"If we ever had some doubt that AMD would be able to deliver its desktop quad-core processors in time for Christmas, there are now signs that a release of the CPUs may be closer than we previously thought: Several online stores have published retail prices of AMD’s new processors, indicating how AMD’s new CPUs will be competing with Intel’s Penryn processors. Curious minds anticipating the launch of the new processors can check Google’s Product Search as well as the usual suspects such as it4profit.com to see in which price range AMD’s Phenom CPU may land. At this time, three CPUs are being published. The 2.2 GHz Phenom X4 9500, the 2.3 GHz 9600 and the 2.4 GHz 9700. While we always have to take these pre-launch prices with a grain of salt, it is already clear that AMD will be aggressive in its pricing and is unlikely to be able to attack Intel in the $500+ segment."If you've been quietly waiting for the next generation of AMD CPUs to hit the market, you won't have to wait much longer. I think it's great that AMD will fight to pull the prices down, because as great as Intel CPUs are on the high end, they're
brutally expensive. I remember building one of my first custom machines, and the most expensive CPU at the time was under $500 CAD - and that's in 1997 money. Now the most expensive consumer CPU from Intel will run you north of $1100. That's a harsh pill to swallow.