This one somehow slipped through our radar but it seems Intel will have a new high-performance socket LGA1155 processor out in a few weeks to try and spoil AMD's much anticipated FX Series launch. The upcoming chip was disclosed earlier this month in the latest material deceleration datasheet (MDS) document as BX80623I72700K, from which we can deduce the SKU as Core i7-2700K, and carrying the spec code SR0DG.
There's not much information available in the way of specs, but given the i5-2000 and i7-2000 series are spaced in steps of 100MHz, we expect the 2700K to carry a clock speed of 3.50 GHz with 3.90 GHz Turbo Boost. This would effectively make it the fastest non-extreme Sandy Bridge desktop processor Intel offers. Like other i7-2000 series processors, this one should also sport four cores, Hyper-Threading and 8MB L3 cache.
Anandtech speculates that the pricing for the i7-2700K will be roughly $317, displacing the Core i7-2600K from its current price point. The latter could then be priced down closer to the ~$265 launch price expected for the FX-8150, and we wouldn't be surprised to see it released just around the time AMD flips the switch for its FX range.
Last week, the first three AMD FX Series CPUs went up for pre-order at online retailer Shopblt.com. The lineup included the six-core FX-6100 and two eight-core models, the FX-8120 and FX-8150, priced at $189, $222, and $269 respectively.
By comparison, the Intel Core i7 products that they're supposed to go against with, include the Core i7-2600 and low-power 2600S, both priced at $294, while the unlocked Core i7-2600K for currently goes for $317. Intel Core i5 2500 chips are priced between $205 and $216, with speeds up to 3.3/3.7GHz and no Hyper-Threading support.