Early sales of Core i5 and i7 CPUs unlikely to stop despite Intel warning

Although Intel is asking vendors to stop selling socket 1156-based CPUs - as well as P55-based motherboards - that it has not yet officially launched, retailers are unlikely to listen because demand is hot, according to industry sources.

In the wake of the news that Core i5-750, Core i7-860 and Core i7-870 CPUs, and P55-based motherboards have already appeared in the retail channel of South Korea, Taiwan, China and North America, Intel has asked retailers to stop selling them in order to maintain fairness for other vendors, the sources said.

In response to the sources' claims, Intel maintained that the products have not yet been launched, but remarked that there has been "excitement" about the upcoming launch.