"We ran-out of the high-end ones, the 965 processors, and the motherboards above ¥40,000 (US$410)," said Keisuke Kurashi, manager of the Faith store in the electronics district.

Core i7 is the first chip series based on Intel's Nehalem architecture to hit the market. Manufactured using a 45-nanometer process, these chips differ from Intel's existing products in several ways, most notably with the inclusion of an on-chip memory controller and faster links that connect the processor with main memory.

The chips that went on sale late Saturday aren't for the average user.

The first Core i7 processors were designed for systems aimed at gamers and other high-end users, and not the mass market, said Bryan Ma, director of personal systems research at IDC Asia-Pacific.

Despite the challenging economic environment, the release of Core i7 gives Intel a boost by strengthening its desktop product line and will keep the company one step ahead of rival AMD in the high-end desktop space. "They need to stay competitive," Ma said.