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Short-term success? AMD's been a publicly traded company for over 30 years. Intel may be a giant, but AMD's not going anywhere.

AMD History

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInforma tion/0,,30_118_809_4368,00.html

"Smart MP technology for smarter multiprocessing:
* Dual point-to-point, high-speed system buses
* Innovative bus snooping capability
* Optimized MOESI cache coherency protocol"

The K7 had point-to-point CPU-to-chipset bus and (IIRC) an auxiliary CPU-to-CPU snooping bus.

Each core on an Athlon 64 X2 has its own dedicated L2 cache. Pretty graph here.

Have a look at the X2 block diagram. Both cores have direct access to the crossbar switch. The Opteron is the same but with more HT lanes. The situation you describe where one core or cpu accesses ram through another core is a mainboard implementation issue. Ideally each processor (of one or more cores) should have local ram. However not all boards are wired up that way. Most are.

The key here is not that there can be shared ram buses. The key is the crossbar switch versus the shared bus. The switch allows core_A to access ram while core_B accesses the HT.

Absolutely not. AMD64 can run 32-bit legacy processes and 64-bit processes at the same time. It's actually a pretty cool architecture. You can find more information here: http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/DevelopWithAMD /0,,30_2252_11395_11428,00.html.

Next time maybe inform yourself before making uninformed comments. (OK, this is /., how could I suggest... :()

Apple as far as I can see has a bit of a disconnect with "reality". They're not customer-oriented [e.g. shitty dead pixel policies, really costly vendor-locked in gear, etc]. It was always "oh that's apple gear only because the quality is higher" yet all the folk I talk to say "just get a wintel laptop and be done with". And it isn't like the PPC isn't a nice processor [the G4 actually looks fairly sweet]. It's just they're a bunch of pricks.

Maybe Apple's computer "just work" and look cool to boot (and not the "hey let's put some more shinies, neons and LEDs in this I'm not sure 3.5MW worth of them is enough" cool) ?

They are pricks indeed, and suckers, but they computers work and OSX is a quite good piece of software.

In fact, quite a few people are currently shifting from Wintel to Apple 'puters...

Apple went with Intel for appearance sake only. A Turion-based laptop would have done them just fine [or hell just invest and extend the PPC line]. I mean the G5 was a bit extreme, no need for that in a laptop [though it is cool]. A 32-bit laptop is mighty fine given that you don't normally run multi-GB database engines or whatever on it.

Flash news: Current AMD Turions are, in fact, 64 bits (which *may* be why their name really is AMD Turion(TM) 64)

The First number is how many processors in a SMP configuration this chip supports. All dual core processors have numbers in increments of 5, and all single cores have numbers in increments of 2 (last 2 digits). Single Core and dual core processors start at x40 and x65 respectively. http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInforma tion/0,,30_118_8796_9240,00.html?redir=CPOS14

Actually I like Intel's complicated scheme; instead of looking up which CPU is which I just remember to go buy an AMD processor instead. Probably not what Intel had in mind when they came up with an overly complicated naming scheme however.

I'm an AMD fanboy, oh yeah. Their chips are soooo good. Problem is that in Europe there wasn't enough press releases about AMD vs. Intel dual core duel. In fact there is nothing about that. Looks like all PR quietly took a large sum of money from Intel, and this duel is totally ignored by media. I feel bitter about that.

yes, I heard that AMD has launched a big ad campaign in US, but sadly this is not the case for Europe.

and all the universities in western europe are forced to buy upgrades from Dell. I really tried to buy AMD, it simply wasn't possible.

Well, yeah, sort of. For "opened" read "opened its doors for press and qualification". AMD's press release about the event says production shipments will begin in 1Q06, with the production ramp and 65nm conversion continuing through 2007. There's future capacity coming online which AMD could easily earmark a part of for Apple. My apologies for the lack of clarity.

You're right about Intel though. I could have sworn they're having shortages with the low- to mid- range chipsets these days as well, but I can't find a corroborating link right now. I blame the clock ticking past 3am here.

