Why is Duron so cheap?

[Elledan]

Can anyone explain to me why a Duron proc is so much cheaper than, for example, a Celeron proc?

I've seen the benchmarks of a few Celeron and Duron procs and even the 1 GHz Celeron couldn't come close to the 600 MHz Duron...

 

[dc]

amd doesn't gouge you as much.

dc

 

[noxipoo]

duron prob easier to build since the ramp rate is higher. celeron is just a p3 with defective cache. duron and athlon are different, and since AMD has never operated on the margin that intel is used to, they don't ask $100 for crap.

 

[Mem]

AMD are always cheaper then Intel ,but you still get great value & performance.

 

[Noriaki]

AMD's CPUs are always cheaper than Intel's. They have different business sytles, AMD's flagship used to be the K6-3, they are used to the lower priced CPUs. Intel has historically held the high end and are used to the high margins that go with it, so their stock holders aren't happy if they slash prices.

Besides, an i820 board and Rambus - which is intel's "offical" P3 platform - costs so much, if the chips were cheaper, the Average RAM would cost more than the average CPU :Q

 

[NFS4]

That's b/c AMD looks after the little guy

 

[Yoshi]

Simple, increase market share and sales. You really cannot blame Intel for their prices. Both Intel and AMD will do whatever they need to do to meet market expectations. You people who talk about AMD caring about the consumer, the "little guy" if you will...CRACK ME UP! Companies do not have emotions or feelings PERIOD. A company functions to make money for the shareholders that invested in them, nothing more.

Like Intel, or any other company for that matter, AMD will charge the maximum amount consumers are willing to pay for their product. If they have to undercut a competitors pricing for a similar product, so be it. In the end, for both parties, no matter who has the better benchmark performance everything boils down to dollars. This is even holds true at the consumer level. The average person does not know whose processor scores better in what benchmark. They only know how much money they have, what they are willing to spend, and whose product is priced to meet their needs.

 

[eyor]

Watch it Yosh, you're talking about NFS4 there.

 

[Wingznut]

I couldn't have said it any better, Yoshi.

 

[NFS4]

You see, you said...they do care for the little guy by charging reasonable prices They know that if they don't keep their stuff in check, "the little guy" will scurry on over to Celeron City

Also, they got to make up for the rather high cost of motherboards compared to i810's available for the Celeron.

 

[Midnight Rambler]

Because AMD is willing to make less profit in hopes of capturing some market share.

May work short term, but long term (ie. years) it can not work forever. Eventually they will cut their profits too close, perhaps even end up selling at a loss if they keep current cost reduction percentages going. GM now loses $1200-1500 on every Cavalier and Sunbird sold because of a similar scenario.

 

[Yoshi]

I don't think you can compare the auto industry to the semi-conductor industry. As CPU technology progresses and smaller manufacturing processes are developed the cost to manufacture a CPU will decrease because each wafer will yield more chips. In the auto industry, however, vehicles become more and more expensive to manufacture.

When was the last time you saw a car come out and watched the MSRP drop to 50% or better below the original? You see that happen with CPU's in a matter of weeks!

What is my point? Undercutting the competition in the semi-conductor industry is probably a sound business model.

I'll bet AMD does not even loose money on the Duron's.

 

[Niege]

It's partly due to manufacturing differences (small part), mostly due to market position. Intel can charge more because its brand is accepted. Most major corporations will only buy Intel and the corporate market is where the bulk of the sales are made.

AMD's market has traditionally been the smaller manufacturers and computer stores and, because their brand name is not linked as strongly to quality and stability as Intel, they have to charge less. The volume buyers of technology do not care about performance, they only care about stability and, for the purchasing agent, covering his anatomy.

If AMD, with T-Bird and Duron, sees their brand name rise in quality, and, more importantly, major PC manufacturers order lots of them, then you will see their price go up.

As Yoshi said, corporations have no feelings. Like sharks, they only exist to eat and sh!t.

 

[pdo]

AMD is out for vengeance. That't why the Duron is so cheap.