Price Guides March 2005: Processors
by Kristopher Kubicki on March 27, 2005 11:45 AM EST- Posted in
- Guides
Intel Pentium 4
Considering the constant delays in the release of processors (or video card, or hard drive, or just about anything else computer related), we were pleasantly surprised when Intel’s Pentium 6xx lineup debuted ahead of schedule, complete with EIST, 2MB of L2 cache and EM64T. Unfortunately for Intel, however, performance was relatively mixed bag without any clear indication that doubling the L2 cache would put the performance of the 6xx (Prescott 2M) SKUs ahead of their similarly clocked 5xx brethren.Of course, there were some applications that were able to utilize Intel’s extended cache; primarily, Maya’s rendering benchmark in SPECviewperf 8 demonstrated clear advantage in favor of the Prescott 2M.
The immediate introduction of the Prescott 2M actually raised prices in some instances; most notably the Pentium 4 560 [RTPE: BX80547PG3600E]. As you can see from the day by day plot of vendor prices, the 3.2GHz Prescott suffers a serious price increase mid-February and we are still recovering from the fluctuation.
As an unrelated side note, don’t be surprised if “Pentium 4” processors lose their moniker for a “Pentium D” name instead – like the Celeron D, the D denotes Desktop. We have seen indication of this name change on various roadmaps, but the change will only be cosmetic and affect a few retail boxes; SKUs will remain the same.
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Possessed Freak - Wednesday, March 30, 2005 - link
What is with the DOS based looking graphs?jlanter1 - Tuesday, March 29, 2005 - link
Does anyone know how much longer the Socket 462 Athlon XP mobile chips will be available? I know it won't be available forever. The amd cpu roadmap isn't clear about when this chip will be retired.Jared
Avalon - Monday, March 28, 2005 - link
Kris, your pricing engine lists the s754 Sempron 2600+ and 3000+ with a 256KB L2 cache option. There is no such chip. The 2600+ and 3000+ models only come in 128KB L2 cache. Look at the model number and see for yourself. Also, under your AXP Mobile pricing list, you don't show the 35w mobiles, which are just as plentiful and often a good alternative to the 45w ones. Just to let you know.KristopherKubicki - Sunday, March 27, 2005 - link
PrinceGaz: I wouldn't put a lot of money on the chips only taking a week to get to retail :)Kristopher
PrinceGaz - Sunday, March 27, 2005 - link
It's worth noting that the long awaited Venice (E4 revision) A64 S939 3000+, 3200+, 3500+, and 3800+ parts will replace the current Winchester and Newcastle (3800+) processors on April 4. It will take them a week or two to get into retail, but they should be seriously overclockable, better than the current Winchesters.On April 15, the 4000+ is transitioned from ClawHammer to San Diego (E3 revision), which is likely to be the cheapest 1MB cache version.
I've no idea what is happening with the A64 FX-55 or much rumored FX-57, but I suspect AMD could release a San Diego at 2.8 GHz if they wished, and rename the FX-55 as a 4200+ or 4300+.
The chip to get will have to be one of those mid-range Venice cores, as coupled with a good overclockable mobo you should be able to take it up to at least 2.7-2.8GHz if AMD/IBM have got the SoI plus strained-silicon fabrication working well. A Pentium 4 (or Pentium 5xx/6xx if they abandon the P4 name) just isn't worth considering when the A64 is so competitive.
stephenbrooks - Sunday, March 27, 2005 - link
On the last page I see:Intel Xeon 3.2GHz 533FSB 512KB ZipZoomFly 690.00 0.00 690.00
Intel Xeon 3.2GHz 800FSB 1MB AllStarShop 348.95 7.95 356.90
...so I guess nobody's going to be buying the 512KB model then.
KristopherKubicki - Sunday, March 27, 2005 - link
bupkus: We only plan on moving the front end so that the entire AnandTech site is uniform. The backend and bot will remain Perl/PHP/MySQL.Kristopher
semo - Sunday, March 27, 2005 - link
why does the price of the athlon 64 3000 939 (winchester) not fall here in the uk. there have been virtually no price drops since it was launchedjustly - Sunday, March 27, 2005 - link
It might be nice if the Anandtech search engine could differentiate between OEM and retail.I thought I had seen the Sempron 2600+ on Newegg cheaper than the one listed for Monarch so I checked. Newegg had the retail version for $77.99 (free shipping) while Monarch had the OEM for $78.00 (not sure but I think it also had free shipping).
This just shows that prices can change quickly, and you should allways compare the item and price for yourself.
mongoosesRawesome - Sunday, March 27, 2005 - link
"This week, the talk of the town seems to be ASUS’s clever little Socket 479 to Socket 478 adaptor, which enables any mild budget 865PE and 875P motherboard to compete with the high end 885GME motherboard solutions from DFI [RTPE: DFI 855GME 855GME-MGF] and AOpen [RTPE: AOpen 855GME i855GMEm-LFS]."As yet, only a few Asus motherboards are supported - not "any mild budget 865PE and 875P motherboard."