'I assure you, no one at AMD woke up one day in 2001 and said "hey, I have a completely new idea for how to design system architecture. Let's start a consortium and make this an industry standard."'

When the hell did I ever claim that?

AMD was working on Hypertransport technology for years before any products were ever released, originally under the name Lightning Data Transport. Here's a random press release from '99 (that took approximately 5 seconds of googling...)

For the record I never claimed anything about whether SGI people are working for Nvidia or not. It's irrelevant. You said Nvidia created Hypertransport, which is just plain untrue so I felt I should correct you. Yes, there are similarities between crossbar. It's simply a case of convergent design, not grand conspiracies. And yeah, the consortium was formed later. I never said it wasn't. But again you missed the point (namely that it's not Nvidia's technology, as you claimed).

But you continue to respond with absurd strawman arguments and a whole lot of 'I know a guy' crap and this simply isn't worth any more of my time. I at least attempt to provide sources, which is apparently beneath you. Or maybe you realize that if you actually did some research you'd be proven wrong.

Just for fun, Wikipedia

Either your memory is clouded or your friend is an idiot. Hypertransport is 100% AMD technology. Sure, they may have worked with Nvidia for the purpose of Nvidia's particular implementation of it (AMD is very good at working with their technology partners), but Nvidia did not have a thing to do with the creation of Hypertransport. AMD based their entire K8 architecture around Hypertransport. You seem to imply that Hypertransport depends on IP rights that Nvidia owns, which is laughable. Hypertransport is an open standard managed by the Hypertransport Consortium. If Nvidia owned the rights to the technology then how come ATI, their biggest competitor, is also using it?

But since I don't expect you to take my word for it, here are some links:

"HyperTransport technology was invented at AMD"

AMD products that use Hypertransport

Consortium Members

... they're a REVISION of the pentium. Ever seen a roadmap?

Roadmap

• AMD technotes about pacifica virtualixation
  
• AMD64 Architecture Tech Docs (pacifica PDF on top)
  

• AMD technotes about pacifica virtualixation
  
• AMD64 Architecture Tech Docs (pacifica PDF on top)
  

Here's the box you need, then:

http://www.amd.com/us-en/ConnectivitySolutions/Pro ductInformation/0,,50_2330_12264,00.html?redir=PCP C01

Buy one at RadioShack for $300.

Yes, it's overpriced. However, considering that it's nearly impossible* to infect...

* I'd say impossible, considering the DRM they've got on the thing, and the fact that it's Windows CE-based, yet not Windows CE, so it's also a very obscure OS that exactly one model of device uses, but nothing's impossible when it comes to computers.

Lucasfilm CTO Cliff Plumer Talks Technology

Given the [b]opening of the Letterman Digital Arts Center in San Francisco's Presidio, the new home of Lucasfilm, Industrial Light & Magic and LucasArts,[/b] along with subsequent announcements such as HP becoming Lucasfilm's preferred technology provider and ZBrush being added to the ILM pipeline, VFXWorld invited Barbara Robertson to dig a little deeper with Lucasfilm cto Cliff Plumer.

[...]

BR: Does everyone get new machines at the Presidio?
CP: They're transitioning. [b]Our three key vendors for the desktop are HP for workstations, AMD for processors and NVIDIA for graphics. Everyone is moving toward 64-bit workstations.[/b] Most have dual heads [monitors] today. They will all have dual processors. We're working closely with AMD, our processor vendor on dual core processors. We'll get to the stage over the next year where artists will have a dual core dual processor -- two processors on one chip; like four CPUs. Plus, two graphics cards. We're looking at a workstation equivalent on the desktop that's more powerful that what we used to have with a fully blown SGI Onyx, something ILM once paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for.

