CPU Price Chart - April 29, 2001

Notes and Recommendations: Okay- let the price wars begin. Intel released the 1.7 GHz recently at a quantity price of around $350. The Athlon 1.33 GHz, which outperforms the new chip in many benchmarks, is still much cheaper. However the MHz psychological-advantage is now decidedly in Intel's favor. AMD will look to pump up the clock rate with the Palomino chip in the 3rd quarter. In the meanwhile it will probably introduce more price cuts on the high-end Athlons to counter the new prices for the P4's. At the lower end, the Celeron 800 fell about 15%, but keep in mind that even the Duron 700, which goes for 50% cheaper, outperforms it.

Best high-end, best-bang-for-the-buck CPU for this time: AMD Athlon 1.33 GHz

Best value-based, best-bang-for-the-buck CPU for this time: AMD Duron 850 MHz