When first announced, the spin doctors at AMD made it seem as though a triple core processor would be a good idea - after all, if you could make a defective quad core into a tri core with no ill effects, it was something good for MAD and something good for the user base. It was also good for the planet, as the cores, and the energy to produce them, would not be lost.

After the events of the last week, I am convinced that three core systems only make sense to huge retailers, like Dell and HP, where the bean counters are worried about every penny spent. As it stands now, the performance of the 8000 series Phenoms can be overshadowed by the highest clocked X2 processors, at less cost, and doubly so because an AM2 motherboard costs less than an equivalent AM2+ model. On the other end of the spectrum, the X4 Phenoms use the same motherboards as the X3s, so no cost savings is there, and, looking at the prices on Newegg, the difference between X3 and X4 is 20 to 40 dollars. Of course this will translate to higher cost to those buying assembled systems, but then, those people will not typically be changing parts, or complete systems that frequently, so $40 to $80 change in price is not going to influence a downgrade that often.

Another thing to consider, from a cost stand point, is there are now certain Intel processors, reduced in price by as much as 50% this week, that make it harder and harder for the AMD loyal to remain that way. When a higher performance Core2Duo or Core2Quad is in the same ballpark in cost, as an AMD of slightly less performance, it becomes harder to take the long view of things - especially if gaming is the primary purpose of the build.

In my opinion, the best thing AMD could do is level with the public, and state outright that each X3 produced is a fluke, and so (for the benefit of their internal bean counters) any profit on these ‘bad cores’ is a plus. Then, the X3s should be priced accordingly, just above the single core Semprons, and sell what they can aggressively, stating that X3s may not always be available, but when available, the processor is one heck of a deal. This ‘extra’ revenue should go completely back into the production of the next generation processors, where (hopefully) AMD once again lays down the law to the Intel boys.

-

Tags: amd, x3 phenom, tri core processor, newegg, dell, hp, am2+ motherboard