Our render farm [Angstrom Microsystems(TM)] has about 3,000 processors and we have a proprietary tool that lets unused desktops become part of the render pool at night, so we can scale up to over 4,000 processors.

http://vfxworld.com/?sa=adv&code=7086b920&atype=ar ticles&id=2608

Lucasfilm Selects HP Technology
ASIA PACIFIC, Singapore, September 13, 2005 - HP and Lucasfilm Ltd., the leader in visual effects and sound engineering for feature films, today announced a global, three-year, multi-million dollar technology and marketing agreement.

Lucasfilm will use HP Adaptive Enterprise solutions to generate new video games, visual effects and animation. The HP technology, also being used to store and manage LucasFilm's business applications, will be deployed at Lucasfilm's new Letterman Digital Arts Center in the Presidio of San Francisco and at the company's Singapore operations.

Lucasfilm will roll out up to 1,000 high-performance HP workstations powered by Dual-Core AMD Opteron processors for the production of its visual effects and video games. The HP xw9300 Workstation environment at Lucasfilm will run both Linux and Windows XP operating environments in both 32-bit and 64-bit modes, with in-house software applications for creation and editing.
http://www.hardwarezone.com/news/view.php?id=2553

21 avril 2004: Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) selects Angstrom Microsystems(TM) as provider of next generation server render farm [Opteron]
http://www.angstrom.com/about/press20040421.htm

18 avril 2005 : At NAB today, AMD and DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. announced a three-year strategic alliance naming AMD the Preferred Processor Provider for DreamWorks Animation and enabling the company to experience significant advantages in their computer-generated ("CG") filmmaking process.
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Corporate/VirtualPressRoo m/0,,51_104_543~96831,00.html

Perhaps it wasn't mentioned becasue AMD has cut it from their lineup. See the current offical lineup here.

and leave it to AMD to drop that chip, AMD64 3000+ processors are no longer being produced. The new low end is the 3200+

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Corporate/VirtualPressRoo m/0,,51_104_609,00.html

It has been known in performance circles that the 3000+ Venice cores were ideal overclockers. They had the best price/mhz ratio as well. (and yes I have one)

Over here.

Hector de J. Ruiz, Ph.D.

-theGreater.

Per the PDF specs http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/Downl oadableAssets/32081d_pic_pb_eng.pdf it's got a built-in 56K modem, for those low-income folks who don't want to pay broadband costs...

(Disclaimer: I don't work at AMD or sell any of their products. I'm just a fan.)

Through a local small computer company with ties to AMD, I've been beta testing AMD's GX Thin Client product, which is based on a Geode GX 533 processor (which runs at 400MHz). Granted, this isn't the exact product listed in the story, but it's built on the same platform and only seems to differ, really, in that the Thin Client doesn't include a hard drive.

The first thing one notices about the Thin Client is its size. It's small. Most hardcover novels are considerably larger than the Thin Client. Most Linksys routers are larger than the Thin Client.

The Thin Client includes flash memory for storage (128MB, if I recall), which you can take out and replace with a CompactFlash card (using the provided adapter). The Thin Client I received included a version of Windows XP Embedded and Windows CE. The performance under XP Embedded was surprisingly poor. Simply moving a window around the screen rapidly could bring the system to its knees. Windows CE, however, was pretty responsive but ultimately not very useful.

On the bright side, it runs Linux. Just load up a slim distro (Debian Base, Slackware, Damn Small Linux, etc.) onto a CF card with the appropriate drivers (which AMD doesn't yet publish on their site--I got them from one of the project leaders--but I'm sure they'll be available once the Thin Client hits the market). It works swimmingly.

Now for a bit of bad news: the Thin Client only has USB 1.1 ports, so you're limited to ~11Mbps transfer speeds over USB. It has built-in 10/100 Ethernet, but you'll never hit anywhere near 100Mbps. The processor becomes your bottleneck when it comes to any kind of network utilization. (I never seem to get above 15Mbps.) File transfers will be limited by the R/W speed of the CF card. I would not expect to use this kind of device for anything multimedia-related, nor anything that requires even moderate processing power.

