Intel discontinues Xeon, Celeron and Core i7 CPUs

In one of our February's stories we reported about Intel plans to discontinue Xeon MP processors from 7200, 7300 and 7400 series in March of this year. Today Intel published Product Discontinuance Notifications (PDN) for these microprocessors. In addition to Xeon models, Intel is going to retire several mobile Celerons and Core i7s, as well as Core i7-980X. Full list of discontinued SKUs is provided below:

• Celeron T3000 and T3100.
• Core i7-980X.
• Core i7-720QM, i7-820QM, i7-920XM
• Xeon E7220, E7310, L7345, E7420, E7430, E7440, E7450, L7445, L7455, and X7460.

The last order date for all above-mentioned models is September 30, 2011. The last shipment date for OEM microprocessors is March 9, 2012, while boxed parts will be shipped while supplies last.

It's strange to see Core i7-980X in the list of discontinued products. It's been a year since the release of this model, and faster i7-990X was introduced just a month ago. Next Extreme processor, based on Sandy Bridge-E core, is expected in the forth quarter 2011, therefore there will be a few months when we'll see i7-980X / i7-990X Westmere parts, and Sandy Bridge-E CPU(s) on the market at the same time.

With the discontinuation of Dunnington and Tigerton Xeons, Intel still plans to keep full portfolio of Xeon 7500 and 6500 series for Boxboro-EX platform. Also, more server MPs will be available on that platform with the introduction of Xeon E7 family in the second quarter 2011.

Update: Two days after the story went online, Intel published PCN 110513-00, which stated that only consumer version of Celeron T3100 is going to be discontinued. After March 9, 2012, this Celeron will still be shipped as an embedded part.