Adding credence to this fact is pre-launch pricing over at Komplett.
Here's how they line up to their quad-core brethren:
| Processors | Cores | Clock speed | L2 cache (total) | L3 cache | Memory-controller speed | Voltage | TDP | etailer pricing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMD Phenom X4 9850 Black Edition | 4 | 2.5GHz | 2MiB | 2MiB | 2.0GHz | 1.2-1.3V | 125W | £145 |
| AMD Phenom X4 9750 | 4 | 2.4GHz | 2MiB | 2MiB | 1.8GHz | 1.2-1.3V | 125W | £135 |
| AMD Phenom X4 9650* | 4 | 2.3GHz | 2MiB | 2MiB | 1.8GHz | 1.2-1.3V | 95W | £130? |
| AMD Phenom X4 9550 | 4 | 2.2GHz | 2MiB | 2MiB | 1.8GHz | 1.2V | 95W | £122 |
| AMD Phenom X4 9100e* | 4 | 1.8GHz | 2MiB | 2MiB | 1.6GHz | 1.1V? | 65W | ? |
| AMD Phenom X3 8750 | 3 | 2.4GHz | 1.5MiB | 2MiB | 1.8GHz | 1.05V-1.2V | 95W | £122 |
| AMD Phenom X3 8650 | 3 | 2.3GHz | 1.5MiB | 2MiB | 1.8GHz | 1.05V-1.2V | 95W | £112 |
| AMD Phenom X3 8450 | 3 | 2.1GHz | 1.5MiB | 2MiB | 1.8GHz | 1.05V-1.2V | 95W | £99 |
* - currently unreleased.
Now, if the Komplett pricing is indicative of other etailers' when the tri-core processors are officially released, they seem to be stack up poorly against the full-flavour quad-core models.
For example, the tri-core X3 8750 is only £13 cheaper than the quad-core X4 9750. The 2.4GHz-clocked X3 8750 is also the same pre-order price as the 2.2GHz X4 9550.
Conjecturing somewhat, we reckon that tri-core performance will be around 70 per cent that of an equivalently-clocked quad-core model, so pricing, really, should reflect that.
We fully appreciate that pre-order pricing invariably attracts a premium, but AMD needs to keep it competitive; otherwise what's the point?
Frankly, the X3 8750 should be nearer £100 and the X3 8450 tip the financial scales at £85 or so, to make sense right now.
AMD still has the cheapest quad-core CPUs on the market, however, with Intel's volume-selling Q6600 (G0, 65nm) currently at £150 and 45nm-based Q9300 at around £185.
On a more pertinent note, the AMD tri-core CPUs will need to be performance-competitive against the £105 Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 (2.33GHz, 1,333MHz FSB, 4MiB L2 cache) and £115 Core 2 Duo E6750 (2.67GHz, 1,333MHz FSB, 4MiB L2 cache).
The Intel Core 2 Duo E8200 (2.67GHz, 1,333MHz FSB, 6MiB L2 cache) represents the 45nm dual-core threat, with limited-quantity pricing at around £120 right now.
