CPU Prices are stagnanting

[13Gigatons]

A CPU I bought 14 months ago is the same price today. What is with the price of CPU's?

And memory prices have tripled...bad time for upgrades.

 

[o1die]

Demand for many pc products is up, so prices are rising, esecially for ram. Fry's has 2x2gb of pc6400 for $69.99 in today's ad, which is probably the best deal anywhere.

 

[lopri]

Intel CPUs' prices don't move to market demand.

 

[Hey Zeus]

What CPU? Lemme guess...920?

 

[Plimogz]

A CPU I bought 14 months ago is the same price today. What is with the price of CPU's?

And memory prices have tripled...bad time for upgrades.

AMD cannot compete with Intel on performance, so Intel is effectively in a position where they can dictate the prices for the x86 CPU market. Intel could, if they so chose, price AMD right out of existence -- but in doing so they would have to take a profit hit on many of their mainstrean, high-volume parts, and their shareholders wouldn't look too kindly on that. Plus they probably don't want to go and just kill AMD right now, not with the FTC and those guys looking...

But yeah, the price wars of 2008 are long gone now. And AMD won't really be able to influence the pricing structures with new, competetive tech until Bulldozer hits... It's going to be a pretty boring year as far as competition in the desktop x86 market is concerned, I think.

Luckily things will heat up on the GPU side of things pretty soon

 

[child of wonder]

AMD is owning the price/performance category right now and, given the economy, that makes them a very attractive alternative.

 

[Hey Zeus]

AMD is owning the price/performance category right now and, given the economy, that makes them a very attractive alternative.

People always say that and they still buy intel.

 

[zsdersw]

AMD is owning the price/performance category right now and, given the economy, that makes them a very attractive alternative.

It doesn't "own" it, but it is an attractive alternative. Equally priced Intel CPUs are very much in the ballpark with their AMD counterparts.

 

[Hey Zeus]

It doesn't "own" it, but it is an attractive alternative. Equally priced Intel CPUs are very much in the ballpark with their AMD counterparts.

Agreed. I could have easily spent 150 dollars i paid for my Clarkdale on a 955 but didn't.

 

[rivethead]

It doesn't "own" it, but it is an attractive alternative. Equally priced Intel CPUs are very much in the ballpark with their AMD counterparts.

I just bought parts for a new build. I was on a VERY limited buget but I insisted on a quad core.

So I bought an AMD Athlon II x4 620 for effectively $75 (part of a cpu/mobo combo deal for $149). What Intel quad core cpu would be "very much in the ballpark" with that? I honestly looked and did not see one.

 

[zsdersw]

I just bought parts for a new build. I was on a VERY limited buget but I insisted on a quad core.

So I bought an AMD Athlon II x4 620 for effectively $75 (part of a cpu/mobo combo deal for $149). What Intel quad core cpu would be "very much in the ballpark" with that? I honestly looked and did not see one.

Depends what you're going to be using this new build for. And no, you didn't get the x4 for "effectively $75". It's closer to $100 and the mobo closer to $50.

 

[Hey Zeus]

I just bought parts for a new build. I was on a VERY limited buget but I insisted on a quad core.

So I bought an AMD Athlon II x4 620 for effectively $75 (part of a cpu/mobo combo deal for $149). What Intel quad core cpu would be "very much in the ballpark" with that? I honestly looked and did not see one.

You do understand why Amd had to price those quad's so low right?

 

[amdhunter]

I've been waiting for prices to drop on the i7's myself. It seems nothing is dropping in price lately.

 

[Maximilian]

AMD is owning the price/performance category right now and, given the economy, that makes them a very attractive alternative.

Totally, i considered a phenom II with my new build but i just gotta have the best and went with i7. If my budget was more limited i probably wouldve went phenom II, i was surprised how well it actually did vs an i7.

 

[Arkaign]

Totally, i considered a phenom II with my new build but i just gotta have the best and went with i7. If my budget was more limited i probably wouldve went phenom II, i was surprised how well it actually did vs an i7.

