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The Near Future of Intel

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the very-specific-crystal-ball dept.

wh0pper wrote to mention a Design Technica story about the near-term future of Intel. They've been getting beaten in the press pretty soundly by AMD of late, and at the Intel Developer's Forum they did their best to convince attendees they were on the comeback trail. From the article: "It wouldn't be IDF if there wasn't a solid performance message. This time, Intel clearly had AMD in their sights. By a series of their products' massive performance improvements, Intel hit the ball back into AMD's court. With Microsoft's Vista operating system coming out at the same time, Intel showed how they have the higher performing solution. Clearly, we won't know until final systems ship. But Intel presented their case strongly, suggesting they can match AMD, if not beat them."

45 of 136 comments (clear)

  1. Gets you thinking... by 0110011001110101 · · Score: 5, Funny
    FTFA - Think of being able to set up a secure network in 3-1/2 minutes after you have plugged in the hardware.

    Think of putting that network up for a hacking challenge on the web and having it totally violated in even less time than it took you to setup... Phew!! Good thing Intel isnt inside an Apple... ohhh shit. [ducks]

    /ssharcasm

    --
    Don't anthropomorphize computers: they hate that.
  2. Intel has been catching up lately... by PFI_Optix · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...and I, for one, am quite glad. The closer the two competitors are, the better products each releases. This will keep AMD from coasting the way Intel did in the nineties.

    --
    120 characters for a sig? That's bloody useless.
    1. Re:Intel has been catching up lately... by WhiteWolf666 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I'm a big AMD fan, but this is true.

      Lately AMD's development rate has slowed. Initially, I suspected they did this to hold better product back until Intel became competitive again, but after a year or so I believe they started to sit on their laurels.

      The new intel designs will push AMD to work harder, which is a good thing. AMD's developers are very, very talented. It's sad to see the business side of the operation (even though its very practical for them) to tell the developers to slow down a little bit.

      Expect AMD to start going full-tilt again.

      --
      WhiteWolf666 an exBush supporter. All you new-school,compassionate,save the children Republicans can rot in hell
    2. Re:Intel has been catching up lately... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Intel are increasingly developing technology that work *against* the customer rather than *for* them... and this is their future direction.

      Everything done by Intel in the last 5-8 years has been driven completely by Digital Rights Management, and ensuring that the PC platform is completely locked down -- even if they so desperately want to avoid talking about it publicly. Remember the fuss over the "Fritz chip" -- it was a bill intended to force all electronic manufacturers to include a security chip to guard "digital rights" within a year to two or the government would impose one -- Intel was one of the companies that stopped that bill... because they, behind the scenes, made it quite clear that they were working on their own solution in conjunction with the rest of the technology industry. Any imposed solution would be half-assed at best.

      Part of that solution is Le Grande (their trusted computing chipset), but also a raft of other technologies including stuff like EFI and HDCP, and rengineering software protocols to include DRM measures... all initiatives either created or primariliy driven by Intel... all guided by the principle of security used against the owner of the computer... and all intended for DRM. Intel isn't looking at selling to PC makers in future, they are looking to getting their chipsets into TV, DVD players. Not to mention such future tactics as their deal with Skype to cripple it unless running on Intel -- such future deals will be watertight once you cannot patch binary code and still have it work the same way.

      It's a shame really. Intel, for all its faults, used to be in the business of making computers more and more capable. Now they are just in the business of building hardware that is deliberately crippled.

    3. Re:Intel has been catching up lately... by baadger · · Score: 2, Insightful

      ...because if they don't develop new products then all the researchers and other non-construction workers at both AMD and Intel won't have jobs, because profit making business doesn't work like that?, because they _can_?

      Specifically: movies playing in a shorter time may not be important, but how about movies at real time? MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 can easily push current processors to the limit at HD resolutions when encoded with maximum codec complexity.