But the Geode does shine in one area that's very important to me: power consumption. The processor draws about 6W under an average load. In standby, it draws less than 1W. (The rest of the system draws a few more watts, of course.) This is important to me because I have a couple of sites (I work for a WISP) that run off of wind and solar power. Since the Geode consumes less power than the average night light, I can plug it into one of those sites and not worry about it. I wouldn't even consider putting an EPIA-based machine at one of those sites--it would drain the batteries in just a few hours.

The Geode isn't very good at running a GUI or any processor-intensive application. It is, however, good at running services like Apache, Nagios, and others.

I think AMD is marketing these devices to the wrong crowd--they shouldn't be general-purpose computers for the third-world (the $100 laptop would put this to shame in terms of value). It should, however, be marketed to network geeks who need monitoring and testing tools at various locations across their network. No other device comes close in terms of cost and power consumption.

I plan on buying dozens of the Thin Clients once they hit the market. They might not be perfect in every way (the processor-limited network transfers bug me), but they do have their uses.

These aren't meant to compete with the mac mini or any small form factor systems. They're for underdeveloped nations and the such, and you cant install software on them. It's mainly only for internet connectivity, hence the name, "Personal Internet Communicator." AMD donated 200 of these to Katrina shelters around Texas so that evacuees had a way of accessing the internet to find lost family members and such. You can read more about the Personal Internet Communicator and the AMD 50x15 program here.

These aren't meant to compete with the mac mini or any small form factor systems. They're for underdeveloped nations and the such, and you cant install software on them. It's mainly only for internet connectivity, hence the name, "Personal Internet Communicator." AMD donated 200 of these to Katrina shelters around Texas so that evacuees had a way of accessing the internet to find lost family members and such. You can read more about the Personal Internet Communicator and the AMD 50x15 program here.

See? http://www.amd.com/us-en/ConnectivitySolutions/Pro ductInformation/0,,50_2330_12264_12105~92447,00.ht ml

Fair enough. Also, considering the 50x15 goal of the box (50% of the world connected by 2015), it seems like a fairly reasonable device for that. I mean, the last thing we need in the middle of Africa is needing to call in some guy to deal with Windows viruses.

I have a Geode 300mhz SBPC myself.. with a 1Gig CF card running DSL Linux on it. But it is in a big, bulky industrial case right now.

It runs nice, if not a little sluggish with some larger aplications.

I like the case AMD is showing... I wonder if I can make something similar.

That's exactly what the Virtual I/O Server is. You can get it with any p5 system that has APV (Advanced Power Virtualization). However, it's a skinnied down version of AIX instead of Linux.

The VIOS acts as a broker of disk and communication resources. You can have one ethernet adapter assigned to a VIOS and create upto 20 virtual LAN's and basically an unlimited number of SEA's (Shared Ethernet Adapters) for client partitions.

As for disk, you can have one SCSI controller and create vSCSI adapters on the client partitions so the clients can utilize the same SCSI controller as other partitions. You can break it down to the device level (each pysical disk) or to the lv level (a section of a volume group).

For those of you who think this is just an IBM thing, I hear Intel is planning to support virtualization shortly as well for Windows systems. AMD is also on the bandwagon. Not to mention that HP has vPAR's and nPAR's and Sun is working at it a different way with containers.

Bottom line is virtualization is getting huge fast. It's been proven to decrease cost and increase system utilization and availability.

http://cdrom.amd.com/devconn/amd64downloads/Dreadn ought_Gameplay.exe

That is a link to the file on AMD's site, Assuming it's safe to direct link, there were no click through licenses.

Enjoy

AMD sells a low power MIPS implementation called "Alchemy". You can read about it here.

You're SO full of shit.

20050108591 - "A method includes adjusting the clock speed of a central processing unit (CPU) as a function of the output of a performance monitor forming part of an operating system controlling the CPU. The method can be implemented on battery powered devices and on non-battery powered devices."

So, your brilliant idea is to slow down a CPU to save power? Hmmm, I wonder who else might do that.

