Processor giants slash prices

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 1 Sep 2008 at 18:01

AMD and Intel have slashed the prices of their quad-core processors, as the long stagnant processor war begins to bubble up nicely again.

AMD's new pricing scheme knocks its most powerful processor, the Phenom X4 9950 BE 140W, down from $235 to $186, with the triple core X3 and dual-core Athlon X2s all subject to heavy discounting.

Among the most significant reductions are the Phenom X4 9750 and Phenom X4 9650, both of which have had $40 wiped from their price, taking them to $156 and $134 respectively.

The Phenom X4 range was initially dogged with architectural problems and manufacturing delays, which allowed Intel to increase its sizable market lead with its competing quad-core processors.

Since then, however, the product range has been overhauled and won praise from PC Pro for presenting a "realistic competitor to Intel's high-end desktop CPUs."

However, as the review noted "AMD's claim on the high ground won't go unchallenged for long" and right on cue, Intel has also introduce a number of low-cost processors. Chief among these is the Q8200 which is now listed at $224, alongside an E5200 Core 2 Duo processor, priced at $84.

Intel has also introduce a new Celeron D processor for $53, which runs at 2.2GHz, with 512K of cache memory and an 800MHz front-side bus.