On Monday (September 24th), AMD launched six new processors in its Athlon II and Phenom II lines, intended as speed upgrades to some of its existing chips. Combined with recently lowering the prices on other CPUs across the full spectrum of its offerings, AMD has cemented itself even more as the budget choice for system buyers and builders. No, you may not get the top-of-the-line performance you will with Intel's highest-ranking chips, such as the Core i7-980X, but you also won't be shelling out up to $1,000 for just the CPU. (All of AMD's consumer CPUs are available for under $300.)