  3. Price war by Ginger+Unicorn · · Score: 3, Interesting

    hopefully this means AMD will revert to trying to compete on price and so i can afford to get a modern setup ;)

    --
    (1.21 gigawatts) / (88 miles per hour) = 30 757 874 newtons
    1. Re:Price war by Zephiris · · Score: 5, Informative

      If I could get an Athlon 64 3500+ (Venice Core :D) with 1.5GB of DDR400 RAM, 200GB ATA100 HD, DVD+RW 16X, an insane number of USB ports, etc, for less than $600, and add two serial ports and a good hardware modem for about $14, reuse a Soundblaster Live! or Aureal Vortex 2 (yes, really), into the end of last year, after not being able to have any computer upgrades since 1999 (Yay for Pentium 3), I don't think anyone else would have any excuse for AMD's price point. The only lower-end point is the ATi IGP graphics (which don't have a hardware T&L unit), but that can be upgraded at some point once PCI-E cards are cheap, and it can play most newer games still pretty smoothly, including Half Life 2.

      Ironically, it is slower in Freespace 2 (the new open source engine with fancy effects anyway) and SWAT 4, mostly for the lack of hardware T&L. Especially with relatively basic lighting effects in newer games, you can "feel" it slowing down as the CPU has to handle it. But a system amazingly over the top for modern gaming and heavy programming and other usage, that's quite a lot cheaper than how much you could get even a slightly usable system in 2002. I wish they made an AGP to PCI-E or even AGP to PCI adapter so I could use my Geforce 4 Ti4200-8X, which has absurdly reliable performance.

      Plus there's the fact that it uses so little power, and runs about 32C stable, while under heavy gaming/compiling prolonged usage, with about 30C when not having to do much, amazingly quiet as well.

      --

      "A Goddess rarely smiles for she is forced by others to be an island unto herself." - Zephiris
  4. Yay go Intel! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Intel intel, he's our man
    if he cant do it, I BET AMD CAN!

    How is this news? Intel's BRAND NEW processor can outperform a 1+ year old AMD X2?

    Hey did you know that I can slap a buncha logic chips together and create a faster processor than ENIAC? DEAR GOD SOMEONE GIVE ME A MEDAL!

    1. Re:Yay go Intel! by mapmaker · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Intel's BRAND NEW processor can outperform a 1+ year old AMD X2?

      It's even worse than that. This isn't a brand new processor, it's a future processor that they hope to have out in 6 months.

    2. Re:Yay go Intel! by Courageous · · Score: 2, Interesting

      This isn't a brand new processor, it's a future processor that they hope to have out in 6 months.

      Indeed. This is a new situation for Intel. What they have done is given out copies of early silicon to reviewers, to publish reviews of a product that they don't plan to have out of their fabs at any significant production level for quite some time. Quite embarrassing that Intel has been reduced to this, really. We're getting reviews of a product that no comsumer can buy, and won't be buyable for quite some time.

      Nonetheless, I'm happy to see them moving forward with decent x86 plans. The additional issue width, the microop bundling, the power enhancements-- all neato. Now they just need to address their goddamn bus topology.

      C//

    3. Re:Yay go Intel! by Surt · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Well, they've shown they can beat an overclocked X2 running at the clock speed that AMD predicts they'll have in their own roadmap in 6 months by more than 20%, running at the low end of their (intel's) expected clock range, using 6 month early hardware. This suggests that they'll be delivering a significant performance advantage over amd in 6 months, barring amd delivering a new architecture, which is not on the amd roadmap right now. AMD will deliver DDR2 at that time, which may have some small performance advantage, but they've said nothing to suggest that DDR2 will deliver more than a 5% performance advantage, if any (it may even be a slight performance disadvantage early on, but will cost less).

      --
      "Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
  5. Fluff? by Zebadias · · Score: 3, Interesting
    I actually read the link and found it dull and lacking in any real excitment.

    So if you have not RTFA then don't worry your not missing anything!

    1. Re:Fluff? by Not_Wiggins · · Score: 2, Funny

      So if you have not RTFA then don't worry your[sic] not missing anything!

      You're advising the /. crowd that they don't have to RTFA? You must be new here! 8D

      --
      Diplomacy is the art of saying, "Nice doggie!" until you can find a rock.
  6. Clearly, we won't know until final systems ship. by digitaldc · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Clearly, we won't know until final systems ship.

    Need we discuss this any further?

    --
    He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
  7. TFA is weak, Here is Anand's updated benchmarks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    I RTFA and it is severly lacking on substance.
    Here is Anand's updated benchmarks.
    http://anandtech.com/tradeshows/showdoc.aspx?i=271 6

    1. Re:TFA is weak, Here is Anand's updated benchmarks by Billosaur · · Score: 3, Interesting
      From AnandTech: The performance picture with regards to Conroe hasn't really changed all that much - on average we're still seeing a bit over a 20% increase in performance over an overclocked Athlon 64 FX-60. While it's worth noting that these results should be taken with a grain of salt, we really were not able to determine any cause for suspicion based on Intel's setups. The machines were as clean as they could get, with the BIOS oversight having no tangible impact on most performance.

