Intel discontinues Pentium and Core-branded desktop CPUs

In the wake of the launch of desktop Ivy Bridge microprocessors, coming in the second quarter 2012, Intel prepares to discontinue large number of desktop models due to low demand. In the past two days, the company published several Product Change Notification (PCN) documents, that notify customers of upcoming discontinuation of 19 socket 1366, socket 1156, and socket 1155 chips. Full list of retired SKUs includes:

• Pentium G6950, G6960, G620, G620T and G840.
• Core i3-540 and i3-2100T.
• Core i5-650, i5-660, i5-670, i5-680 and i5-2300.
• Core i7-860, i7-870, i7-930, i7-950, i7-960, i7-980 and i7-990X.

Some of discontinued processors, like Pentium G840 and Core i7-980, have been in production a little over 6 months, while others, like Core i7-960, have been shipping since the end of 2009 or beginning of 2010.

The CPUs will be end-of-lifed on June 29, 2012. The last shipment date for OEM chips is December 7, 2012, and boxed CPUs are going to ship while supplies last. Core i7-860, Core i5-540, Core i3-540 and Pentium G6950 will still be offered as embedded microprocessors.

Update (March 9, 2011): Intel published revised version of the PCN, that had Pentium G620 removed from the list of discontinued processors.