Intel officially started selling its dual-core Atom 300 processor on Monday, charging $43 for the chip.

The Atom 330 is designed for desktop computers and has two 1.6GHz processor cores and 1M byte of Level 2 cache. The chip also supports 667MHz DDR2 memory. The single-core 1.6GHz Atom 230 chip supports slightly slower 533MHz DDR 2 memory.

Detailed technical specifications of the Atom 330 were not available at the time of writing, but the use of faster memory appears designed to reduce bottlenecks that occur when multiple processor cores compete for access to data that is stored in main memory.

Pricing for the new chip was announced with the release of Intel's latest price list, which quotes a price based on 1,000-unit quantities, a standard measure of chip pricing. The actual price of the chips can be significantly lower for computer makers that buy them in bulk.

The list price of the single-core 1.6GHz Atom 230, intended for low-cost desktop computers, remains unchanged at $29. The price of the single-core Atom processor designed for laptop computers, the 1.6GHz Atom N270, is also unchanged at $44 -- $1 more than the dual-core desktop chip.

Intel hasn't announced plans for a dual-core Atom processor designed for laptops.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.