      So Intel is finally catching up to and beating AMD in some regards. Mind you this is only one set of tests, but it may be indicative of a tightening of the processor battle.

      --
      GetOuttaMySpace - The Anti-Social Network
  8. getCPUId() by OzPhIsH · · Score: 2, Funny

    I can't help but wonder if Vista won't be making any mysterious and unnecessary getCPUid() calls....

    --

    "To lead the people, you must walk behind them"

  9. You must be new here by hoborocks · · Score: 4, Funny

    Arbitrary thoughts and unfounded speculation is how we roll :-)

    --
    AccountKiller
  10. Article is drivel. by tpgp · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Do not waste time reading the article - it is stream-of-conciousness drivel. You will not get that 5 minutes of your life back.

    Typical quote:
    One of the technologies they showcased was the use of flash memory to increase system performance. By using flash, they can cut application load times dramatically; this has a huge impact on games (which load much more quickly from memory than from drives.) For us gamers, the game will load more quickly, we will be able to move between zones more quickly, and scenes pop more quickly.

    This could keep you alive longer and overcome the problem of teams breaking apart before all team members can get to the same zone. The biggest improvement would be with laptop computers; for those of us who play games on our laptops, this is a good thing.
    What? What are you talking about? Are you suggesting manufacturers will ship games on flash chips? And what the hell do laptops have to do with anything?

    Nothing I've heard about intel's plans to use flash technology would improve any system performace other then boot time.
    --
    My pics.
    1. Re:Article is drivel. by tpgp · · Score: 2, Interesting
      What he's talking about is a feature of Vista, called SuperFetch.

      The idea is that the OS predicts what pages of what files you're going to need based on it's analysis of your usage of your computer, and caches those on any faster-than-disk-but-not-RAM storage you may have, like a flash drive.

      Yes, I figured out he was talking about SuperFetch, but it's still drivel. SuperFetch is unproven and overhyped
      Microsoft Exec : "I just plugged in this USB memory stick, any USB memory stick, and as soon as it recognized it, we just got another 500 megs of memory on this machine.)"
      Wow! Thanks Jim, 500MB of extra memory by plugging in a usb stick.

      In addition, it's not likely to be any good for games. I can imagine loading system libraries, etc onto flash at boot... but games? It doesn't really work. Flash write time is still waaay to slow, and games manufacturer's are still going to want everything loaded off CD to attempt to prevent copying.
      --
      My pics.
    2. Re:Article is drivel. by Glock27 · · Score: 2, Informative
      Flash write time is still waaay to slow,

      Games read data WAAAAY more than they write data.

      and games manufacturer's are still going to want everything loaded off CD to attempt to prevent copying.

      Darned near every game I have loads all the big data onto the hard drive for speed. A few games require the original CD be in the CD drive during gameplay. That type of scheme is generally unecessary for online games, where you're authenticated by other means, so the situation is generally improving.

      The idea of caching frequently used stuff to a flash drive is good - I hope Apple and other OS vendors pick it up.

      --
      Galileo: "The Earth revolves around the Sun!"
      Score: -1 100% Flamebait
  11. Good by JRGhaddar · · Score: 4, Funny

    Competition => Innovation

    Innovation => Faster/Better Chips

    Faster/Better Chips => Faster/Better Comps

    Faster/Better Comps => Giant Robots

    And I for one want a giant robot.

  12. You really think it works that way? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm pretty sure processor development isn't just a matter of how determined the people involved are. Some parts of it depend on the building of new fab equipment. Some depend on the discovery of new ways to design things. Some depend on serious advances in physics.

    The reason chip companies sometimes hold back on new product is because they can't always be certain of the exact time at which breakthroughs in these other areas will be made. Their companies depend on having a solid, reliable revenue stream, so they have to use release schedules to smooth out the apparent advances in chip speed. If they didn't do this, we'd all be sitting around, hoping against hope that this month would be the month the new chips come out, and worried about buying in case they come out tomorrow.

