Is this enough to hammer Intel Core 2 Duo?
HEXUS can report that the AMD Athlon FX-64 will be available to system integrators in the UK at a price point of $999 per CPU from the 8th August 2006.
AMD raised the performance bar by launching its AM2 Athlon FX-62 back on the 23rd May and at the time we said it would have to do something special to compete with Intel's Conroe, which we exclusively reported about here. It looks like this ramp in performance is AMD's best shot at the moment against the big, bad Intel processor.
Will it be enough? Comment in the HEXUS.community.
HEXUS.afterburner: Our take
Despite the fact that AMD gained an early lead in dual-core performance, Intel has now spotted AMD's biggest downfall lies with the amount of fab capacity which the green team has. Intel is about to unleash a complete range of dual-core CPUs, in volume, ready for launch day. Until the transition to 65nm (Valentine's Day 2007?) and a core re-jig, AMD's best defense is speed bumps.
We know that AMD has had problems in ramping up wafer capacity, and we predict that the vast majority of AMD's CPUs' prices will drop a touch before Conroe's arrival. AMD will then evaluate the impact on Core 2 Duo on its mid-to high end CPUs. We suspect we will see some price drops of X2 3800+ and the lower-end parts, although if AMD simply cannot make enough, why not keep a healthy margin and try to ride out the storm?
At the time of going to press no one from AMD was available to comment.
