AMD to slash prices after Conroe release (1 Viewer)

[Collin]

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=2800

- AMD Athlon 64 price cuts will receive price cut up to 30%
- AMD Athlon 64 X2 will receive price cuts up to 50%
- AMD Sempron processors will receive price cuts up to 15%
.. effective for AM2 socket only.

.. according to AnandTech.

It's worth noting however that we don't know when this price slash will trickle into the Australian market, but nevertheless the possibility of perhaps obtaining half-priced X2s are very exciting for enthusiasts.

I mean, a 4800+ X2 for less than $500.. that's bloody beaut. I would say August would be a very opportunistic time for gamers looking to upgrade.

Let the price wars begin!

 

[AsyLum]

Hmm, can you change chips on an existing mobo? I hope so, that 64 X2 sounds nice, only reason why i bought this mobo (GA K8NF9)

 

[Templar]

Unfortunately you have a socket 939 motherboard, the price only apply for AM2.

 

[Minai]

Still very tempting for an X2, if you're looking to upgrade for the medium term

 

[AsyLum]

Unfortunately you have a socket 939 motherboard, the price only apply for AM2.

Oh shit, didn't see the last point, damn

 

[Templar]

I suppose with a 50% reduction you can probably buy a decent motherboard for AM2 with the change.

 

[Collin]

It's quite a bold move by AMD, but I guess one which they had minimal choice on. They don't have a hardware solution in the works at the moment to counter the 'big "C"' in the near future (or atleast not that any of us know about), hence what can they do? Lower the prices of their existing lineup, of course, until they do.

I'm pretty sure half-priced Athlon64s and Athlon64 X2s would perform pretty competitively against similarly priced Conroes (infact I'm pretty sure most of the cut-priced X2s perform better than a similar priced Conroe).. so there goes Conroe's primary advantage already.

It's worth mentioning though that they've only slashed the X2s with 2x512kb cache.. i.e 'each odd one'. When you consider that a 4800+ X2 (2x1MB) performs slightly better than a 5000+ (2x512kb) at games (although performance advantage borders negligible), and costs $100 less.. it would be great for many of us if they also cut the 4000+, 4400+ and 4800+ X2s.

 

[Templar]

Well, it shows that AMD is being pushed pretty hard. I presume that the chips are sold at minimum profit, and extra cache isn't exactly cheap. In addition AMD doesn't have the finance to sell at a loss just to gain customers, whereas Intel can.

 

[Casmira]

athlon 64 dual core! booyah

 

[Collin]

Well, it shows that AMD is being pushed pretty hard. I presume that the chips are sold at minimum profit, and extra cache isn't exactly cheap. In addition AMD doesn't have the finance to sell at a loss just to gain customers, whereas Intel can.

Pretty much. AMD's forced to sell their primary consumer lineup at cut, whilst Intel perhaps inadvently kills two birds with one stone with their Netburst cut: get rid of old inventory to promote Core 2 of course, whilst also cutting a blade into the effectiveness of any potential AMD cuts.

As for the cache, it certainly makes business sense from the outset to not cut their 1MB X2s, but on further thought, one would think, "Well who's gonna buy their full-priced X2s when the rest are half-priced anyway?" Makes me think it's inevitable they're gonna also lower their 4000+, 4400+ and 4800+ in due time, assuming this whole price cut deal stays.

Also looking forward to an X6900 vs. FX-62 battle. Should be quite the arse-kicking.

 

[Templar]

It does bring in the question, do you sell stock at a loss, or risk not selling any of it? Cutting the prices on chips with larger caches is highly uneconomical, but I suppose as long as there isn't a severe surplus AMD will not sell them at a loss. I highly doubt it will cut the price on 4800+, seeing the yield for these are low (K8 has trouble reaching that frequency).

AMD has always relied on performance against the aggressive pricing of Intel with their larger finance. The outcome is now definitely not good for AMD, as it is both beaten in performance and value.

 

[fatmuscle]

i know i'm going to wait till later
not that i can afford a new PC now.

I want to spend 2 - 2.5K on a new machine

what mobo's can support higher than 2GB RAM and are at a decent consumer level price?

I'm really not up to date with my hardware.

 

[AsyLum]

A G5

 

[Templar]

Pretty much any modern full sized motherboard apart from the very basic can support over 2GB of RAM.

 

[MoonlightSonata]

I might just wait for (pseudo) quad-core, Kentfield. I don't really have the pressing need or inclination to upgrade now or in the next six months

 

[fatmuscle]

i really shouldn't be getting a new system

my laptop is just getting too dodgy to do anyhting.

some ppl here who have used it would know it's more or less a POS