Intel introduced two higher performing upgrades to its high-end Xeon computer chip line.

Manufactured using Intel's 0.18-micron technology, the new 700MHz chips with integrated cache will boost overall system performance as much as 46 percent, the company said. Until now, Intel's fastest Xeon clock speed was 550MHz.

The new chips are now available in limited quantities of 1,000 at $1,177 apiece for the 1MB of Level 2 cache, and $1,980 each for the 2MB-cache version.

More details are available at www.zdnn.com.