The strokers of beards and people in the know are puzzled as to why AMD's new Bulldozer is doing so well.
The chip range was greeted with lacklustre reviews and and a collective yawn by the industry, along with the standard comment that AMD delivered a dropped ball to the wrong goal too late to make a difference.
But for some reason the latest sales figures show that the great unwashed did not get the memo and the CPU is selling out on retail shelves faster than the bored sales guy can stick them up.
We should point out that this is while they are not competitively priced against Intel's Core range.
So what is the magic formula that is attracting the punters? It seems that it is another triumph of marketing over substance again, something that the industry has learned from the success of Apple. The reasoning is that it does not matter if you release a product which is more or less the same as the last one, or a rival's, just so long as it has one thing that looks fairly cool, even if it isn't.
In Apple's case it was right wing device, the Siri, which could not see an anti-abortion clinic because Jesus would not have liked it. In the case of AMD it is this eight core CPU which can apparently beat Intel's Core i7 2600K in some tests. Not many, but some.
True the Bulldozer is better than the Phenom II and Athlon II processors, which were relatively good chips with good pricing as well as selling well, but it is simply not in the same league as comparative Chipzilla chips. Still, it seems that Bulldozer has been successful enough for AMD to pull the plug on the Phenom II and Athlon II's create room on its 45 nm production lines for the new 32 nm ones.
Intel Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition 3.3GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) LGA 2011 Six-Core Desktop Processor
32 nm Sandy Bridge-E 130...
15MB L3 Cache
6 x 256KB L2 Cache
Now: $1,049.99
Its' Bottom line that kills. Although 2011 pin, while AMD 1974 pin is still in Server 2 cpu & up, won't be that long before 1974 pins hit desktop from AMD. yes, zambezi is limited to orders of 5 or less. yet AM3+ is good value. so what is it, $120 of over thou. not that differnt, mainly die to somethang called sandee bridgette', thats french speak for bridge. with an e.
drashek Dictophone....
hopefullly, from rumor mill, when desktop arrives be 1974 pin & all new, ready to puch 'ole Sandee in Nose. Well, Actually Ivy, by DAt Time. After ivy at 22nm, then haswell group blaswell, at 14 nm, finally pci-e3,??? seems 1974 pin AMD Desktop might win tune for day for near year, as haswell is 2013 & next after ivy.
What We Need Herer is More Instruction Sets. About 171 moore.
drashek II
3D is now discussed as 2.5D transistors by TSMC, stating true 3D trannys be 2015 deal. gearing up, sales in year+
hey, to fit one 1974 desktop, taka 2 cpu 1944 for 1:1, AMD U Sly Fox. Atlas 'head, Doing aliens Right. hulu.
drashek PIN Me....Nu.
Let's face it, the pricing on the high end Intel i7 is ridiculous at best. So, if the price is 8 times AMD's and AMD's best is only 1/2 the speed of the best i7, that's still a pretty good deal.