Yowza. Cuts of 50-60% in a lot of cases, making them pretty competitive with Core 2 Duo’s planned prices. The X2 5000+ is now even cheaper than the roughly-equal E6600.
I think I’ll still lean towards Intel right now though. They seem a bit more future-proof, with more cache and better OC capability.
The cheapest core2 overclocks to run faster than the fx-62. The midrange $300 e6600 core2 (same cost as the A64 5000+) trivially overclocks to run >30% faster than the fx-62, with less heat and less power usage. The only logical reason to buy an A64 right now is if you already have a 939/AM2 system and want to cheaply upgrade your processor. Nobody should be buying or building new systems around the A64 any more.
Intel is up 1% so far today, so I guess this is in line with what people were expecting.
The simple fact is that until you can actually buy a Core 2 Duo, this is still just a paper launch. I would love to be able to get one, but Newegg doesn’t stock it-- not even on pre-order. Motherboards are however available! (Go figure)
The motherboards only require a minor tweak on an existing socket design, so it’s not too surprising they’re already available. But yeah, availability on the CPUs themselves is still unclear. Intel has said they already have a $200 million inventory of Core 2 Duo parts built up, but who knows how much of that will go straight to Dell, Gateway, Apple, etc.
My feeling is that everybody will sell out of the first shipment and they’ll sell for higher than MSRP. But if you look around, you’ll be able to snag one. We’ll see on thursday.