First Intel and then AMD, dropped their processor prices over the weekend with Intel reducing its desktop Celeron's by as much as 18 per cent and AMD price cuts, on both mobile and desktop Athlon XP's, peaking at 35 per cent.
Intel had already reduced the prices of its Pentium 4 processors last week in order to introduce the new P4 designed to work with the new 865 chipset for desktops.
The winner of this, seasonal, price war was AMD whose cuts were across its range of chips and reached substantial percentages.
The price drops affected a variety of chips including the flagship Athlon XP 3000+ desktop and Athlon XP-M 2600+ processors. AMD last reduced prices on April 22 but mobile processor prices remained unchanged since March when the company introduced a staggering 12 new mobile Athlon models.
According to AMD, the desktop Athlon XP 3000+ had its price reduced by 60 USD, or 18 per cent, to USD 265 and the 2800+ by USD 45, or 20 per cent, to USD 180. The XP 2700+, 2600+, 2500+ and 2400+ had their prices reduced by USD 19 TO USD 45 their respective new prices now being USD 137, 103, 89 and 84.
The biggest price cut however, belongs in AMD's mobile line of chips and was achieved on the Athlon XP-M 2600+ which had its price reduced by USD 90, a cut of 35 per cent, to USD 156.
Intel
Intel also introduced some, admittedly moderate, price reductions in its processor range.
According to Intel its biggest cut was on the 2.4GHz Celeron and was a reduction of 18 per cent bringing the chips price to USD 84. The 2.3GHz Celeron received a humble USD 10, 11 per cent, reduction to USD 79. The 2.2GHz and 2.1GHz Celerons now carry a modest USD 74 price tag. This means that now no Celeron processor is valued over USD 100.
