Thread: RIP AMD PC's

gehn - It's really not that simple with hardware. Intel's process technology is years ahead of any competition. This isn't some "idea" that can be made better like software companies can... In order for any company to catch up, it is going to cost them literally billions of dollars in R&D, debug and trial and error. Not many manufacturing/design companies can afford that. Also, I could be wrong but I believe Intel is the only company left that does both the design and the manufacturing of their products on the high end of the process technologies (32nm and below). So it will be even more difficult for anyone to match because of that synergy they have with the labs.



HeavyG - normally I'm right there with you with most of your posts in here concerning PC Hardware/tech, but the hoarding of technology strikes me as odd. What technology do you believe is being held back from consumers? Do you mean the next few generations of process technologies?

I agree that without competition, the drive to continue large jumps in performance will likely settle in the coming years. But the stuff that was planned YEARS ago and the current roadmap is continuing with no sign of degradation for the next decade. Yes, things can change and it is always possible a release might be delaying a bit longer if the competition is not nipping at their heels. But I don't believe any completed product will be held back from the market. It's not like a team will just sit on a finished product though. If there is any delay, they are still working out additional features or improving upon the power consumption.

Quick, there was a lot of criticism NVidia purposely delayed releasing the 600 series cards because AMD had yet to release anything to compete with the 500 series, yet it was pretty much quieted down after the release because they also couldn't keep the 600 series cards in stock. Both companies have been "accused" of delaying releases because of inventory left over from previous generation cards, or because the competitors don't have anything to offer.

Heck, Intel delayed the release of Ivy Bridge because there was a surplus of Sandy Bridge products left in the market. I don't have a direct quote, but I recall Intel basically saying that they increased production due to the success and growing demand of the Sandy Bridge products to the point where releasing Ivy Bridge would have decreased the value of the older generation products still sitting on store shelves.

So that is just an example of the technology being out there and in production, but just not for sale due to whatever reason. Some of it may just be me being a skeptic, but I think this stuff happens all the time, for whatever reason, but when it does, it sucks.

I wouldn't believe everything you read, Heavy. I don't know anything about the Nvidia situation, but Ivybridge being delaying due to a Sandybridge surplus would be news to me...

Do you have a source by any chance? I'm sure many websites made speculations about the delay, but I'm curious if they had anything credible to support their claims.

Ivy Bridge Delayed Further Into 2012 | PC Perspective

DailyTech - Report: Mass Launch of 22 nm Ivy Bridge CPUs is Delayed Until June

I really think it was due to Bulldozer's weak launch. Intel realized that AMD's "paper-launch" beast just didn't perform when it came down to real-world applications. They could them hold off on releasing Ivy Bridge, even though they could have launched it on schedule.

And I believe that was a GOOD business decision. I just think that sometimes business decisions, good or bad, can have impact on the consumer. A lot of people were "holding out" until the Ivy Bridge release, and then suddenly it was pushed back months! That sucks for the consumer that is being forced to buy something that is not going to be the latest and greatest at the end of the month.

That is sort of like buying a new car 2 months before the new body style of that new car coming out and the car company pushing out the ship dates of the cars because they had too much inventory of the old car. It can happen, and I totally get it from the business side, but it sucks for the consumer.

Now let's take AMD out of the equation. There will be no more "rush-releases" because there is no need. Intel can wait until the inventory dies off before a scheduled launch. If Bulldozer would have beat out Sandy Bridge, you bet your ass Ivy Bridge would have been on schedule. If AMD is done, then we are all subject to Intel's calendar, instead of the calendar dictated by consumer needs and desire to purchase the latest and greatest product.

In good faith of AMD's current products, I am going to order a new Trinity APU for my HTPC rebuild in my bedroom. I currently have a Zotac Mini-ITX with an Intel Atom. I am going to get one of the 65w Trinity CPUs as soon as manufacturers begin to release their FM2 chipset Mini-ITX boards. I have seen the press releases for the products... you just can't buy them yet.