    Which is more or less how Apple worked for a long time, because IBM wasn't able to smooth out its development curve. It wasn't pleasant.

    Anyway. Overall chip development does not just scale depending on the moods of the employees at chip companies. Intel went off-track by being overconfident at one point, sure, but that was a five year thing involving a bad choice of roadmap. The idea that AMB is sitting on their laurels after a year is ridiculous.

    1. Re:You really think it works that way? by 4e617474 · · Score: 4, Funny

      last i checked, physics hasn't changed too much

      Maybe you need to check more often then every 350 years. Fortunately, the Journal of Applied Physics has some RSS feeds.

      --
      Finally modding someone offtopic when they rant about what "Begging the Question" means: priceless.
    2. Re:You really think it works that way? by Deliveranc3 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      But in todays world where consumers either don't research or have access to good research the idea of having a huge performance diffrence being any diffrent from a small one?

      Intel and Amd have fallen into a game of releasing microscopic advancements to pass each other. It's easier and it offers the long term potential of selling chips.

      There aren't many doublings in power left before people just don't need anymore power.

      For the average user who doesn't need to compile code there is already way too much power for basic apps.

    3. Re:You really think it works that way? by LordOfTheNoobs · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Any time someone says 'people will never need this power', microsoft _will_ release a new windows edition requiring it. :p Seriously though, the more that is offered, the more ways we will find to utilize it. Statements claiming that in the future we won't need X power/drive capacity/whatever are usually short sighted at best, and just plain wrong most of the time.

      --
      They're there affecting their effect.
  13. Irony! by SolitaryMan · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The page showed me an AMD ad with this article. Was enough for me to know "near term future of intel" :)

    --
    May Peace Prevail On Earth
  14. Welcome to slideware by ookaze · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Heh, I guess this is another example of slideware, vaporware through slides, presentations, articles...

  15. Performance improvements by jrumney · · Score: 3, Funny
    By a series of their products' massive performance improvements

    Let me guess - they demonstrated how Intel's top end chips can handle 10 way conference calls with Skype, while AMD's only handle 5?

  16. AMD - Time to wakeup by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    While AMD has clearly have a better processor now, it looks very complacent now. Especially when they should be looking at being more menacing by aggressive Research.

    Alas nothing of that sort is happening. Still resting on the glory of the on-die memory controller, the core is now 7 years old!

    Every other chip company is doing interesting things.
    1. Sun Niagra T1 is amazing
    2. IBM Cell rocks!
    3. Intel Itanic may have failed, but was no doubt interesting.

    Well ... AMD please move on. We acknowledge you have won. But the next battle is starting this week.

    1. Re:AMD - Time to wakeup by hxnwix · · Score: 4, Insightful

      What the hell are you talking about? Quad core, DDR2 - this year. Same core for seven years? What? The last core was 32 bit with no integrated northbridge. Hammer was a complete revamp/redesign.

      Whatever criteria you are using to judge amd64 as the same core as k7 would also label merom a 686 core. And that is an old ass core.

  17. interesting quote by spiderworm · · Score: 5, Insightful

    But Intel presented their case strongly, suggesting they can match AMD, if not beat them.


    My, how times have changed.
  18. Improvements? by Kilz · · Score: 4, Interesting

    But Intel presented their case strongly, suggesting they can match AMD, if not beat them. Im waiting to see an independent head to head comparison. That Intel can beat AMD using 2 computers they set up is not a shock. Its possible to do all sorts of low underhanded tricks to make one computer run better than another.

    --
    I trust Microsoft as far as I could comfortably spit a dead rat
  19. AMD by mac123 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Boy, sure is a good thing AMD has decided to stand still and not come up with any further technology advances on their side.

    Oh...they haven't?

  20. Re:Check the source its Rob Enderle by porkThreeWays · · Score: 4, Informative

    Oh geez, this clown. For those of you who don't know, Rob Enderle is the troll of trolls. He will go on various forums and make outrageous statements seemingly to do nothing more than pick fights. I can't tell you how many times I've seen him make personal attacks on people. Then, once he's done trolling, will write articles on how vapid the open source community is. The sad part is he's supposed to be a "professional" with a consulting company. I wouldn't believe a single word that comes out of that mans mouth, whether true or not. Get a different source for your facts...

