AMD

I think maybe now it's reasonable to say we've settled into a monthly update of the CPU price guide. It's really surprising to note that not much happened in this span of thirty days. We might see some cuts after the Christmas season, this time we saw a lot of prices go up.

AMD Prices

AMD CPUs
CPU	Current	11/06/01	Change	Shop	Rating
Athlon XP 1900+/1.60 GHz	$245	$275	-30	TCWO	6.5/7
Athlon XP 1800+/1.53 GHz	$183	$196	-13	TCWO	6.0/7
Athlon XP 1700+/1.47 GHz	$137	$146	-9	TCWO	6.0/7
Athlon XP 1600+/1.40 GHz	$113	$115	-2	TCWO	6.0/7
Athlon XP 1500+/1.33 GHz	$108	$116	-8	TCWO	6.0/7
Athlon MP 1800+/1.53 GHz	$268	$268	0	NewEgg	6.5/7
Athlon MP 1600+/1.40 GHz	$184	$190	-6	NewEgg	6.5/7
Athlon MP 1500+/1.33 GHz	$170	$172	-2	NewEgg	6.5/7
Athlon 1.2 GHz MP	$159	$161	-2	Monarch	5.6/7
Athlon 1.4 GHz 266 FSB	$107	$120	-13	NewEgg	6.5/7
Athlon 1.33GHz 266 FSB	$93	$93	0	TCWO	6.0/7
Athlon 1.2 GHz 266 FSB	$87	$86	+1	TCWO	6.0/7
Athlon 1.0 GHz 266 FSB	$73	$66	+7	TCWO	6.0/7
Duron 1.1 GHz	$79	$93	-14	Monarch	5.6/7
Duron 1GHz	$59	$64	-5	TCWO	6.0/7
Duron 950 MHz	$45	$48	-3	TCWO	6.0/7
Duron 900 MHz	$39	$43	-4	TCWO	6.0/7
Duron 850 MHz	$38	$35	+3	TCWO	6.0/7
Duron 800 MHz	$33	$32	+1	TCWO	6.0/7
Duron 750 MHz	$38	$29	+9	TCWO	6.0/7

Comments

Now that we have had some time to see the XP come into the market, the prices do seem to be dropping a bit. Just as last month, the sweet spot seems to be at the XP 1600+. For a paltry hundred and change it seems to be one of the better processors out there. The price jump to the 1700+ isn't too much more, but what is 70 MHz going to do at this point?

In the regular Athlon scene, the 1.4 GHz CPU dropped back down to the $100 range we saw it at two months ago. The rest of the Thunderbird scene is fairly cheap if you want to overclock to 1400 MHz, but you could just spend the extra $20 for the guaranteed stability, and a system that allows you to hear more than the whine of a 7,000RPM fan.

On the truly budget system, the Duron is about as cheap as it gets. The 1.1GHz variant slid a bit more, but the rest are pretty much static. With the majority of these CPUs in the forty-dollar range, you can't go wrong in the bang for the buck segment.