AMD Price-Wars

[Kougar]

... have begun, with the AM2 processors first ;)

I suggest if you were waiting for this that you keep a very close eye on your favorite retailers, they are already selling out :roll: NewEgg still isn't on the bandwagon yet... no Socket939 parts as of yet either.

Mwave is already out of stock on the Orleans core {AM2} AMD Athlon 3800+ @ $148...

AM2 Socket Orleans:
3000+ $98.21 Mwave @ $95
3200+ $107.13 Mwave @ $105
3500+ $124.99 Mwave OOS @ $114 EDIT: Back in stock as well...
3800+ $157.13 Mwave OOS @ $148 EDIT: Back in stock, better hurry...

Linky to mWave's page: http://www.mwave.com/mwave/amdam2.hmx? (http://www.mwave.com/mwave/amdam2.hmx?) Look at the pretty AMD box colors... :mrgreen:

Linky to a good RTPE: http://labs.anandtech.com/products.php?cfilter=2 (http://labs.anandtech.com/products.php?cfilter=2) (Sorry Scott, I know it's not Bjorn's own... :paw: )

Interestingly AMD has released a wave of Semprons for the AM2 platform as well? :confused: So much for keeping the 754 socket around for those I guess...

[werty316]

Yep the AM2 has both the Athlon64 and Sempron chips, no surprise here and much better than releasing two sockets like the S754 and S939.

[Kougar]

Yep the AM2 has both the Athlon64 and Sempron chips, no surprise here and much better than releasing two sockets like the S754 and S939.

AMD publicly stated they would keep socket754 around for a full year longer for the low-end Semprons, and let the 939 pass by the way side.Socket393 will be officially EOLed by the end of his year, but 754 will be around till sometime late next year.

Also, as an update Mwave is now listing the AMD 64 3500+ as back in stock for $116.

[Bio-Hazard]

Nothing really earthshaking as of yet, pretty much the same prices they have been for the past week or so. I've following them for a while now looking for a better clocking CPU for my main rig.
The single core cip to get would be the A64 3700 with 1 meg cache, and the price on that one hasn't dropped a penny yet. The only thing that dropping are the ones that are really selling at all.

[liqnit]

Anyone know if teh AM2 3200+ is a great OC like the 939 ones?

[werty316]

Its probably more or less the same with OC'ing but then again I am just guessing. If you buy form a shop you can ask the tech peeps or bite the bullet and buy it and hope for the best.

[Kougar]

Anyone know if teh AM2 3200+ is a great OC like the 939 ones?

I will check later, but I have already seen some forum posts of people OCing the AM2 3000+ to ~2.75ghz.

[Bio-Hazard]

That's about average for the 939 3000 ...........;) I can get a bit mre than 2.8 out of mine, ibut it takes a bunch of volts...........:)

[werty316]

What voltages are people using to get to 2.7GHz on the AM2 3000+? probably somewhere close to 1.7V.

[Kougar]

What voltages are people using to get to 2.7GHz on the AM2 3000+? probably somewhere close to 1.7V.

Actually, I found the original source. They reached 2.735ghz using the Stock AMD cooler, and 1.42volts. Since I've never had a K8 chip I wouldn't know what scale to rate that voltage on... They plan to use better cooling to acheive a 1ghz overclock.

Blurb on it is at http://www.amdzone.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=5705

[Bio-Hazard]

1.42 is pretty low really, it sort of along the lines of the frist opty CPU's that did so well. My 3000 takes along the line of 1.65 to reach 9x310 (2.79).

[werty316]

Damn 1.42V is really good for an OC to 2.7GHz. Stock voltage is 1.4V I think.

[liqnit]

i can get to 2.7 on 1.45 but after heavy testing (1hr~) i get a crash

[liqnit]

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

looks like AMD is going to fight for the crown

24.07.2006
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%

[Kougar]

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

looks like AMD is going to fight for the crown

24.07.2006
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%




Bah, I was just about to break the news... :roll:

I can't imagine a X2 3800+ getting a 50% price cut... and I am wondering if the trend will be only for the AM2 socket or both of them?

[Bio-Hazard]

We shall see soon enough...........;)
I don't see rany sane reason why AMD wouldn't lower prices across the board though. They would only be hurting themselves if they lowered the new and left the old where it is.
After the price cuts, they'd still be making a killing as it doesn't cost a whole lot to make a CPU.

http://www.ciber-runa.net/guide/ChipCosts.html


http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/3041/cpucost5in.jpg


http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/9784/cpucost19of.jpg

[Bio-Hazard]

AMD will launch a pricing campaign later this month, covering the full range of its product line, in head-to-head rivalry with Intel, which is expected to lower the prices for its processors in July, according to sources with motherboard makers.


AMD will almost halve the prices for its Athlon 64x32 3800+ to US$152-161, compared to the US$163 that Intel plans for its Pentium D 945, the sources said, citing one example in AMD's pricing plan.


http://www.digitimes.com/mobos/a20060612A1001.html

[tomato]

HOLY SH*T! Those chip manufacturing costs are crazy! Both Intel & AMD are making a freakin' killing on the consumer based on those numbers!

[Bio-Hazard]

Updte from the Daily Tech;

http://img473.imageshack.us/img473/9949/1779largefullpricing3bx.png

[Kougar]

Whoa Sbrehm... It'll take me a bit to catch up on that now! I was expecting the "up to 50%" to mean only 50% on the higher end processors, but not the 3800+ X2... guess I was wrong!

HOLY SH*T! Those chip manufacturing costs are crazy! Both Intel & AMD are making a freakin' killing on the consumer based on those numbers!

Do not just look at the final cost per processor, I am pretty sure that production cost number does not account for the defective yield rate per wafer which is the largest expense by far for AMD/Intel that they have to account for. I can't be sure of the number, but I think a 66% yield per wafer is near to where it is at? It certainly is below 80%, but on a mature fab process and mature uArch design the number will be a good ways above 40%. Instead of being a profit, this ~34% of bad chips instead amounts to a good-sized expense cost that the other working processors must make up for, and a $30 cost per wafer is far to low to include it. Rough estimates put it around twice as much and then some, for the final, total "cost of production".