Your other patent app doesn't even show up in the system. You're either a fraud or you're insane. Either way, shut the fuck up.

By the way, I'm going to make sure that I use Google AND click on the ads as much as possible. Freak.

I hope it's compatible with AMD's PIC devices:

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Corporate/VirtualPressRoo m/0,,51_104_543~100901,00.html

Which have been distributed to the shelters

They are based in Sunnyvale, California.

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Corporate/VirtualPressRoo m/0,,51_104_543~100845,00.html

I still think this is more of a playground argument. Nothing we haven't seen before.

Which is good, because it really doesn't take too much for fix drivers to work on x86-64.

I don't think it's so easy as it sounds. It's easy - if you designed your driver with 64 bits in mind. If not, you'll to rework them a bit

And you know, it's not easy to rework thousand of drivers written in the last 10 years in just a few months. Many manufacturers, even the "big" ones like HP, have already given lists of devices that are not going to be supported in 64-bit platforms ever. Epson, I think, doesn't even has any information or drivers in their web pages. And don't even ask about those cheap chinese devices. Many, many devices are not going to be able to be run on a 64 bit platform ever. Linux will be able to compete with windows in this matter for first time thanks to the open source...the swtich to 64 bits is going to be painful in the windows side no matter what AMD and Microsoft say.

Just check the Microsoft and AMD guides about porting your drivers to 64 bits. IOCTLS are a problem (they are a problem in linux too, 64 bit drivers must provide 32-bit compatible IOCTLS). Problems WRT to DMA too.

Also, notice that in the lovely windows world, in their x86 transition to 64 bits, Microsoft keep the basic data types unchanged for compatiblity. Only pointers are 64-bit wide. Longs, ints...all of those will continue being 32-bit wide; in linux longs are 64 bit-wide not 32. If your memory saves a memory address in a long type somewhere in your code, you'll have to change it too. Plus, modifying all the INF files, etc....I'm not an expert on this but it's not as easy as you said, specially if you didn't build your driver with 64 bit in mind (most of the industry, since everybody got suprised by the AMD-64 platform and it took a while for Intel to decide what it was going to do)

Vlad,

We went from HP rx5670, 4x1.5GHz Itanium 6MB cache to HP DL585 4x2.2GHz Opteron.

Out of ordeer execution is just speculation on why Opteron is faster, but it was definitely 2x on our app.

I've talked about this publicly, here's one link and a quick search on Google might find more details on what I've been up to :-)

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Corporate/VirtualPressRoo m/0,,51_104_566~91665,00.html

An important point - open source is what let use chase Moore's Law and use the fastest stuff out there. If someone comes along and knocks AMD off the top, we can move there pretty rapidly. We don't need to wait for a bunch of others to port the OS, the middleware, etc.

Alan.

There's more info available about duel. Who knows, maybe online petitions change the world ;)

Here's the actual link to the challenge issued by AMD to Intel on AMD's own website.

Much more information than the /. link.

People should have been using FBSD for wifi access points and aggregation long ago. Glad to see the corporate folks have finally figured out how linux errodes the bottom line.

The
stupider
ones
haven't
figured
it
out
yet.
You'd
better
go
tell
them!

The first 64-bit PC processor, in a class by itself, designed specifically for gaming.

Would pressuring a customer's own customers to switch to another distributor out of retaliation be considered screwing a customer?

Here are several selected paragraphs from the following document that presents and entirely different picture of the first company you mention (but consider its source, the 2nd company you mentioned, when judging its content):

PDF - http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/Downl oadableAssets/AMD-Intel_Full_Complaint.pdf

HTML - http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:BK_UrlmGznsJ: www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/Downloadable Assets/AMD-Intel_Full_Complaint.pdf+amd+pdf+intel& hl=en&lr=lang_en

73. As Gateway executives have recounted, Intel's threats beat them into "guacamole." But Gateway is not alone. Prior to its merger with HP, Compaq Computer received Intel threats every time it engaged with AMD. In late 2000, for example, Compaq's CEO, Michael Capellas, disclosed that because of the volume of business he had given to AMD, Intel withheld delivery of server chips that Compaq desperately needed. Reporting that "he had a gun to his head," Capellas informed an AMD executive that he had to stop buying AMD processors.

