Due to be released likely somewhere in October the first Core i5 specifications and prices appeared on the web through HKEPC. As you guys know, the Core i5 series will be based on yet another socket design, socket LGA 1156, making them incompatible with current Core i7 X58 motherboards.

The new processors will of course replace the Core 2 Quad and Core 2 Duo series of processors in the long run.

From what we can tell there will be three models released at launch, all are quad-core processors and based on the Lynnfield core, using 45nm fabrication process.

Some key features:

• Four x86 processing cores with support for HyperThreading technology
• Dual-channel DDR3 memory controller specified to run DDR3-1066 and DDR3-1333 modules
• 8 MB of L3 cache, and support for TurboBoost technology.

The three processors will have clock frequencies of 2.66 GHz, 2.80 GHz, and 2.93 GHz and priced respectively $196, $284, and $562 USD, which does seem rather expensive.