Dell, Gateway, and other computer makers on Monday launched high-end PCs with Intel's latest Core i7 desktop processor.

Dell made the quad-core processors, the first built with Intel's new Nehalem microarchitecture, available in XPS systems. Dell subsidiary Alienware has made the chips available in its gaming PCs, and Gateway launched the chips in its FX Series PCs.

Intel formally launched its Core i7 design Monday at a San Francisco event featuring the first desktops running the high-performance chip line. The systems are aimed at PC games and content creation, such as video.

The first chips being released are quad-core desktop models, the 920, 940, and 965 Extreme. Clock speeds are 2.66 GHz, 2.93 GHz, and 3.2 GHz, respectively, and prices in batches of 1,000 are $284, $562, and $999.

Intel plans to release Core i7 models for servers in the first half of next year and models for notebooks in the second half.

In building anticipation for the official unveiling, Intel released evaluation copies of Core i7 processors to reviewers, who have largely given the chip their thumbs up. The "first look" review on ChannelWeb found that the new processors have the performance "to drive current data center-class performance onto the desktop."