Intel Cuts Chip Prices by up to 53 Percent

babbage1815 writes: "Intel Corp. has cut prices on some of its microprocessors by as much as 53 percent as the world's largest chipmaker's investments in manufacturing over the past two years are starting to pay off." Most of the cuts are at the very high end of the line -- it'll be interesting to see what happens to the prices of the competing AMD offerings.

Comments

AMD price cuts expected tomorrow

[Seth Finkelstein]

... it'll be interesting to see what happens to the prices of the competing AMD offerings.

From more coverage at ZDNET:

Advanced Micro Devices, Intel's rival in processors, will likely cut prices to match Intel's cut. AMD typically announces price cuts a day or so after Intel. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company is also expected to soon release "Thoroughbred," a faster version of its Athlon chip, made on the 130-nanometer manufacturing process, for desktop computers. The company is currently shipping the chip to PC makers, a spokesman confirmed, and will release the chip to the public shortly.

Sig: What Happened To The Censorware Project (censorware.org)

what Pricewatch has to say

[Kargan]

Okay, I was curious enough to check Pricewatch (www.pricewatch.com) and found about the same story there as I've found for the last few years.

$395 Pentium 4 2.4GHz
$245 Pentium 4 2.2GHz Sock 478
$195 Pentium 4 2.0GHz Sock 478
$173 Pentium 4 1.9GHz Sock 478

$186 Athlon XP 2100
$146 Athlon XP 2000
$122 Athlon XP 1900
$95 Athlon XP 1800

You can get an AMD 1.53GHz for less than $100 now!!

These price cuts by Intel are long overdue by my reckoning, and while it is a step in the right direction, they've still got a ways to go.

Anyone wanting a CPU upgrade at this point anyway would be wise to wait a bit for the 64-bit CPU price war to begin, it's not far away at all, and then all these chips will look slow and clunky.

Next price cut in October?

[DeadBugs]

Many sites have been stating that the next price cut won't be until October. I also found it interesting that Intel is selling some of it's stock in AMD.

Re:P4 vs. PIII prices

[sacremon]

Except that the Tualatin PIII's with 512KB cache are relatively new. They released them only 2-4 months ago. My thought is that marketing is the motivation, that they are trying to push the new technology, but to make a Xeon cost less than a PIII is just weird.

Re:I think AMD is in trouble

[beamz]

Power?
I didn't know 20watts of power equated to a $10-$15USD price difference in your powerbill. I'm sure you use candles at home because 1 60watt bulb costs $30-$45 to run a month.

So really... What percentage of the cost is 55CDN/30USD? An AMD and Intel MSI based motherboard runs about $65-$70USD on pricewatch, $81USD for an Athlon XP 1600+, $129USD for a P4 1.6 and buy a 256MB stick of DDR for $75USD so what you get is ~$226USD for AMD vs. ~$274USD for P4.

About 20% cheaper. So by my numbers you save ~$50USD. When you're talking about 20% difference, it makes a difference.

Flame away.

This is a pretty weak flame!

[Dr. Spork]

Please write back when you have looked up the energy consumption (~heat production) of a new Athlon compared to a (.18-micron) P4. I think you'll find the difference is negligible, certainly not enough to make a difference in room temperature.

As for getting a good frame rate in Quake3, your comment is pretty stupid. Unless you have an ancient graphics card, you surely get a higher frame rate with your Athlon than the refresh frequency of your monitor. I know I like playing at 1600X1200, and I still get better than 85fps, which is all my monitor can display.

If you've fallen for Intel brainwashing, that's your own problem. Just don't go thinking you're insightful when all you do is repeat their FUD without really taking the time to look at real specs.