If you check out AMD's official price list right now, you'll see the same numbers that have been there since July 7. However, online retailers recently started discounting chipmaker's desktop offerings. For instance, the Phenom X4 9950 Black Edition costs just $179.99 at Newegg—a whole $55.01 cheaper than AMD's official $235 price.
Curious, we decided to match AMD's figures for other Phenom chips with the prices at Newegg. Here are the results:
| Processor | Official price | Actual price |
| Phenom X4 9950 BE | $235.00 | $179.99 |
| Phenom X4 9850 BE | $205.00 | $174.00 |
| Phenom X4 9750 | $215.00 | $179.00 |
| Phenom X4 9650 | $195.00 | $175.00 |
| Phenom X4 9550 | $175.00 | $175.00 |
| Phenom X3 8750 | $175.00 | $139.00 |
| Phenom X3 8650 | $145.00 | $119.00 |
| Phenom X3 8450 | $125.00 | $102.00 |
The 2.5GHz, quad-core Phenom 9850 Black Edition now costs the same as what the 2.4GHz, triple-core Phenom X3 8750 did a few days ago—and it's actually a dollar cheaper than the 2.2GHz Phenom X4 9550. Really, with those prices, only five chips remain relevant: the 9950, 9850, 8750, 8650, and 8450. (At least, they're the only interesting ones if you don't want to pay more for less.)
Is AMD clearing the way for new Phenoms, or is it tardily reacting to the Intel price cut that dragged the Core 2 Quad Q6600 to $189.99? Whatever the motive, this change suddenly makes Phenoms a whole lot more interesting.
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