Looking Ahead: AMD or INTEL platforms...

[akore]

Looking ahead 2-3 months and beyond, what do you think is going to happen? Will AMD bring success with B3 or will it be destroyed by INTEL's 45nm Quads?

AMD's 780g chipset shows they may be on the right track, I just want your opinions.

 

[epsilon84]

B3 will be little more than a TLB bug fix. It will be 'destroyed' by 45nm Penryns in performance, overclocking and performance/watt. AMD could play the price/performance card again, but with the Q6600 dropping to $225 in April they don't have a lot of room to work with.

AMD's 780G is ideal for HTPCs. It has 3D performance nVidia and Intel can't match, making it better for casual gamers, but any serious gamer worth their salt would get a discrete GPU, and by that I don't mean adding a Radeon 3450 for 'CF' either .

In a nutshell, for the foreseeable future, I think AMD will be behind in CPU performance and will try to compete on price. On a platform level things look better, I'm sure nVidia and Intel will try to respond with better IGPs on their upcoming chipsets.

 

[scottoliver]

Intel is deffo the brand that are pulling out all the moves.

Ill put my vote towards intel.

Thanks

 

[ocguy31]

Who would even dare to say AMD on this? LOL.

 

[topman]

Yeha i am for Intel to but i wish AMD wood do better. I loved my 939 x2 3800+ but my e6600 kicked it's ass to the kerb and soon i hope to get a e8400.

 

[yipsl]

Looking ahead 2-3 months and beyond, what do you think is going to happen? Will AMD bring success with B3 or will it be destroyed by INTEL's 45nm Quads?

AMD's 780g chipset shows they may be on the right track, I just want your opinions.

AMD will bring success, but not in the same market. Too many people on both sides here have fanboy attitudes. This is business, not a FPS. Both Intel and AMD can win in their markets now that Intel's anticompetitive OEM rebate programs are out of the way.

AMD won't have a chance to "destroy" Intel technologically until Deneb and Shanghai. 65nm Phenom's, even with 7% boosts from B3 stepping, won't catch up to Penryn, though they should be able to hold their own against stock speed Q6600's.

I plan on going cheap AMD. I'll get a 780G board with an 8450 triple core B3 in April for the next year. Then, I'll go Deneb with a Crossfire board. I like ATI/AMD chipsets too much and ATI cards too. So, I can tolerate a slightly slower CPU, as I don't overclock anyways.

In the budget enthusiast market (where I am) , and in the totally clueless OEM mass market, AMD will do well. I also think they'll do well in notebooks because of the 780G chipset and hybrid Crossfire. Intel can have the overclocker's enthusiast market. That way, everyone's happy and no one loses.

 

[TechnologyCoordinator]

Hopefully AMD can come back, but it won't be with B3. Their integrated graphics are looking really good and that's really going to help them sell AMD procs. Pretty nice entry level gaming, it won't get you playing Crysis, but there's tons of games that are coded more efficiently.

 

[spaztic7]

Looking ahead 2-3 months and beyond, what do you think is going to happen? Will AMD bring success with B3 or will it be destroyed by INTEL's 45nm Quads?

AMD's 780g chipset shows they may be on the right track, I just want your opinions.

I hope like all that AMD will become competitive again, but it total honestly, they can't compete with the Q6600 as of yet. If they do beat the Q6600 then Intel will release the Penryn on them. Not only that, they have Nehalem coming out this fall! That’s a new architecture which has been heavily rumored that they are already packaging them. I don't see AMD able to keep up with Intel for the next few years. They may be able to drop a die size or so... But Intel has been at least 1 year ahead of AMD on that since Conroe.

All in all, I will put my money with Intel.... if I had to bet. Sandy Bridge FTW!!!! (late 2009 - early 2010)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Bridge_(CPU_architecture)

 

[Amiga500]

Depends what your looking for. Over the majority Intel.


On low end systems with IG, or ultra high end workstations/servers (talking 4-8 socket) AMD is still the way to go.


When Nehalem comes out, I expect AMD's ultra high end advantage to disappear very quickly.

 

[Topcover]

I wish amd would be able to compete with intel again so we could get a nice price war going. In a competition between 2 companies there is only 1 true winner. the consumer.

That said amd still has a long way to go to even catch up with intel as of now.

 

[rodney_ws]

Who would even dare to say AMD on this? LOL.

Have you never seen a rabid animal?

