AMD's Fall Refresh: New Phenom II and Athlon II CPUs Balance Price and Performance
 

Remaining relevant is something AMD has done a good job of with its Athlon II and Phenom II lines. Without a major redesign, AMD has managed to squeeze a reasonable amount of performance out of the Phenom II architecture. Pricing is what makes this all work. By being more aggressive on the pricing front than Intel, AMD is able to actually pull off some unquestionable wins.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3937/a...nd-performance