New Lineup, New Pricing
Prior to AMD’s release of the 9950, 9350e and 9150e, I found it incredibly odd that there was only an eighty seven dollar delta between AMD’s slowest and fastest Phenom processor. This is not even comparing quads to quads either, but their slowest triple core, the X3 8450 to the X4 9850 Black Edition. AMD clearly couldn’t charge a price premium on their top quads with Phenom struggling to compete against Intel’s quad lineup. The only way they could keep the processors as feasible alternatives was to keep the prices down. It is hard to believe that AMD’s most expensive consumer processor is only $235. The days of the $1000 FX-57s are long behind us, I’m afraid.
As of July 1st things change slightly, but there still isn’t a whole lot of pricing differentiation between Phenom models. Below is a table of Phenom processor pricing as of July 5th, 2008. Current pricing for AMD processors can always be found at AMD’s official pricing page.
Since all X4 Phenoms are essentially identical, buyers are paying about $20 per 100MHz increase in operating frequency. The L2 and L3 cache remains identical between models. The energy efficient models provide some extra variety in the lineup, thankfully. Buyers can now pay a price premium for a lower operating voltage and TDP. Although I am not privy to AMD’s manufacturing cost for each model, I do speculate that these processors have a higher profit margin, which is certainly good for AMD financially. Interestingly, some prices have not changed as a result of the new Phenom processors. I wouldn’t be surprised if further changes to the lineup pricing occur over the next few weeks.
AMD has officially stated that the 9850 will no longer be a “Black Edition” product, but will become a regular Phenom model with a locked multiplier. What bothers me most about AMD’s lineup is the 100MHz increments differentiating models. I personally don’t see any place for the 9650 or 9850 in AMD’s lineup. The extra performance gained by a 100MHz clock increase does not warrant these models. Having four processors in the 2.2 to 2.6GHz range only clutters their lineup and confuses buyers. It is bad enough that there are still B2 revision processors being cleared out at most retailers. I am pleased, however, that AMD has lowered prices on their triple core products. With their cheapest triple core pricing at only $125 now, AMD will continue to have an answer to Intel’s higher clocked dual core processors.
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