The good news is Advanced Micro Devices has a hot product on its hands with the recently released Opteron quad-core processors. The less encouraging news is that some system builder partners say they've had trouble getting their hands on product in the month since AMD launched the server chips codenamed Barcelona.
When the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based chip maker debuted the "first native quad-core x86 microprocessor" Sept. 10 in six locations around the world, everybody from Tier 1 OEMs to custom system builders was anxious to see if the next few weeks would prove AMD's claims about superior performance-per-watt, ease of exchange with dual-core Opterons and memory-friendly floating points. So far, so good, say channel partners.
View: The full story
News source: CRN
When the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based chip maker debuted the "first native quad-core x86 microprocessor" Sept. 10 in six locations around the world, everybody from Tier 1 OEMs to custom system builders was anxious to see if the next few weeks would prove AMD's claims about superior performance-per-watt, ease of exchange with dual-core Opterons and memory-friendly floating points. So far, so good, say channel partners.
View: The full story News source: CRN
I hope the Phenom x4 will kick ass but it's not looking to good: http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=3092&p=5
It's 10 to 15% faster then a K8 which is not nearly enough to catch Intel and it's a moving target as well.
This means an overclocked Q6600 will easily beat a Phenom x4 and I can already buy a Q6600 today.
Phenom won't be designed that similar to Barcelona, it will only carry over the quad-core design aspect. It will be tuned and tailored for standard desktop use where only 1 or 2 processors are found, rather than server use where more than 2 processors are the norm.
Phenom won't be designed that similar to Barcelona, it will only carry over the quad-core design aspect. It will be tuned and tailored for standard desktop use where only 1 or 2 processors are found, rather than server use where more than 2 processors are the norm.
Phenom will use the Barcelona core and won't be much if any faster then the server version. With the Opteron 165 vs Athlon 64 x2 being a good example of how they will perform pretty much the same way.
AMD will compete in the server market but the Desktop will still be owned by Intel.
The unknown things are:
1. How well will Phenom overclock?
2. How much will it cost?
The overclock on Intel is HUGE so AMD will have to compete with that and also the price will be a factor because the Q6600 is $266 currently.
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