AMD trims flagship Phenom II prices

AMD’s Phenom’s are now not new news. However, AMD has just announced that it is reducing the prices of its most powerful CPU’s. This is good news for all and will force Intel to keep a close eye on their pricings (although it is not going to directly lead to a price war it will keep the Phenom popular). Of course the Phenom is designed for the gaming enthusiast who has a budget and can’t quite afford the prices of the i7. That was before the price cut and now they are even more affordable.

The 3 quad-core Phenom II models have all had $10 knocked off their thousand-unit prices. This means you can get a 955 (3.2 GHz) for £105, a 965 (3.4 GHz) for £120 and a 970 for £136 (3.5 GHz). These are all Black Edition CPU’s and so have an unlocked multiplier. Please note that the prices a consumer can buy a single unit at will be slightly higher at the most of £115, £125 and £145 respectively. As a comparison the 965 retailed last July at £150 (Modelled with VAT at 20% to match) so it is now effectively £25 cheaper.

Now, these price cuts might not sound that good, but we are saving the best to last. These of course apply to AMD’s most powerful CPU’s the heaxacore Phenom II’s. The 2.8 GHz 1055T (x6) will now retail at £135, the 1090T 3.2 GHz has dropped to just £160 and the best 3.3 GHz 1100T is now at £186. The 1090T and 1100T are also Black Edition chips and all three, as well as the quad-cores; all feature Turbo Core automatic overclocking features, giving you another 10% clock speed at a press of a button.

AMD is trying to stay competitive but it is more than that as they are trying to capitalise on the delays to the Intel’s current Sandy Bridge. The 1055T although it can’t fully compete with Intel’s Sandy Bridge processors does retail for quite a bit less than Intel’s cheapest Sandy Bridge. This makes it hard to ignore.

More good news is that the AMD Phenom prices will continue to drop as the year continues and we get closer to the release of the Bulldozer-based chips.