Rather quietly Intel has introduced the new Core i7-960 and confirmed the expected release date. The CPU is intended to replace the Core i7-940. With 3.2 GHz the 960 offers a higher frequency than its predecessor but doesn't differ much in other regards. 45 nanometer architecture, LGA 1366, four cores, eight threads, 8Mibyte L3 cache and 4.8 GT/s QPI.

With 562 USD the processor costs exactly as much as the Core i7 940, what indicates that the old CPU will phase out soon. The rather unspectacular introduction might be explained by the fact that the shops can't ship the Bloomfield based processor yet. When the retailers will get the first CPUs has not been announced.

The CPU is produced in the newer D0 Stepping. The Core i7-920 has already been switched to this new revision while the Core i7-940 is kept at the old stepping until the end. For more information about the Core i7 series see our reviews.