AMD drop Phenom II prices, strategic timing against Sandybridge

At the end of last week AMD cut the prices of their Phenom II processor range. Obviously due to the recent high profile Sandybridge platform issues, this is a sure way for them to help push sales.

Both Quad core and Hexacore ranges have received price cuts. The Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition, 965 Black Edition and 970 Black Edition are all being priced at £135, $155 and $175 respectively, which translates to £105, £120 and £135 inc vat in the UK. KitGuru isn't really sold on AMD's Quad core chips anymore, as we feel the best value lies with their 6 core CPU's.

Thankfully AMD have also dropped the prices of these chips. the 1055T, a firm favourite with KitGuru staff has dropped from $199 to £175 (£135 in the UK) and the 1090T has also dropped from $235 to $205 (£160 in the UK). The flagship 1100T has dropped from $265 to $235 (£185 in the UK). While the 1055T is locked, the other two are Black Editions with unlocked multipliers.

While none of these range can mount a serious challenge to the new Sandybridge chips, this price drop will certainly help sway a portion of the audience who want a new system, but don't want to wait on the Cougar Point hardware fixes. It is a good move from AMD, but we aren't sure how much it will damage Intel.

KitGuru says: It is also worth bearing in mind that it might be a good idea to wait for any upgrades until summer when AMD's Bulldozer processors hit retail. Not only will they be a hardware upgrade over current AMD processors, but the current range will drop in price, yet again.

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