Well, the task you want really determines it. For gamers, there's no reason not to get a PhII and put the savings in the budget towards video card, SSD, or whatever. For heavy multitasking, encoding, and other heavily multi-threaded apps, i7 wins for sure.

 

[MrK6]

It took almost a year for there to be any significant developments in the CPU market (Phenom II -> i3/i5 release), of course prices are going to stagnate. Even then, i3/i5 tackle a very different market when compared to Phenom II and i5 750/i7's. We've reached an equilibrium and have nothing to shake it up.

 

[13Gigatons]

What CPU? Lemme guess...920?

e5200

 

[ghost recon88]

A CPU I bought 14 months ago is the same price today.

Maybe the official retail price is the same, but the resale price isn't :hmm:

 

[child of wonder]

It doesn't "own" it, but it is an attractive alternative. Equally priced Intel CPUs are very much in the ballpark with their AMD counterparts.

Look at the price of an e5200 vs an AMD 240. The 240 performs slightly better but can be had for $15 less. The AMD 250 is the same price as the e5200 and is definitively faster.

The low price quad cores are the same story.

 

[rivethead]

Depends what you're going to be using this new build for. And no, you didn't get the x4 for "effectively $75". It's closer to $100 and the mobo closer to $50.

The Mobo retails for $90. The CPU $99. I simply split the difference. Completely subjective, just as your assertion was. Which is what makes it so silly for you to try to tell me what I paid.

Regardless, find me an Intel quad core in the $75 to $99 dollar range.

What the computer will be used for is really irrelevant (but if you must know, web surfing, streaming video, photo editing, and iTunes).

This buyer had no more than $100 to spend on a CPU. This buyer required a quad core processor. What is my Intel alternative?

 

[rivethead]

You do understand why Amd had to price those quad's so low right?

Honestly, I don't. Maybe the multi-billion dollar payment AMD is getting from Intel allows them to take a smaller margin?

It really doesn't matter. I had a fixed budget and a defined requirement. AMD had an offering that met that need. Intel may have one too....but I couldn't find anything.

 

[zsdersw]

The Mobo retails for $90. The CPU $99. I simply split the difference. Completely subjective, just as your assertion was. Which is what makes it so silly for you to try to tell me what I paid.

No, what's silly is saying a CPU cost $X by cutting a combo deal's price in half. My assertion was that the CPU is the more expensive item in the combo, which is clearly true.

What the computer will be used for is really irrelevant (but if you must know, web surfing, streaming video, photo editing, and iTunes).

This buyer had no more than $100 to spend on a CPU. This buyer required a quad core processor. What is my Intel alternative?

There is currently no new Intel quad-core CPU in the $99 price range, but there are dual-core Intel CPUs that are and that will be as fast as your X4 620 in the tasks you mentioned.

Why do you require a quad-core CPU?

 

[soccerballtux]

No, what's silly is saying a CPU cost $X by cutting a combo deal's price in half. My assertion was that the CPU is the more expensive item in the combo, which is clearly true.



There is currently no new Intel quad-core CPU in the $99 price range, but there are dual-core Intel CPUs that are and that will be as fast as your X4 620 in the tasks you mentioned.

Why do you require a quad-core CPU?

When applications go more multithreaded the x4 will pull out ahead.
It's also worth having for the upgrade path-- not being on a dead socket. You also get more mobo for your money with AMD boards-- Crossfire, Optical SP-DIF digital out, etc.

 

[zsdersw]

When applications go more multithreaded the x4 will pull out ahead.
It's also worth having for the upgrade path-- not being on a dead socket. You also get more mobo for your money with AMD boards-- Crossfire, Optical SP-DIF digital out, etc.

.. at which point a new build will likely be desired anyway, making it moot.

 

[evident]

there are no compelling products out right now anyways. Anyone who has a conroe/wolfdale should seriously just skip the cycle and wait till the next one.