AMD's Answer to Core i5: Phenom II 975 BE

http://news.google.com/news/search [...] +II%22+975

http://www.fudzilla.com/content/view/15553/1/ (I know it's Fudzilla, but they pretty much are reporting the same thing as a couple other sources)

Another source said the second half of 2010, but I simply think AMD isn't THAT bad.


So a few things here:
- We should be looking at about ~6% performance increase over PII X4 965 BE at stock speeds.
- I suspect overclockability will be about the same as the 965BE, capping out at 4.0 or 4.1 on aftermarket air (pure speculation)
- Thermals are still sky-high and reminiscent of Intel's Prescott
- I don't like the timing, I think AMD needs to unleash this bad boy in 2009 Q4 and bump down the 965 BE prices to the $190-$200 range

I still think AMD will do well though, because Intel doesn't have a lot to offer that costs less than $200. LGA775 is EOL, and I simply cannot recommend it anymore as it's no fun to be on a dead end road!

There's just simply not enough headroom! Where art thou Bulldozer!?!



(Insert flame war below)

intel fanboys better start buying some amd stuff or the i9 will be insanely expensive

LOL, I look at it the other way around, AMD better start producing some better stuff or they'll end up going belly-up. It's not the consumer's fault that AMD isn't attractive above the $200 mark.

However, that doesn't detract from AMD's solid sub-$200 offerings. I would say that AMD's sub-$200 offerings are more robust with the triple-core option.

Yea I agree but AMD flopped a bit this year on CPU prices among other things.... The 965 is still priced at 245.00$ and even thou that is a great price for such a CPU, Intel came out with their new line of CPU's that simply cannot be beat price/performance-wise..... That is AMD's issue ATM.... Would be nice to see that 975 drop anytime soon but I bet it will be priced in the 280.00's or higher and trust me, it will be just like comparing the 965 to the 955.... not much sense in paying a premium for bit more speed when all you have to do is go into the bios and up the multiplier......

Yah - I do think it would be a *good* thing if AMD released a processor they could justifiably charge a premium for. As strong as the 'performance/dollar' argument is, premium products are where the profit is.

A year ago, I might have wished for them to come up with a (new/revised) process that would allow them to make profit through cost savings/quality/yield/efficiency... But that part belongs to Global Foundries now.


..and Jenny - I did read that: Very Nice. Yet it remains to be seen if AMD can turn it into cash in bank.

I don't really find either company's 6-core offerings very compelling, most people simply don't have software to take advantage of it, nor do they multi-task enough to make it useful.

Thats old news jennyh...... We arent looking for more CORES, we want a FAST quad that can hang with Intel and not break the bank.....The only thing that I like about the Thuban is the cross-compatibility... Other than that I see no need for such a CPU ATM......

For example, if AMD would have found a way to give us a quad with a decent stock clock (3.0/3.1/3.2Ghz) and a massive amount of L3 (8/10/12Mb's) then we would at least have something comparable to what Intel offers.... Im not trying to compare both but it is hard for me to swallow the fact that Intel gives you an amazing CPU that is priced perfectly and on top of that it will embarrass any AMD CPU out ATM.....

Ask yourself this,

What will "Thuban" do that the i7 860 cannot?

Not according to many news sources, including pro-AMD sources. But I'm just basing that off of available news sources and not just making it up.

raise the eleltricity bill, do an avg scan faster, defrag faster,flex the e peen another inch

Yea my bad for the typo....

I guess we won't see a real AMD cpu till Bulldozer drops.... I was really looking foward to staying with AMD but from the looks of all this it seems inevitable....

Yea but the prices will be very different as well...... So it's back to the same sheat as now... If you want a so-so cheaper CPU then go with the Thuban, if money aint an isuue then you will pay ALOT more for an amazing i9....

Would be more like a "Fatality"!!!

but hey, I guess Intel loves the competition =)

Admittedly I was hoping for something more impressive from AMD.
Fingers crossed for them though (with regards to 2010 high end). I'm sure they'll compete well but doesn't look like they're going to take their turn at owning the competition.

Of course the Thubon could have an amazing architecture for all we know at this point. They wont go bankrupt, but I wonder how they'll go with R&D if finances are like you guys say? (I haven't looked).

The 975 reminds me of what Intel did with the Prescott. Both companies have their ups and downs.

For the windows 7 part yeah we kind off do. White It is not out in stores, the OS is out. And its out legally.

Both comanies can do ALOT more than just increase the core count. You make IPC improvements as well. And they must do that if they expect to sell any chips at all. A 3ghz AMD quad core thats out four years from now better be a good deal faster than the current AMD 3ghz quad cores. Same for Intel.

We want our cpus/cores to get "faster" without the raw GHZ going up.

I sure hope so. I am wondering what Intel is up to with sandy also. Apparently Intel had windows 7 machine running on it.

AMD needs to quit running around like a flock of headless chooks and get some organization. They need to get on 32 nm, practice a bit, THEN release bulldozer. Even if that means biting a bullet short-term and begging IBM for advice / engineering assistance. Intel can outspend them in R&D 20 to one, so that's a hard hill to climb. They've done it before, but...

Meantime, Intel's 'tick-tock' strategy just keeps steam-rollering along. It's all about strategy AND execution. AMD seems to have lost the plot in both arenas, and need to get that back. No more strategy but 'oops... can we make enough to make everyone happy' execution.

Just my 2p.

I wish AMD remembered it's Am2 owners

Maybe you might see it from another die revision but it's nothing to worry about.

What was that line from that old Clint Eastwood movie?? Oh yeah: "Endeavour To Persevere"

(had to go check: it's from 'The Outlaw Josie Wales')

She knows Intel has confirmed the i9 Gulftown will be a drop-in upgrade for LGA-1366, so it's just more FUD aspersions .

It'll be interesting to see what 4-cores on 32nm will do. I'd bet 33% higher turbo-boost for one, as well as 5GHz oc's on good air cooling.

x2

And usually when a processor company "are just churning out Processors with the same, outdated, outclassed architecture, and deciding on making them slightly more tolerant to a higher TDP" it's because they're working on something new and need the sales to support it.

Most recent example is Intel with the high end Prescotts, way too hot, basically overclocked P4's, then out came the Core2's. I'm hoping AMD is doing the same and we're in for a good suprise in 2011. I'm just hoping the Thuban is a new architecture not just a smaller die with 6 cores. What is scary though is Intel is already testing on 22nm.

I'm an Intel guy, but we need AMD to kick ass, no competition is extremely dangerous for the cosnumer.
Although for the record, I'm going to be building a small AMD setup soon, AMD does own the budget market.

Yeah it's bad enough with the i7's here as it is.

i7 920 $NZ520
i7 950 Kidney
i7 975 Right Arm

lol

lol again