More Intel CPU news: New mobile quad cores, desktop chips with unlocked multipliers

Intel has already made news today with details of its new processors for ultrathin laptops and the promise of tablet-focused CPUs to be announced next week. But some other Intel CPU news has also leaked that will interest power users.

According to Engadget, Dell has revealed a pair of new laptop quad-cores on its online configurator, even though Intel hasn't formally acknowledged them. Specifically, these are the Core i7-740QM and the i7-840QM. The former has cores running at 1.73GHz, but that can be bumped up to 2.93GHz using Turbo Boost, while the latter's cores run at 1.86GHz and 3.2GHz with Turbo Boost. If you're buying a Dell laptop, you'll pay nearly $70 more for the i7-840GM than its i7-820GM predecessors, but you'll actually pay about $7 less for the i7-740GM than the i7-720GM.

Performance desktop fans will appreciate that Intel is going to be adding more CPUs with unlocked multipliers to its lineup, no doubt responding to AMD's success with its Black Edition Athlon and Phenom processors that come with an unlocked multiplier. To date, Intel has mostly reserved the unlocked multiplier feature, which can ease the overclocking process, for its Extreme Edition offerings, which usually cost around $1,000. (It did release a dual-core CPU with an unlocked multiplier, but only for the Chinese market.)

Fudzilla reports that the company is readying the Core i5-655K and Core i7-875K for supposed release at the end of the month. The i5-655K is a dual-core that CPU World spotted online for pre-order for about $230, while the i7-875K is a quad-core that will cost roughly $370. While those may not be mainstream prices, they are a far cry from a thousand bucks, and certainly in the range for overclockers with some money to splurge. Will you be one of the splurgers?