Typically, when Intel has released a new generation of “performance” processors, the first few months is marked by extremely high prices. That's been true since the release of the original Pentium, and it's become common to see their “enthusiast” processors initially hitting prices significantly higher than $1,000. With Bloomfield, Intel is curbing that. Their 3.2GHz Extreme series Bloomfield cores are hitting the market at just under $1,000, priced lower than the current top-end Core 2 Extreme.

Another step down is the 2.93GHz version at $562 in quantity, and a “budget” version at $284. These are still high prices for many, but you have to factor in that the Bloomfield is new – meaning the prices should settle to something much lower in short time. There will be very few takers on $500+ CPUs, especially when a GPU can run you just as much.