Chipzilla has decided that four of its chips, which were only released last year are only fit for the knackers' yard.

The Core i7-970 hexa-core desktop CPU, and three low-voltage mobile chips, the Celeron U3400, Core i5-540UM and Core i7-660UM have all been given a date of execution.

Both the tray and boxed version of the Core i7-970, as well as the tray SKUs of the three laptop CPUs are will only be able to be ordered until January 27, 2012. The tray SKUs of all four processors will continue shipping until July 6, 2012. The boxed Core i7-970 will be delivered while supplies last.

The move appears to be to clear the way for new models to fight off AMD's line-up. By the end of 1H 2012 Intel will already have released the LGA2011 desktop, to replace the LGA1366.  This one is based around the Sandy Bridge-E CPUs and the second-gen LGA1155 chips aka Ivy Bridge.