Penryn Pricing . . .

You can see initial Penryn models, availability and pricing here.

Outside of the $999 special, Penryn is going to be a January beast.

The lowest price for a “full” (meaning 12MB cache) quad will be a 2.66GHz chip for $316. (A 2.5GHz, 6MB cache chip will be $266).

Duallies will start at $163, though given the pricing structure, that price will probably be pushed down to the $130 level sooner rather than later.

Intel’s speeds and pricing appears geared to minimizing Phenom revenue, the Blue Man keeping the green from the Green. Intel has bunched up the initial processor speeds/performance level at a level above that expected from the first few bunches of Phenoms, which will not only keep Phenom prices low, but will let Intel clear out its Conroe production at price points that will put even more pressure on AMD’s X2 pricing. Remember, most of AMD’s and Intel’s production will still be the old stuff for at least the first three quarters of 2008.

Once production shifts more towards 45nm, Intel will probably shift from selling lower-speed, cheap Conroes to new lower speed, cheap Penryns.

Quadcores may seem a bit pricey initially, but for the first few months, they’re priced low enough to keep any AMD quads relatively cheap. By the time AMD starts making a serious number of faster K10s in Q2, it will be time for a price cut, and the prices of the two low-end models will probably be about $50 less than they will be in January.

The real competitive gem in all this is probably the worst chip of the bunch. The 2.5GHz 6Mb cache quad is obviously designed to get OEMs to introduce Sixpacks to the wonderful world of quadcoring, and low-ball pricing on that will really make AMD miserable. If Intel charges Dell and HP $150 for one, if not immediately, then next April or so, how much can AMD charge for an entry-level quad? A tri? An anything?

Ed


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