Price of Wolfdale CPUs

[JohnJSal]

I gotta ask, am I reading this right? Currently the price of the Conroe E6850 is $280. Looking on Wikipedia, the listed price for the successor (Wolfdale E8400 is the equivalent in clockspeed) is $183! How in the world can it be so much cheaper!?

I was thinking that with the release of the new generation, I could get the Conroe at a cheaper price (I figured the price might drop), but if the new ones are already cheaper, then I'm not complaining.

But am I missing something here? That's a crazy difference for something that is clearly better. Maybe those won't really be the prices.

 

[PabloTeK]

Using a smaller process does two things:

1. The materials required are less, and trust me, the silicon and other substances inside are very expensive indeed.
2. Because of the die shrink you can stick more on a wafer which means you get more throughput.