tstebbens :
It is distressing in that it's such a large performance hit, but remember that these are server chips first and foremost. The benchmarks used were all end-user benchmarks. Who runs Office, Photoshop or Firefox on a server? It would have been better to include benchmarks for web and DB servers, etc.
If affects both Desktop and Servers, Phenom is desktop while Barcelona is the server line. the TLB effects the B2 steppings of each line. So unfortunately it does matter for desktop users.
http://techreport.com/discussions.x/13724
If you really are using Opterons in an end-user environment (high-end workstations or gaming machines) then you've got way more money than sense anyway. You should be waiting for the Phenom FX chips in this case anyway or just wait 3 months more for the fixed silicon. 3 months is not going to kill anyone.
It will kill AMD. At march we should see the B3 stepping if it isn't delayed. There is also plans to release a 2.6 ghz Phenom in this time frame also. If this gets delayed again, it puts AMD in big trouble. They may be gaining marketshare, but it's mostly lower dual core X2's through OEM's/Brand name desktop channel.
And no.... AMD will not go under. Bought out or merged maybe, but not bankrupt. They have way too much IP and other assets for this to happen.
That is true, even though I stated going under, AMD really won't die, it will downsize drastically, become a privatized company, or be bought out/merged. Regardless though, it will somewhat feel as if they will go under...We won't see many new products for quite a while as AMD would rebuild itself from the ground up.
Besides which, people seem to forget that AMD still have the 45nm switch over to make plus much higher clock speeds to release, and Intel have to integrate their memory controller on chip and switch to HT bus yet. With AMD's aggressive pricing policy they only need to cover their costs to stay in the game and still increase their market share which they are doing very well at the moment.
AMD is having huge issues at 65nm..With their SOI process, it makes it extremely difficult to even get down to 45nm. Heck, they are having trouble with it at 65nm. The difference though, Intel already has working Nehalem's, the performance increase is said to be massive compare to what we've seen in the pasts Netburst to Core transition. AMD MUST make profit, not break even. They have to attempt to pull in some profit before Nehalem is released for R&D funding. AMD's only chance of recovering without being bought/merged/privatized, would be to pull in some profit from X2/Barcelona before Nehalem is released at the end of 2008. Also keep in mind intel has been ahead of the gun lately in releases, chances are they might do the same with Nehalem, to put more pressure on AMD. March may seem close, but it is indeed far away as well, if they have issues getting faster clocked Barcelona/Phenom models out as the time ticks away to Nehalem...It literally, does not look good for AMD.
Then to add a further insult a patch is avaliable to completely ruin performance.
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