AMD Plans Major CPU Price Drops Day After "Conroe"

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Submitted by member oddcrap with thanks to Blackima for first reporting this in BPN.

AMD will drastically cut prices on its desktop processors after the July 23rd release of Intel’s Core 2 Duo Conroe processors. The memos that DailyTech has secured are between AMD and Japanese system manufacturers and indicate the following price cuts will become effective July 24th, 2006:

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%

The memos only mention the AM2 processors; however the AM2 parts are now priced identically with Socket 939 components. AMD has previously indicated that the aim of the AM2 processors was to be price competitive with its legacy components. Several of the dual-core components do not show a price drop, but it's possible AMD has just not announced the pricing on these processors yet. The Athlon 64 FX model line will not receive any price reduction.

View: Neowin Back Page News discussion

News source: DailyTech

Update from the EIC 12/06/2006: Digitimes is also running a story on this subject, claiming the Athlon 64 3800+ will fall to prices as low as $152, and that a similar performing Pentium D 945 will run for $163 at the same time.

For a full breakdown of the prices, please visit the source of this article.

(1 reply) #1 Nexx295 on 13 Jun 2006 - 17:21

Gotta love competition.

Last edited by Nexx295 on 13 Jun 2006 - 18:23

#1.1 stevember on 13 Jun 2006 - 17:25

no... lol I've just bought AMD X2 4200...

(3 replies) #2 n30w1n on 13 Jun 2006 - 17:30

Just shows how much the ****ers really make on the CPUs, IMO. Must be nice to have markup so high you can afford to cut it by upto 50%.

#2.1 phantasmorph on 13 Jun 2006 - 17:54

Exactly.

#2.2 HawkMan on 13 Jun 2006 - 21:42

You can't really count how much they make on cpu's by how much they cancut later in the products life.

for one they may drop the rpice so they barely make a profit to compete witht he conroe.

and CPU's cost a lot to develop, When the development costs of a processor has been made up or at least mostly so, they can cust prices and still make the same profit.

#2.3 mko on 14 Jun 2006 - 07:14

Welcome to Big Corporate Business.

Nike sells shoes for $70 and probably costs them $2 to make.

Nothing new here.

(1 reply) #3 mohan_168 on 13 Jun 2006 - 17:33

I remember when AMD 3000+ 64 (single core) was hard to find newegg had a price of 160$ ... now i can afford the Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (socket939) for $169

#3.1 Aq3e on 14 Jun 2006 - 11:56

My 3800+x2 was 300 in january

#4 Audhumla on 13 Jun 2006 - 17:42

Bah, the FX chips will still cost an arm and a leg.

#5 Fanon on 13 Jun 2006 - 17:49

Ouch. I spent $300 on an Opty 165 a couple of months ago. Had I known I could've gotten a 4600+ at the same price a few months later, I would've probably waited. Oh well... such is the life of technology.

#6 leebobs on 13 Jun 2006 - 17:56

I hope these include socket 939 processors... because I ain't upgrading my Motherboard again!!

#7 denzilla on 13 Jun 2006 - 18:02

Good time to get a dual core then

#8 RangerLG on 13 Jun 2006 - 18:51

Glad to hear this. I've been wanting to start my new build for a while since my 1700+ is probably on its last legs.

(2 replies) #9 Sweet Butterfly on 13 Jun 2006 - 19:02

Ranger, you are lucky. I just bought x2 3800 last month (it hurts, lol). Though, it is still good news - this time, new FX computer? :p

#9.1 RangerLG on 13 Jun 2006 - 19:07

FX prices aren't dropping, but that 3800+ X2 with the AM2 socket is what I have my eye on.

#9.2 Sweet Butterfly on 13 Jun 2006 - 20:10

x2 3800 is great! With above price, it would be greatest :p

#10 t_r_nelson on 13 Jun 2006 - 19:39

meh...check out Tom's Hardware for a 4GHz dual-core system for $726.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/06/12/you...ng_rig_for_720/

(2 replies) #11 Jonathan2007 on 13 Jun 2006 - 19:39

But who is going to buy some of this stuff when Intel puts out Conroe. I suppose it would be half the price of Conroe stuff so maybe I will buy a X2 3800+ or an Opteron. But then maybe Conroe will be a ton (and I mean a ton) faster. I haven't looked at the ones getting the price drop yet but I would hope it would be the Opteron 165 or X2 3800+

#11.1 HawkMan on 13 Jun 2006 - 21:46

maybe not everyone cares abotu havign the absolute top of the of the line all the time.

or mayeb someone wants to stick with AMD since they have proven themselves, and Conroe is new and not proven.

it's not like cpu speeds matter that much anymore. back in the days when you upgraded form a PII to a PIII thats' when you noticed differences, today upgrading to a CPU that's a GHZ faster you don't even notice the differenc in reality. the only peopel who do are those who do renders and video editing, and I do 3D rendering but I think I'll still stick with AMD, it's cheaper and I dont' want the hassle of intel again, not now that AMD has a rock solid chipset like NForce.

#11.2 Xavien on 13 Jun 2006 - 22:08

The fact is simple, nowadays if you compare CPU's playing games at 1600x1200 with 4AA and 8AF, on ANY game (prehaps except ones that are really old), the Conroe and most X2's are neck and neck. If you game at such high resolutions, then the CPU doesn't make much difference the GPU makes massive differences at that resolution.

The only true advantage to be gained, is by dual core. AMD's solution for Dual Core i guess i more elegant then Core 2 Duo's (i mean AMD can afford to put 4 cores on the die and have each connect to each other via the HT links, whereas Core 2 Duo, with 4 cores you need to have 2 Cores on a fast link and the other two on a fast link and connect them together via slow link). Plus AMD's 64-Bit implementation is also a bit better then Intels, i guess nowadays i look for better features rather then better speed.

Plus you have people needing to buy not just conroe, but (if moving from AMD) a new motherboard and DDR2 RAM (which for the good stuff is still pretty expensive). It'll cost far more then just $300 for the CPU, but more around $500-600 for all the required parts.

Personally im going from the socket 939 Athlon 64 3700+ to the X2 3800+ once the price drops occur, $152 is a damn sight cheaper for me then the 500-600 to get conroe with the same performance increases at higher resolutions.

#12 paperless on 13 Jun 2006 - 20:44

Oh yeah, good news

(1 reply) #13 hotdog963al on 13 Jun 2006 - 21:51

"AMD Athlon 64 X2 will receive price cuts up to 50%"
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
I spent 250 quid on my X2 and I haven't even used it yet, I'm so stupid...

#13.1 Zirus on 14 Jun 2006 - 04:11

I feel your pain. I just bought 2 Athlon 64 X2s, for $460. Sad to know that in a month they'll cost around $230.

(2 replies) #14 caster316 on 13 Jun 2006 - 22:14

Quote -

Digitimes is also running a story on this subject, claiming the Athlon 64 3800+ will fall to prices as low as $152

Erm....... OK
AMD Athlon 64 3800+ $149.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16819103531

#14.1 google123 on 14 Jun 2006 - 00:02

im sure he meant the x2 3800

#14.2 Jonathan2007 on 14 Jun 2006 - 01:26

I agree that he most definately meant the X2 3800+ and that right now is hovering around a price of $300 (maybe a little less).

#15 leonx81 on 14 Jun 2006 - 04:09

God, I've just purchased my x2 4800 few months ago~ :p
Anyway, competition is good for everyone.

#16 mujjuman on 14 Jun 2006 - 07:57

i knew this would happen. yay, now its a great time to buy that X2 i was waiting for... or maybe in 2 more months..

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