As we can see, Athlon II X2 250 can still compete with the E6300. So the rollout of new triple-core processors has consolidated AMD's positions in the market segment of below $100. But apparently this was not the only goal. Note the nearly identical results demonstrated by Athlon II X3 435 and Phenom II X3 710, the latter being more costly to manufacture.

http://ixbtlabs.com/articles3/cpu/am...25-435-p1.html