CPU price war?
AMD has announced another refresh of its desktop processor line-up with four new products and price cuts to most of the rest.
We spoke to Raj Suman, Euro product marketing director at distributor Avnet, to get confirmation of approximate street pricing and for his take.
"This is a strong price move, indicating AMD's commitment to the channel, especially smaller system integrators," said Suman. "The market is soft right now but this has repositioned AMD well. The main battleground between AMD and Intel is the $135-$180 band."
Here are the new CPUs with Suman's street prices:
- Phenom X4 9950 Black Edition 125W - $186
- Phenom X3 8750 Black Edition 95W - $139
- Athlon X2 6500 Black Edition 95W - $105
- Athlon X2 5050e 45W - $90
Here's a table showing the before and after prices of the those CPUs that have had their prices cut. The old prices are from AMD and new ones from Suman.
| Product | Old price ($) | New price ($) |
| Phenom X4 9950 BE 140W | 235 | 186 |
| Phenom X4 9850 BE | 194 | 180 |
| Phenom X4 9750 | 215 | 170 |
| Phenom X4 9650 | 195 | 156 |
| Phenom X3 8750 | 175 | 134 |
| Phenom X3 8650 | 145 | 123 |
| Athlon X2 6000+ | 112 | 95 |
| Athlon X2 5600+ | 102 | 88 |
| Athlon X2 5400+ | 87 | 78 |
| Athlon X2 5200+ | 76 | 68 |
The following products have also had their prices cut by we were unable to confirm the new prices at time of writing: Phenom X4 9350e, Athlon X2 5400+ BE, Sempron LE-1300, Sempron LE-1250.
At first glance these appear to be pretty substantial cuts, with many prices dropping by 20 percent or more. As Suman said, AMD appears to be rolling up its sleeves for the $135-$180 battle and it will be interesting to see if Intel drops its prices in response.
Does this move put AMD at an advantage in the $100-$200 segment? Would you be more likely to buy an AMD CPU than an Intel one in that price band? Let us know in the HEXUS.community.
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