Intel will ship Xeon chips with 1MB of L3 cache for dual-processor systems next Monday and cut the prices of its current Xeon line-up while it's about it.

The new processor will debut at 3.06GHz. Unlike the Pentium 4, there's no support for the 800MHz effective bit rate frontside bus - instead the Xeon's bus is clocked to an effective 533MHz, reports Xbit Labs. The Xeon 1M will cost $690.

The launch will be followed later in the year with a 3.2GHz version of the chip at $851, pitched against AMD's upcoming Opteron 246.

Monday's launch will be accompanied by a reduction in the prices of the top-end Xeons. The price of the current 3.06GHz/533MHz FSB Xeon will fall from $658 to $433, a reduction of 34 per cent. The 3GHz/400MHz chip will fall 34 per cent, from $690 to $455. The 2.8GHz/533MHz will fall from $455 to $316, a fall of 31 per cent. The 2.8GHz/400MHz part will fall 32 per cent to $294 from $433. The 2.66GHz/533MHz chip will be priced at $256, down ten per cent from $284. And the 2.6GHz/400MHz Xeon will fall from $273 to $234, a cut of 14 per cent. Prices are per processor in 1000-chip batches. ®

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Xbit Labs: Intel Xeon with 1MB L3 cache to come on Monday