The newer Celeron 700-800 models are actually priced quite competitively to Pentium III processors with similar or even higher performance. The Pentium 4 OEM processors again see a noticeable decrease in prices, though the retail variant hangs tough with more nominal reductions. Intel Upgrades When looking to extend the life span of an Intel desktop, the Pentium III is still the safest bet and the one that will allow the highest return on investment. Depending on the current configuration, moving anywhere from a Pentium III 700 to 850 would be the best overall upgrade value. This Week CPU prices change frequently and the prices we obtain and post each week are a snapshot of the CPU price market for a given moment in time.
Prices can go up and down daily, depending on market conditions and availability.
AMD CPU Prices AMD Athlon Thunderbirds display only minimal price decreases, and seem to mimic the Pentium III in that regard. In terms of the Athlon 266 MHz models, since the price differentials are low, going all the way to the 1.2 GHz processor is probably the right move. As with the Athlon, the Duron prices remained very steady this week. This is partially due to their current rock bottom pricing structure, and the fact that higher speed models have not yet appeared. The AMD Duron will become an even more attractive option once more motherboard manufacturers and OEMs adopt the integrated KM133 chipset.