There is something that many of you need to remember - computer users are fickle; they want the fastest, coolest (literally), lowest power consumption CPU for their money. This holds true whether the buyer is in the market for a gaming system or a room full of servers.
AMD arguably been significantly ahead of Intel for a couple of years now (if not more), ever since Intel hit the thermal wall with their current (previous now that Conroe is launched) gen of processors, which led to erosion of Intel's marketshare. Intel now has parts in the desktop and 2 processor server space that are significantly faster than those of AMD. Even the lowest speed Conroe (which costs approx $183) is either on par or faster than AMD's premium processors (the Athlon 64 FX-62), which sell for around $1,000.
I myself am looking to put together a new system sometime during the next 6 months or so, and was previously looking at AMD's X2 processors (their dual-core models), and I'm now instead seriously considering building a PC around an Intel Core 2 Duo processor after seeing all of these new benchmarks.
The above said, I do wonder about Intel's earnings report this week. I suspect that this summer will mark an intermediate (if not long-term) bottom in Intel's share price, as it begins to recover marketshare from AMD.
AMD arguably been significantly ahead of Intel for a couple of years now (if not more), ever since Intel hit the thermal wall with their current (previous now that Conroe is launched) gen of processors, which led to erosion of Intel's marketshare. Intel now has parts in the desktop and 2 processor server space that are significantly faster than those of AMD. Even the lowest speed Conroe (which costs approx $183) is either on par or faster than AMD's premium processors (the Athlon 64 FX-62), which sell for around $1,000.
I myself am looking to put together a new system sometime during the next 6 months or so, and was previously looking at AMD's X2 processors (their dual-core models), and I'm now instead seriously considering building a PC around an Intel Core 2 Duo processor after seeing all of these new benchmarks.
The above said, I do wonder about Intel's earnings report this week. I suspect that this summer will mark an intermediate (if not long-term) bottom in Intel's share price, as it begins to recover marketshare from AMD.