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AMD's drive to perceived as the ‘bang-per-buck' leader in CPUs continued with the recent launch of the Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition - it's new top of the range desktop processor.

Priced at a similar level to Intel's high-end Core 2 Quad CPU - the Q9550 - at around $250 (spooky coincidence with the model number there - Ed), our review found the 955 to perform at a similar level too. AMD UK boss Andrew Buxton, however, has his sights set higher for the new addition.

"We've positioned the 955 to compete with the entry-level Core i7, while the 940 offers pretty much the same performance as the Q9550." said Buxton. "The 955 has caught them by surprise."

Buxton's assertion is that Intel doesn't have anything to compete with the 955 at the £200 level, with even the Q9550 costing about a tenner above that. Of course this all depends on how you view the comparative performance of the Q9950, but if consumers see things Buxton's way then AMD has indeed carved out a useful niche for itself. For now.

Future AMD product launches are likely to focus more on the higher volume segments of the market. "We're bringing out Phenom II products further down the range and also more volume parts on the GPU side," said Buxton.