    --
    If an officer ever threatens to taze you, say you have a pacemaker.
  21. Some important things (AKA garbage article) by augustz · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There seems to be agreement this article is a bit weak. Some very important things to note.

    "By a series of their products' massive performance improvements, Intel hit the ball back into AMD's court."

    These are products that are not out yet. Benchmarks look good, but you are comparing a product on the shelves (that's been there a while) with one that is not OK.

    And by the time they come out, AMD will likely have moved on to. This is a fast paced space, so 6 month time gaps matter when doing comparisons. Product matchups in the actual market are what matter.

    AMD's M2 platform looks good. The performance / watt issue matters a lot, and it will be interesting to see how that develops. Both companies are clearly chasing the power/watt area, so should be a lot of fun. The notebook space especially which is currently dominated by intel will be fun.

    "Intel showed how they have the higher performing solution." This should read intel MAY have a higher performing solution sometime in the future.

    I'm tired of the big announcements of victory on non-shipping parts. ATI with crossfire (lunched twice). The hype around the P4 "netburst" architecture. The itanium hype of course. PS2 movie like visuals (still a nice platform, but please).

    Fun to watch, great it's a great race.

  22. umm... how is that cheating? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful
    if you look closer at their tests they had to overclock the AMD in order to beat it, and that's not an accurate test but rather cheating.

    So let me get this straight... Intel could have left the AMD chip at the factory clock settings and thrashed it by a mile or it could have OVERCLOCKED it to give it an advantage against Intel's upcoming chip. This leads me to believe that you are just another retard who doesn't know what OVERCLOCK means. OVERCLOCKING from Wikipedia:

    • Overclocking is usually practiced by PC enthusiasts in order to increase the performance of their computers. Some hardware enthusiasts purchase low-end computer components which they then overclock, thereby attaining performance of a high-end system, while others will overclock high-end components, attaining levels of performance that surpass the peformance of the newest generation of computer hardware.


    The 2.8 ghz AMD processor speed level is where AMD will be at when Intel's latest gen Core processor comes out. Even then, that would be AMD's highest end part compared to Intel's middle-high end. A true test would have been to pit a 3.0ghz or higher Intel processor and overclocked AMD or not, the Intel processor would have wiped the floor.

    Your comment is the reason why the moderation system sucks here. You are clueless and yet you get modded up.
  23. Re:Check the source its Rob Enderle by samkass · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Agreed. The Mac community often calls this guy "Rob 'Microsoft wrote the original MacOS' Enderle" because that's one of the claims he stands by to this day.

    --
    E pluribus unum
  24. pshaw! by Thud457 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Independent lab testing proves Pirate Monkeys will beat Robot Ninjas 97.6 % of the time.

    --

    the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

  25. The last time AMD coasted... by NivenMK1 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    If memory serves correctly, the last time AMD was fairly absent in the processor market and "resting on it's laurels", they rocked the world with the XP-class processor

    Anyone who has been keeping tabs on AMD knows they are in the process of expanding their manufacturing capability/capacity.

    I think AMD is playing the part of "lion in the weeds"...... ....again.

  26. Just a note for AMD fanbois by Aadain2001 · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Just wanted to let all the AMD fanbois out there who always trash Intel whenever they show the slightest move in the right direction (for their company and consumers) that if Intel disappeared tomorrow, the world of computing as you know it would crash to the ground like a bowling ball.

    AMD may have had the upper hand on processor designs for the last few years, and even Intel is practically admitting that by switching their mainline core architecture to the Pentium M derivative (which is a PIII derivative). But Intel has had them beat in one area and probably will for a very long time: production capacity. Intel's fabs can crank out processors in a day that matches AMD's production in a year (exaggeration, but run with it). There is NO way that AMD could meet the demands of the business world in sheer scale of orders. If Intel closed up shop, computer CPUs would triple or quadrupal in price overnight due to scarcity. Fabs take YEARS to build, and can take even more years to full ramp up to full production while shaking out the process bugs. Intel has a LOT of experience with this due to the shear number of fabs that they own and operate.

    Competition is good, for everyone. Give props where they are due though. Intel is turning around after making a very bad roadmap choice many years ago, and I think it will only benifit consumers in the long run. AMD had very good designs and will probably have some more good ones in the future. But don't pick on or the other exclusively and wish for the other to disappear. That would lead to a VERY bad situation for everyone, even you.