 

[basketcase]

I feel like AMD is turning things around, overall. Obviously, their CPUs dept is having some problems, which become painfully obvious when compared to the Intel CPUs. But, that doesn't mean that their CPUs are crap, either. But, in other areas, such as 780g and CrossfireX, they are making some ground. I think once they can get some CPUs that are a little better (doesn't have to absolutely stomp intel) they will be held in a little better light.

I guess I need to wait and see...

 

[snarfies1]

Who would even dare to say AMD on this? LOL.

Thunderman.

 

[jimmysmitty]

AMD will bring success, but not in the same market. Too many people on both sides here have fanboy attitudes. This is business, not a FPS. Both Intel and AMD can win in their markets now that Intel's anticompetitive OEM rebate programs are out of the way.

AMD won't have a chance to "destroy" Intel technologically until Deneb and Shanghai. 65nm Phenom's, even with 7% boosts from B3 stepping, won't catch up to Penryn, though they should be able to hold their own against stock speed Q6600's.

I plan on going cheap AMD. I'll get a 780G board with an 8450 triple core B3 in April for the next year. Then, I'll go Deneb with a Crossfire board. I like ATI/AMD chipsets too much and ATI cards too. So, I can tolerate a slightly slower CPU, as I don't overclock anyways.

In the budget enthusiast market (where I am) , and in the totally clueless OEM mass market, AMD will do well. I also think they'll do well in notebooks because of the 780G chipset and hybrid Crossfire. Intel can have the overclocker's enthusiast market. That way, everyone's happy and no one loses.

Have you ever noticed that in almost every post you say the same thing. First something about the topic, next something about Intels OEM rebates, then what you plan to do and then something random.

BTW, where did you get that the B3 stepping is going to give Phenom a 7% performance boost? I have yet to see any benchmarks.

But for me, with all the messups from AMD this past year, I feel Intel is the best bet. I just feel that Nehalem is not going to be some push over. And considering AMD has been changing its roadmap as they move its hard to say they will be the best in the next platform. I do hope though that they bring it back up a level but that might not be until the next uarch.

 

[reconviperone1]

I like the tri core concept, if it's cheap enough, but honestly i think intel will hands down be the plaform of choice.

 

[jimmysmitty]

I like the tri core concept, if it's cheap enough, but honestly i think intel will hands down be the plaform of choice.

Yea the only bad thing is that a tri core is not a concept its just smart binning. Also when the yeilds improve the tris will slowly be pahsed out.

 

[chunkymonster]

For pure horsepower and balls out performance, Intel is the way to go. But as mentioned, for entry to mid-level and OEM systems, AMD will be the platform of choice.

Actually, with the way the AMD and Intel product offerings and performance differences are today, it reminds me of the way AMD and Intel were before the Athlon64. Back then, AMD firmly held the entry and mid-level offerings and were easily identified as the an underdog favorite offering "close-but-no-cigar" performance comapred to Intel but also at a cheaper price. For the budget enthusiast and comparing the cost of an original Athlon compared to a P3, the Athlon was the way to go. Aside from the processor, Intel compatible mobos were also far more expensive than AMD compatible mobo; but that was also when VIA was the AMD chipset of choice.

Given that Nehalem is going to require a new chipset and socket, while it may beat the pants off 45nm AMD quad-cores, there are many folks with AM2+ mobos who (much like the Skt939 and Skt775) who can just drop in a new chip and update the BIOS to increase their cpu power.

At best, the B3 steppings will (hopefully) redeem AMD and get them back on track to producing issue free products. And, hopefully the new CIO and Marketing guy can and will do a better job at dealing with any issues that may arise.

It's been noted that Intel skipped creating a monolithic quad-core at 65nm because of (possibly) the same issues that AMD has experienced. But there are two sides to the 45nm monolithic quad-core coin. On one hand AMD has had extensive experience with and IMC, monolithic design, and now implementing an L3 cache. Whereas Intel has extensive experience producing high yields of 45nm chips. However, it would be niave to think that Intel will not suffer their own "growing pains" implementing 45nm, monolithic quad-core, and IMC, as well as an L3 cache. So with that said, the fanbooys can claim Intel this or AMD that, the fact remains that we won't know for sure until the chips are available for review and testing.

 

[Acagold20]

I really don't know why the Phenoms are bashed so much. Everyone acts like they're terrible because they're not quite as fast as the Q6600. We all knew AMD wouldn't be on top forever, especially with Intels market, brand, and cash advantage, but maybe if all the press wasn't so horrible pessimistic and bashed them at every moment, the guys over there wouldn't be so god damn discouraged. Media critics love to bash the underdogs, because they're so smart don't you know? That's why they write associated press articles instead of actually, you know, working for AMD or Intel.

