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In the face of speculation that the microprocessor price war may have abated, chip company AMD has cut the price of its new Phenom product by 20 per cent.
On July 1st, it was announced that the Phenom 9350e would be retailing at $235, however just days later that price tag had been cut to $195, sparking rumours of a new challenge to market leader Intel.
Billed as an energy-efficient chip, the 9350e uses 65 watts to give a speed of 2.0 GHz, which gives it an excellent performance-per-watt ration boosting its ‘green credentials’ and with its lower cost, it would appear to give more performance for your money too.
But is the chip intended as a rival to Intel’s quad-core Xeon range? In a word, no; while it does offer good value, a look at its specs show that it is clearly not intended to be used on high performance rigs.
With AMD is currently diversifying its product range, it seems that this chip has been made to function best as part of an inexpensive desktop or gaming platform.