    --
    Space for rent, inquire within
    1. Re:Just a note for AMD fanbois by jareth-0205 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      What sort of argument is that? If Intel disappeared then AMD would not be able to cope with the gap? Well duh... things don't change that quickly, AMD are always going to have time to ramp up their production as market share shifts. For that matter, if AMD disappeared then I'd bet even the great and bountiful Intel would have a hard time filling that 20% or so.

      Plus if Intel closed up shop, suddenly there'd be lots of fabs and extra supplies up for sale...

      Nobody claims that Intel should not exist, but their squeezing over the last few years has been good for everybody. (well, except Intel maybe)

  27. excellent competition by slackaddict · · Score: 3, Informative
    I love this competition between AMD and Intel. They have been slugging it out producing excellent processors and actually being fairly responsive to consumer demands. Here's a brief description of the wars between the 2 companies over the last 10 years:

    1) Floating point performance wars - Before AMD came out with the K6 processor, Intel had the floating point crown and neither AMD nor Cyrix could compete. Although AMD and Cyrix had inexpensive intel-compatible processors, most people used their cpu's for low-end desktops.

    2) That all changed when AMD released the K6 processor with an excellent floating point unit. Then the war became a Mhz slugfest between AMD and Intel in which Cyrix was marginalized. Intel reached the 1000Mhz mark first with the P3 but AMD wasn't far behind with the Athlon.

    3) AMD changed their approach with the Athlon focusing on P3 crushing performance regardless of the actual clock speed. Intel kept the Mhz focus with the P4.

    4) AMD released the hugely successful 64-bit Athlon that dominated the P4 even though the 64-bit Athlon operated at a much slower clock speed. Intel lost much market share in the desktop and server market to the new 64-bit Athlon and the new 64-bit Opteron processors.

    5) Intel finally realized that the educated consumer didn't care about raw Mhz anymore, they switched to their own performance number rating scheme.

    6) The latest oil crisis hits the world and consumers become more energy conscious. Many computer enthusiast websites point out how much energy Intel processors demand and how little AMD processors demand in comparison. Intel and AMD respond by making their processors more energy efficient and cooler running.

    7) Dual-core processors are released from both companies trying to squeeze more performance out of their aging cores. The Intel processors can't scale as well with multiple cores due to the already high energy and cooling demands of their processor cores. AMD gains further ground in this area.

    And that's where we are today. AMD has seriously damaged Intel's marketshare with some excellent products. Intel is feverishly working on new products to get that marketshare back. The benefit is that we will see very good products from the 2 companies over the next 12 to 24 months.

    --
    ConsultingFair.com
    1. Re:excellent competition by Visaris · · Score: 3, Informative

      2) That all changed when AMD released the K6 processor with an excellent floating point unit. Then the war became a Mhz slugfest between AMD and Intel in which Cyrix was marginalized. Intel reached the 1000Mhz mark first with the P3 but AMD wasn't far behind with the Athlon.

      That is not true at all. AMD reached 1GHz first by a couple of days. I hate the way these things get turned around. Next you'll try to tell me that Intel was first to dual core because they paper launched it two days before AMD, even though AMD was the first to have actual shipping parts...

      --

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  28. AMD is waiting (profiting) by shummer_mc · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It's expensive to continually upgrade fab facilities, marketing material, etc. Sitting on a successful product with inflated prices is a serious profit maker. AMD is simply reaping the rewards for kicking the hell out of the P4. Congrats to them. I don't blame them a bit. They've been skating on razor thin margins for quite awhile. I hope that AMD has addressed the majority of their production issues in the last year (they're gonna need it).

    OTOH, Intel has been fattening (and has expanded into MANY other markets) and until recently hasn't had to really work to keep a nice lead on AMD in the processor market. So, now they will have to turn around processors faster than AMD (which is likely why they just switched to 65nm processing before moving into Merom processors). That's just business.

    It shapes up as a nice fight (finally). I can't wait. I want a dual core CPU for around $100. Maybe then I'll get off of my 3000+XP processor. Yes, the consumer wins in a competitive market (FWIW, I've never built an Intel system... but I've built a LOT of AMD ones (and one Cyrix)). I only hope that AMD has enough designs stable and in reserve to keep ahead of Intel for another 5 years. AMD is still the serious underdog here.