Phenom II info leaks out, AMD hints at something

[Rammsteiner]

First: Core i7 2.66GHz cost $319.99 at newegg, and you can get it for $299.99 Microcenter. I think Core i7 will also perform better than any of Phenom II CPUs

It's quite clear it will perform better yes. But that's not the point really, also wiak didnt say it would.

Second: There are much cheaper X58 motherboards at newegg than the one you posted.

So there are much cheaper motherboards for AM2, which still do the OC you want. I think that Gigabyte motherboard is pretty average. But then take an Asus P6/Intel X58, like 290$.

In the end the price of a RD790/SB750 board could be lowered since the DFI one is 175$, which is at the same time one of the best ones available.

Third: The DDR3 you posted is very expensive, and you can get much cheaper one. Furthermore, Core i7 performs the best on Triple channel memory

That kit you selected is only DDR1333 and tCL 9. I'd chose this anytime over that kit you selected. That was a quick pick btw, obviously there might be a slightly cheaper alternative.

However, for 120$ you seem to have 4GB of Micron D9's, which are the generally the best to have. Ive Transcend D9's, which ain't available anymore (out of production). But over at TPU DDR1200 tCL4 wasnt a rare thing and some guy even got DDR1400 at 2.2~2.3Vdimm. However, lets not focus too much on those things since nobody really knows thus far how well those triple channel kits OC and/or whether you can safely use >1.65Vdimm or not.

Forth: Phenom II is not out yet. At the time Phenom II comes out the price of Core i7, X58 motherboard and DDR3 might get cheaper.

I doubt that... highly. Triple channel is a new thing because of the IC's and since it's for a very specific platform, I dont think it will drop any soon. Compare it like gas for cars. It's needed, and if you've to pay 1Euro/l you're happy unlike with 3Euro/l, you'll still buy it.

I see X58 becoming a tad cheaper but, those enthusiast boards will have a long road to go before that happens. Even skt 775 enthusiast boards (like ROG etc) are still ~250 Euro. Core i7 price drop? At most 30$ before Phenom II hits, mainly depends on AMD's pricing.

Fifth: there is no evidence that Phenom II will be better than Yorkfield which is cheaper than Core i7

Still I ain't sure about it. Shanghai got a nice boost already. If current news stories are true Deneb will OC like a beast without too much issues as heat and even Agena gets more bandwith than Yorkfield, so Deneb with slight improvements will at least keep the same delta. For Deneb it all comes down to clock speeds now. Also Yorkfield is thus far quite expensive, prolly going to be more expensive than Deneb.

Reason Im getting an i7 for example is since it made only a 100~200 Euro difference between a dieing platform and a brand new platform which is faster at the same time.

Last but not least: Your pricing of Phenom II 940 is based on assumption

What's wrong with that

Anyway, in Euro prices I get this for top notch stuff, based on average prices;

AMD Phenom 9950BE 125W 175Euro
DFI Lanparty DK 790FXB-M2RS 130Euro
Asus M3A79-T Deluxe 175Euro
4x 1GB Crucial Balistix DDR1066 85Euro

Intel Core i7 920 300Euro
Asus Rampage II Formula 360Euro
Asus P6T Deluxe 270Euro
Gigabyte GA-EX58-Extreme 300Euro
Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 270Euro
3x 2GB DDR1600 tCL8 300Euro
3x 1GB DDR1600 tCL8 180Euro

So basicly, top notch AMD system at max costs 425Euro, and that delivers a certain 3~3.4Ghz OC with good RAM with extremes of having luck DDR800 3-3-3, DDR1200 or even DDR1200 4-4-4, but wouldn't take that too serious. However <DDR1066 tCL4 is doable, also >DDR1100 tCL5. Also upgradability to Deneb without issues, which if we believe those slides does ~4Ghz without too many issues.

Bloomsfield platform top notch costs 960Euro and just with good stuff it costs 750Euro. Bloomfield might be faster, but with such price differences? Lets not forget the major point of getting an Intel system is that it could most of the time run at higher clocks than Agena, while Agena was in quite a few apps slower clock for clock. Deneb might still be slower clock for clock than i7, or maybe even Yorkfield, but with a ~4Ghz OC you wont even notice the difference at all.

So whatever point you tried to make, it ain't making a lot of sense And there's always cheaper alternatives, but this will result in a relative bigger price drop for AMD than for i7 really.