Here's hoping AMD stays around for a long, long time. Why? Because even if the No. 2 chip maker can't seem to compete at the high end, it can at least put pressure on Intel to release high-octane parts at lower price points. Let us explain.

We've known for some time that Intel plans to reward X58 owners with a six-core Gulftown upgrade, which is great. But what's not so groovy is that the upcoming Core i7 980X -- planned for a March release -- will likely run $1,000 or more, leaving six-core computing to the wealthy and/or seriously committed.

Then last week came the announcement that AMD was readying no less than three six-core chips of its own under its new Phenom II x6 1000T series this May. And maybe this has nothing to do with anything, but it's at least curious that we're now learning of a second six-core chip from Intel, the Core i7 970.

According to Fudzilla, the chip is real, and it's not an extreme version, and so it won't carry an extreme price tag. The Core i7 970 will come clocked at 3.2GHz with 12 hyperthreading cores, along with a 6.4GB/s QPI. Toss turbo overclocking into the mix, and the 970 will sometimes race along at 3.46MHz.

Look for the Core i7 970 to ship in the third quarter of this year, and while we don't expect it to be cheap, it should end up running a good chunk less than the 980X.