I have a quick question. Now, I am not someone with vasts amount of technical pc knowledge but...
Intel has some of their CPU's priced at the $1000 mark while AMD's highest dual core right now is $180. Is Intel completely insane or is those high end processors really that much better. I understand there are some tech specs of the Intel ones that some people consider them to be superior to AMD but really... If anyone could break this down I'd love to hear it. Thx!!

They are not worth the money. Last time I checked though Intel has a range of processors from $80-$999.

There is a nice market of enthusiasts who will buy those $1000 cpu's. AMD wishes it could charge $1000 for a cpu.

The $1,00 chip is an Extreme Quadcore. With Intel, if you see an "X" in the name - it stands for "Extreme Edition". These are a little faster and have unlocked multipliers. However, they cost twice what they're actually worth - they're pretty much for people which money is no object.

To compare dualcore prices, look for the Core 2 Duos that begin with an "E", as "Q" means quadcore and "T" are for mobile.

In general, Intel overclocks better than AMD. However, if you're not overclocking, and you're just in the market for a dualcore, the two companies are fairly comparable in price & performance.

Intel has processors that are priced in line with AMD's. If you want something better than what AMD offers, Intel has solutions, but they'll cost more as you are getting a better chip.

The fastest processors always command a premium. But as already stated, there *is* a small market for these.

Now - The best processor AMD has(n't) shipped is Phenom. The best Phenom costs in the mid 200's, and the initial tests showed it performs a little worse than Intel's low/mid placed Q6600. The Q6600 can be bought in the mid-200's.... So price to performance is roughly equal at that price point, should the user not be interested in the superior overclock~ability of the Q. Looking at the more expensive models: Intel simply has better/faster processors than the Phenom/Q6600 for which they can charge a premium.

Both Companies are insane when the have the better product on the market.

Looking back in the past when AM64 X2 rule, AMD did charge a vast amount. I remember when the X2 4400+ was around 500 bucks (prolly higher) when it came out. Now I knew at that time, I wanted to get it, but couldn't afford to. Even some of the guys I knew who wanted a new rig, ended up getting the cheapest they could get, and wait out for something to push the other prices down.

Intel isn't crazy. AMD was the first to have $1000.00 plus CPU's with there FX sieries and there so called quad core setup where you had to buy 2 special FX CPUs with a mobo. But sense the core 2 duo and quad CPU's came out AMD had no choice but to lower there prices. I just checked tiger direct and found there quad phenom running at 2.4Ghz is almost $100.00 more than ther Q6600. but that was just one website

New Egg has Core2Duo based processor ranging from $73.99 all the way up to $1000+ for the Extreme Edition Chips.

Considering the Cheapest Core2Duo based chip will OC to faster speeds than any of AMD's Black Edition Chips which cost far more, the Intel decision seems wise to me.

However, for very specific applications that need more memory bandwidth than processing power, AMD could be the better choice.

Uh...where have you been?

Hell no Intel is not crazy.. there is a market (albiet a small one) for them 1000 dollar chips. they would be crazy to NOT supply that market.

I agree with everyone who posted previously, when it comes down to the mainstream market, their products are very similarly priced.

Intel is not crazy, it's the people who run it. AMD on the other hand IS crazy.

As has been mentioned... to cover a huge market, different price rang/performance is needed. Thats why we have $80 cpus for low budget all the way through to the freaks that want the 1k+ performance chips

EDIT: Personally ive only ever seen the eXtreme CPU's as, the campanies that make them saying "HAHAHA look at what we can do"

I don't really see the point in paying extra for an unlocked multiplier. Intel's latest chipsets can be overclocked to almost double their stock speed. Combine that with the fact that you can set the multiplier between 6x and the cpu's default, I think you have enough flexibility and headroom to push the CPU to its limit.

By the way!

Many people who are getting the crazy OCs on the Intel chips are (decreasing the multi) on regular non-extreme chips. They are decreasing the multi and upping the FSB... Many are at 400+ using x8 multi.

I can provide links if needed.

then provide them, good sir