Paper Launch? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Paper Launches! Ivy Bridge Pops Up in Retail

Product launches are a funny thing. Companies often hoot and holler and celebrate the 'launch' of new products days in advance of when you can actually hop online and order the darn thing, which is exactly what happened with Ivy Bridge. These are known as 'paper launches' and they're not unique to Intel. Try shopping an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 (Kepler) graphics card, for example, and you'll see what we mean.

Unlike's NVIDIA's latest and greatest GPU, Intel's newly minted Ivy Bridge chips are in stock and now available to purchase in the retail sector. There are two new generation Core i7 desktop parts showing up online:

• Core i7 3770K (3.5GHz - 3.9GHz, 8MB L3 cache, Intel HD Graphics 4000): $350
• Core i7 3770 (3.4GHz - 3.9Ghz, 8MB L3 cache, Intel HD Graphics 4000): $320

For those of you on a lesser budget and/or with lower power needs, there are also three Core i5 variants available to purchase:

• Core i5 3570K (3.4GHz - 3.8GHz, 6MB L3 cache, Intel HD Graphics 4000): $250
• Core i5 3550 (3.3GHz - 3.7GHz, 6MB L3 cache, Intel HD Graphics 4000): $220
• Core i5 3450 (3.1GHz - 3.5GHz, 6MB L3 cache, Intel HD Graphics 2500): $200

The Core i5 3550 may emerge as the sweet spot since it has the higher end graphics core and is only $20 more than the Core i5 3450, which is saddled with Intel HD Graphics 2500. In making your decision, note that there are just two unlocked K series processors, which could be a factor if you plan to overclock.