Last January 22, AMD announced a first wave of processor price cuts. Unexpectedly, one week before the release of the Athlon 64 X2 6000+, the manufacturer announced a second wave scheduled for February 12. Processors targeted belong to the same product line even if some of the Semprons and single core A64 prices will be slightly reduced.
As you may have noticed, the price reduction is comprised between 8 and 45% respectively for 4200+ and 5400+ processors. The overall price reduction, including the first one, is of -15 to -45%. Smaller reductions are for the 4000 and 4200+ and the most important ones are for the 5400+ and 5200+. For the first time, the price of a dual core processor will reach below $100. For Intel, this will happen in June with the release of the Pentium E2000.
In the beginning of the year, if the 5200+ was the processor chosen by AMD to compete with the Core 2 E6600, it will now be replaced by the 5600+. Similarly, the 4400+ will be replaced by the 5200+ to compete with the E6400. This new price positioning will help AMD to come back in the performance / price race. Intel's answer is scheduled for
April…hurray for the competition!