Ever notice how much more humble AMD and Intel employees are about the whole thing. Maybe because they actually know how hard it is to innovate... And now both of them have been in the stagnant rut. I have faith in AMD, but seriously, I'm really starting to question the quality of writing here at Toms.

 

[retro77]

I voted AMD. I run AMD at home and have been for years. I few points on some test isnt even noticable to an end user. I like the performance/price point that AMD is consistantly at.

 

[jimmysmitty]

For pure horsepower and balls out performance, Intel is the way to go. But as mentioned, for entry to mid-level and OEM systems, AMD will be the platform of choice.

Actually, with the way the AMD and Intel product offerings and performance differences are today, it reminds me of the way AMD and Intel were before the Athlon64. Back then, AMD firmly held the entry and mid-level offerings and were easily identified as the an underdog favorite offering "close-but-no-cigar" performance comapred to Intel but also at a cheaper price. For the budget enthusiast and comparing the cost of an original Athlon compared to a P3, the Athlon was the way to go. Aside from the processor, Intel compatible mobos were also far more expensive than AMD compatible mobo; but that was also when VIA was the AMD chipset of choice.

Given that Nehalem is going to require a new chipset and socket, while it may beat the pants off 45nm AMD quad-cores, there are many folks with AM2+ mobos who (much like the Skt939 and Skt775) who can just drop in a new chip and update the BIOS to increase their cpu power.

At best, the B3 steppings will (hopefully) redeem AMD and get them back on track to producing issue free products. And, hopefully the new CIO and Marketing guy can and will do a better job at dealing with any issues that may arise.

It's been noted that Intel skipped creating a monolithic quad-core at 65nm because of (possibly) the same issues that AMD has experienced. But there are two sides to the 45nm monolithic quad-core coin. On one hand AMD has had extensive experience with and IMC, monolithic design, and now implementing an L3 cache. Whereas Intel has extensive experience producing high yields of 45nm chips. However, it would be niave to think that Intel will not suffer their own "growing pains" implementing 45nm, monolithic quad-core, and IMC, as well as an L3 cache. So with that said, the fanbooys can claim Intel this or AMD that, the fact remains that we won't know for sure until the chips are available for review and testing.

You are right on most every point except one thing. Intel has had L3 cache so I doubt they will have any problems with it. The Pentium 4 EE 3.4GHz had a 2MB L3 cache. IMC and mono may be a slight trip but I doubt they will have any major problems.

I voted AMD. I run AMD at home and have been for years. I few points on some test isnt even noticable to an end user. I like the performance/price point that AMD is consistantly at.

The only reason they are at that price point is b/c they don't have the top performance. When they were the top dogs their price/performance wasn't that great. Just their price/per watt.

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

Im still waiting for the Intel igp...one that can actually play a game better than pong

 

[Amiga500]

Im still waiting for the Intel igp...one that can actually play a game better than pong

Their next generation IGP will...


and if it doesn't it will be the generation after that...


and if it doesn't it will be the generation after that...


and if it doesn't it will be the generation after that...


and if it doesn't it will be the generation after that...


repeat ad nauseam.

 

[spongebob]

Given that Nehalem is going to require a new chipset and socket, while it may beat the pants off 45nm AMD quad-cores, there are many folks with AM2+ mobos who (much like the Skt939 and Skt775) who can just drop in a new chip and update the BIOS to increase their cpu power.

Then there's the other side of the coin - the new chipset/socket will be at the beginning of it's useful life, so Nehalem adopters make have a drop-in upgrade path to the next intel uArch.

At best, the B3 steppings will (hopefully) redeem AMD and get them back on track to producing issue free products.

Damn well better. The day of reconing for those class A shares is on the horizon. A ways off, but I don't know if there's time for a new uArch to save them.

So with that said, the fanbooys can claim Intel this or AMD that, the fact remains that we won't know for sure until the chips are available for review and testing.

Amen.

 

[Reynod]

I voted for the dog ... which currently has fleas.

It's an entry level dog now ... kinda like a mongrel.

Good at odd things ...

Not a greyhound ...

Not a pitbull.

More Like a St Bernard ... but low on alcohol ... and lost in the desert instead of the snow ... oh ... and it's license is due and the guy from the pound is looking for it too.

ok ... enough with bad analogy.

 

[TechnologyCoordinator]

Who would even dare to say AMD on this? LOL.

You used the word EVEN.

Amiga500 wants to know why you say AMD doesn't exist.