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AMD slashes prices of budget A-series and Athlon II processors

Beleaguered chipmaker AMD slashes prices of its budget processors by between four and 30 percent ahead of the holiday season. Will it be enough to grab market share from chip giant Intel?
Written by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, Contributing Writer
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AMD has taken an axe to its budget processor price tags, slashing them ahead of the holiday season.

First to get a trim are the A-series APUs for FM1 sockets, which have seen their prices slashed by between four percent for the 3.0GHz quad-core A8-3870K, which is now down to $91, and over 20 percent for the 2.5GHz dual-core A4-3300, now a steal at $36.

The new Socket FM2 A4-5300 'Piledriver' architecture APU has been cut from $60 to a much more reasonable $47.

Prices for AMD's Athlon II processors have also been cut, ranging from 15 percent for the 3.3GHz triple-core Athlon II X3 455 which is now $67, to over 30 percent for the 3.0GHz quad-core Athlon II X4 640, now a total bargain at only $67.

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Athlon II parts now range from $47 to $87, making them ideally suited to those looking for multiple core processors at a price that won't break the bank.

All prices are for 1,000-unit tray quantities, and prices for individual processors will be a little higher.

Things have not been good for AMD lately, with the third quarter results coming in "weaker than expected" and the company shed around 15 percent of its workforce, the company being hammered by a soggy PC market, and stiff competition from Intel. On the upside, the company seems to be aggressively diversifying, getting into areas such as ARM server processors, and even possibly the next-generation PlayStation 4 consoles.

Image source: AMD.

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