Report: AMD Phenom II X6 CPUs in Short Supply
By - Source: Tom's Hardware US
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44 comments
Thuban's not easy to find, apparently.
Having trouble tracking down an AMD hexacore CPU? According to DigiTimes, citing its sources with motherboard OEMs, AMD is having a supply issue with getting enough of the Phenom II X6 CPU to consumers.
If this is true, it's not a necessarily a bad thing for AMD as consumers are taking quite well to the six-core part and the value it presents.
Motherboard makers aren't pleased with the supposed chip shortage, as it has affected the demand of 800-series motherboards. The shortage of the hexacore chip may have also affected the supply schedule of quad-core AMD CPUs including the Phenom II 960T.
Have you had trouble putting together a new, shiny AMD system due to supply issues?
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News flash....some people do more with their PC than play games.
My simulations certainly can. Gaming isn't everything, plus I don't think these are targeted at gamers, but I could be wrong.
Good thing I beat the shortage. I ordered mine from Newegg last week and received it 2 days later.
If they had problems producing these, I wouldn't think it would have any affect on the supply schedule for the new quad core part. Given AMD's current ability to produce quad core parts, it is very likely that defective Hexacore parts would have at least four functional cores and could then be sold as quad core.
However, if they underestimated demand, reallocating resources to produce more hexacore parts could cause a delay in the release of quad core parts. This seems to be the more likely scenario.
Unlike with the HD5850, AMD's hexacore processors aren't in the position of be clearly superior to the competition while being priced less than the competition (~$350 for GTX285 vs ~$260 MSRP for HD5850 before price increase). Keep in mind that AMD did not raise the MSRP for the HD5870 (still at ~$380), board manufactures raise those prices themselves. That said, I believe it is more likely that AMD will leave the MSRP for their hexacore processors alone. However, if demand is outstripping supply enough that AMD can raise the MSRP and still have shortages for the foreseeable future (unlikely), then they could and should do so.
My simulations certainly can. Gaming isn't everything, plus I don't think these are targeted at gamers, but I could be wrong.
News flash....some people do more with their PC than play games.
you forgot AMD ATI's other assistant for that: Eyefinity! that's thrice the pRon!!
IDK what you've been doing to not have a clue about games in the last 2+ years now there is multi core/thread support in MANY games nowadays. Crysis & Unreal engine based games support it, Grand Theft Auto 4 is multi core supported & ect ...
This also doesn't take into the fact that MOST gamers out there ARE multi taskers like myself.
You tell me how well I'd be able to run 2 im's 2-4 browser windows, a ventrilo voice chat client, Windows Media player 12 AND a game that utilizes more then 2 cores at once on a " dual core cpu " *LOL*
Honestly, the first thing I did when I got Eyefinity setup was put 4 videos on each screen (12 total), just to see what it'd be like. It was epic.
hahaha. Still stuck in 2006 are you? Most current games use up to 3 cores, with some being able to use more.
Prolly more likely this hasn't retail channel yet but is being felt by manufacturers and system builders.
Hell, I'm glad i got it the day it came out. I will never switch back to Intel as long as they keep improving and using the same socket it's the cheapest performance boost out there!
Keep'em coming AMD!!!
P.S. the 6 core bad boy rulez for video compression!
it's been a while i couldn't spot a Phenom II X4 905e (and reasonably priced) in any computer store...
Dragon Age Origins uses all 8 threads on my i7 920 according to the Win7 desktop gadget. Crysis also uses 4 as already stated and Dirt 2.