a report on Japanese-language site Akiba PC Hotline. Previous desktop Core 2 Duos - aka 'Conroe' - have all supported a 1,066MHz FSB, even those with just 2MB of L2 - the rest have 4MB of shared cache.

As yet, there are no details provided about the part on Intel's website, but the chip's arrival wasn't unexpected. The chip appeared on leaked company roadmaps in November 2006 and were said to be earmarked for a Q1 2007 debut. It's said to be priced at $163 when sold in batches of 1,000 CPUs. In Japan, retailers want ¥22,000 ($181/£92/€140) for it, which is what you'd expect for a part at that volume price.

Intel is expected to ship two more 800MHz FSB Core 2 Duos, sometime next quarter: the 1.6GHz E4200 and the 2GHz E4400. ®