The Inquirer posted a news story that Intel has discontinued its hex-core i7-970 processor in both OEM and retail guises.

Launched at the tail end of summer 2010, the six-core chip had a frequency of 3.2GHz and under 'turbo mode' would clock up to 3.46GHz. The 32nm part with a thermal design power of 130W almost immediately received a significant price drop, and is currently being hawked for somewhere in the region of £430, if you can find it in stock.

Now Intel has announced that its Product Discontinuance Program Support for the chip began on 6 July 2011 and will end with the firm shipping the last Core i7-970 chip a year later. For boxed chips, that is to say those in retail packaging, after 27 January 2012 it'll be first come first served for remaining stocks.

  Intel discontinues its Core i7-970 due to lack of demand