Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770 delayed to Feb/March?

There's some good and bad news about Intel's high-end processors. Sources at Taiwanese motherboard makers claim Intel has delayed volume shipments of its Core 2 Extreme QX9770 processor to February/March 2008.

That's the bad news, although most consumers will probably not care as very few people are willing to spend $1,399 on a new processor. The good news is that Intel's $999 QX9650 will be around for a bit longer:

However, Intel is yet to phase out the 3.0GHz QX9650 despite the planned launch of the QX9770, said the sources noting that the two quad-core CPUs will be available simultaneously, although the 1k-unit price for the QX9770 will be US$400 higher than that for the QX9650.

The TLB (translation lookaside buffer) bug found at AMD's Phenom processors has weakened AMD's ability to compete with Intel for the high-end desktop CPU market, a scenario that may lead to Intel to monopolize the segment, allowing the company to ask higher prices for its upcoming high-end processors, the sources contended.