The latest round of price cuts might have made Core 2 Quad processors more affordable than ever, and cheap Core i7 derivatives might be just months away, but Intel apparently hasn't forgotten about high-end Core 2 Duos. In fact, a new, faster dual-core model has quietly popped up in the company's CPU knowledge base.
This Core 2 Duo E8700 runs at 3.5GHz with 6MB of cache, a 1333MHz front-side bus speed, and a 65W thermal envelope. The knowledge base entry mentions the same Wolfdale design as current 45nm Core 2 Duos, so this could be little more than a higher-clocked Core 2 Duo E8600.
Of course, considering the E8600 still costs around $270 today, the E8700 may not quite be a budget screamer—assuming it actually hits stores. Together with the Core 2 Quad Q7500, this is the second chip that's showed up in Intel documentation recently without making its way into the official price list just yet.
