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Following Intel’s announcement earlier this month that it will begin phasing out its first Core i7 chips, a couple of online retailers have jumped the gun and confirmed what their successors will be. As expected these include the new flagship Core i7 Extreme 975, with a 3.33GHz clock speed and a price tag over the $1,000 mark, and a slightly more affordable Core i7 950 running at 3.06GHz for $649. Both are quad-core parts compatible with LGA1366 sockets and should replace the 965 and 940 respectively.

Otherwise the new processors maintain similar specs to their predecessors, including an 8MB L3 cache and either a 6.40GT/s or 4.80GT/s quick path interconnect bus depending on the model. However, they are also expected to use a new stepping revision that will reportedly offer lower power consumption and hence improved overclockability. According to one of the retailers, PCs For Everyone, both chips will be released on May 31, just hours away from the Computex 2009 kickoff.