More rumors are surfacing regarding the Intel Core i7 2700K processor that's expected to debut in the coming weeks. Contrary to earlier reports claiming it would be introduced at the same $317 price point as the current Sandy Bridge flagship, the Core i7 2600K, it appears that Intel won't be reshuffling its price structure and instead will release the new chip at a higher price point in the range of $330 to $350.
In other words, the i7-2700K's arrival may not make the i7-2600K or any of the other Sandy Bridge offerings any cheaper. The other way we could look at it: Intel is not feeling a lot of pressure from AMD's upcoming FX-series processors, which will reportedly top out at around $245-$260 for the eight-core FX-8150 model.
The Core i7-2700K will have a base clock of 3.5GHz, up 100MHz from the 2600K, but will be otherwise identical to its predecessor. That means it would also sport four cores, Hyper-Threading support, 8MB L3 cache, and a 95W TDP. VR-Zone claims the 2700K will be a better overclocker than the 2600K as "Intel is apparently cherry picking the best of the best of its Sandy Bridge cores" for the new processor.
The site's sources also mentioned October 24 as the likely launch date for the Core i7-2700K. Meanwhile, the latest rumors say AMD is readying the FX Series for a launch a bit earlier on October 12, with the six-core FX-6100 priced at just $175, while the eight core FX-8120 and FX-8150 would cost around $205 and $245 each.