Intel's quad-core processors have officially hit the marketplace, after being first demonstrated in September at the Intel Developer Forum. 

The chip giant announced pricing and availability for four Xeon 5300 processors, as well as the Core 2 Extreme.

The Xeon chips range from 1.60GHz to 2.66GHz. Three have 80W of power consumption, while the 2.66GHz model consumes 120W.

Intel also released its Core 2 Extreme QX6700, a 2.66GHz quad-core consumer model targeted at gamers and home users running multimedia-heavy applications. 

Dell and HP have introduced quad-core machines to accompany Intel's new chips.

HP announced nine new models in its ProLiant server series that run on Xeon 5300s, including tower-based, rack-mount and blade server models.

The vendor claims that the new models will provide a 48 per cent performance increase over its previous server offerings.

HP also rolled out a pair of desktop PCs that run on the new Intel chips, one using an Xeon 5300 and the other a QX6700.

Dell's quad-core PC is targeted specifically at gamers. The XPS 710 has the QX6700 chip as well as four memory slots, four hard drive bays, two optical drive bays and seven slots for expansion cards.

The XPS 710 also has a new chassis design which Dell said was inspired by a jet engine.

HP's quad-core models range from $2,039 to $3,739. The Dell gaming machine starts at $3,699.