AMD takes the price knife to Opteron

AMD has today taken the knife to some of its most expensive processors. This is the second month in a row that the chipmaker has made changes to its price list, but it seems that Intel's recent desktop processor reductions haven't yet impacted Athlon 64, as those are still the same.

The top 800 series Opterons have been gutted. As one can see, the flagship 848 model in lots of 1000 now only costs $1,514 - a 53% reduction! The 840 model is now priced the same as its faster 842 sibling, which means it's been superseded.

Model | before | after | % change |
848 $3199 $1514 53
846 $2149 $1165 46
844 $1299 $0873 33
842 $0999 $0698 30
840 $0749 $0698 07

Xeon MP (GHz) | price | Opteron saving |
2.8 - 2M L3 $3692 $2178
2.5 - 1M L3 $1980 $0815
2.0 - 1M L3 $1177 $0304
2.0 - 1M L3 $1177 $0479

The last Opteron saving above is compared to the 840 and 842 models.

One can see that AMD has targeted Intel's flagship Xeon MP processor, which is clearly the soft underbelly. When four of the 2.8 GHz Xeon MPs cost $14,768, IT decision makers won't be able to ignore the $6,056 price tag that AMD now asks for four of its 848 Opteron offerings - that's a $8,712 saving. One would need "extreme" extenuating circumstances to turn that gift horse away.

Even though the price/performance of the 800 series Opteron was outstanding before, today's price reductions make it even better. The new price/performance benchmark numbers will make for interesting reading. AMD's aggressive price reduction strategy certainly indicates that the chipmaker wants a far bigger slice of this business.

The price gutting wasn't nearly so severe on the 200 series Opteron. Nothing greater than 13% was the order of the day, and only for the top two models. This is probably an indicator of healthy demand.

Model | before | after | % change |
248 $0913 $0851 07
246 $0794 $0690 13
244 $0455 $0455 00
242 $0316 $0316 00
240 $0198 $0198 00

Compared to the 200 series Opteron though, the knife was more liberally used on its 100 series counterpart.

Model | before | after | % change |
148 $0733 $0733 00
146 $0438 $0278 37
144 $0292 $0218 25
142 $0229 $0178 22
140 $0187 $0163 13

Athlon XP didn't escape the knife either.

Model | before | after | % change |
3200+ $0213 $0213 00
3000+ $0203 $0163 20
2800+ $0140 $0117 16
2700+ $0117 $0103 12
2600+ $0103 $0089 14
2500+ $0089 $0079 11
2400+ $0079 $0071 10
2200+ $0071 $0066 07

And the same can be said of Athlon MP.

Model | before | after | % change |
2800+ $0201 $0174 13
2600+ $0153 $0131 14
2400+ $0116 $0116 00

The majority of AMD's mobile Athlon XP-M processors were reduced as well, and a new 2600+ model has been added to the mainstream category.