Intel efforts to beat-off low cost rivals seem to be failing, according to research outfit Computer Intelligence, which says the company's share of US retail sales in August was 54.3 per cent, down from 84.3 per cent a year ago. High-powered clone chips from AMD scored well over the month, and Intel's attempts to 'ring fence' the low-end via Celeron have flopped conspicuously - Celeron machines did badly, PII ones rather better. AMD K6-2 based machines headed Computer Intelligence's league table of the retail 'killing ground,' with HP, Compaq and IBM implementations performing strongly, with an HP K6-2 in the lead and Compaq chalking-up second, third and fourth with an Intel PII, a K6-2 and a Celeron, in that order. Apple's iMac came fifth, and that probably knocked out some of Intel's share, but the strength of AMD overall makes it clear Apple wasn't the problem. Also significant was how badly Packard-Bell did. In the days when it was an Intel loyalist it was the dominant force in retail, but it's gone off the boil in recent years as the big boys have piled in, and its seventh place below IBM makes it clear the company's defection to Cyrix earlier this year (the PB box is Cyrix's best place) wasn't any kind of solution. PB's bail-out from the Intel alliance was a sign of lack of confidence in Intel's Celeron strategy, and the Computer Intelligence figures show how justified this was. As Intel's best performer was a PII 300 MHz in a relatively pricey Compaq, it's obvious that the vendors don't believe in Celeron (which is why they're putting fast PII into retail), and that the punters think they're right, and are voting with their wallets. ® Click for more stories