74. In 2002, Intel pointed its gun at NEC. Intel threatened to discontinue providing NEC with the technological roadmap of future Intel products if NEC did not convert its entire line of Value Star L computers to Intel microprocessors. Without that roadmap, NEC would be at a distinct competitive disadvantage. Predictably, NEC succumbed and eliminated AMD from the Value Star L series in 2002 and 2003.

76. AMD had been engaged in discussions with IBM about introducing an Opteron "blade" server, when IBM suddenly announced that any such product it distributed could not bear an IBM logo. When pressed for an explanation, IBM reported that it could not appear overly supportive of AMD server products because it feared Intel retaliation.

79. AMD's September 23, 2003, launch of Athlon64 was a watershed event for the Company. Upon learning the launch schedule, Intel did its best to disrupt it. For example, Acer committed to support the AMD rollout by making a senior executive available for a videotaped endorsement and by timing the introduction of two computers, a desktop and a notebook, to coincide with AMD events planned for Cannes, San Francisco and Taiwan. Days before the event, Intel CEO, Craig Barrett, visited Acer's Chairman, CEO and President in Taiwan, expressed to them Intel's "concern" and said Acer would suffer "severe consequences" if it publicly supported AMD's launch. The Barrett visit coincided with an unexplained delay by Intel providing $15-20 million in market development funds owed to Acer. As a result, Acer withdrew from the launch in the U.S. and Taiwan, pulled its promotional materials, banned AMD's use of the video, and delayed the announcement of its Athlon64-powered computers. Acer's President subsequently reported that the only thing different about Intel's threats was the messenger - they were "usually done by lower ranking managers," not Intel's CEO.

86. As retaliation for dealing with AMD, Intel has also used chipset pricing as a bludgeon. For example, in 2003, Acer had committed to launch the AMD Athlon XP. Acer executives worldwide had been working with AMD to bring the product to market post-launch. But, on the eve of the launch the Acer management in Taiwan pulled the plug. AMD learned from Acer executives

I don't think you're up to date. The Athlon 64's have been trimmed down for notebook use, called Turion , and they have two performance envelopes, one at 35 watts and another at 25 watts typical power consumption. The present range is explained here.

I don't think you're up to date. The Athlon 64's have been trimmed down for notebook use, called Turion , and they have two performance envelopes, one at 35 watts and another at 25 watts typical power consumption. The present range is explained here.

I don't think you're up to date. The Athlon 64's have been trimmed down for notebook use, called Turion , and they have two performance envelopes, one at 35 watts and another at 25 watts typical power consumption. The present range is explained here.

What's wrong with the Mobile Athlon XP-M? If you're looking for better performance, you need a desktop replacement chip anyway.

What's wrong with the Mobile Athlon XP-M? If you're looking for better performance, you need a desktop replacement chip anyway.

Acutally, AMD Turion 64 is a CPU for laptops. http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInforma tion/0,,30_118_12651,00.html/

Its power consumption is much lower than previous AMD CPU, but it may not as low as Intel ones.

Maybe you haven't heard of the Turion.
I do agree that Intel is pretty much the safe bet. Development on the Pentium M chips shows great promise down the line. They are already very speedy chips and aren't yet coupled with the latest motherboard technology.
I think one of the big wins for Apple by going with Intel is the fact that Intel is a very well recognized brand. Intel did a fantastic job branding the Pentium processor.

Why is this suddenly China against US ? Isn't it two seperate companies only? So since SCO is a Linux-enemy we could discuss all of USA as an enema of Linux?! This headline smacks of Fox'ing. Talking about animals seems American AMD, the friendly CPU firm is having "Chinese" sex:

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Corporate/VirtualPressRoo m/0,,51_104_543~80806,00.html

AH