6 core phenom II preview

[deadrats]

check out this preview, with a full compliment of benchmarks, of what we can expect once 6 core phenom 2's finally arrive:

http://xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/print/amd-istanbul.html

as you will note, they took a 6 core opteron and benchmarked it using desktop benchmarks. the truely sad thing for AMD is that a core i7 920 is capable of beating, in some cases convincingly, a 6 core phenom 2 in a desktop environment.

i guess that's why AMD seems to have switched focus and instead decided to concentrate on the sub-$100 cpu market:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/athlon-ii-x3,2452.html

now don't get me wrong, i picked up a X2 550 and absolutely love it (it runs extremely cool and is pretty fast, especially for a $90 cpu) but it would be nice if a top of the line 6 core AMD processor could actually beat a mid range 4 core intel processor.

but that's just me...

[minidv2dvd]

pretty much amd's business model. cheaper almost as good.....

[jagabo]

pretty much amd's business model. cheaper almost as good.....

Along with their massive losses quarter after quarter.

[kajee]

One problem is that they can't increase their prices on these cpu's because it will decrease their sales so much. They are now known for being cheap and providing good cpu's. But if they raise their price they will have decent cpu's for the same as Intel and you can get better cpu's from them. In Australia cpurice range ratio is; entry to $200 = amd, $200+ = Intel. I assume that to be the same everywhere else in the world.

[ocgw]

The AMD Opteron 2435 is a server cpu using DDR2 on available on server mobo's, the OP's posted benches compare it against a desktop quad w/ DDR3

Here is an "apples and apples comparison" between Intel Xeon server cpus, and Opteron Server Cpu's

In the Sandra benches AMD's 6-core doesn't look so bad

Notice in the last 3 benches the AMD 6-cores beats the Xeon 5550, In 1 the $1000USD AMD Istanbul 2435 cpu even beats the Almighty $1700USD a pop Intel Xeon 5580

http://techreport.com/articles.x/17005/11

ocgw

peace

[minidv2dvd]

but the 2435 costs more than the cheapest intel chip tested, the 5450, scores lower in total encoding frames in the 264 test and uses 50% more power.

not that i consider either listed test an on point test of a "server" chip. but it doesn't look good at the current price. if it were 500 rather than a grand maybe...

[rallynavvie]

http://techreport.com/articles.x/17005/11

Summation at the end:

In terms of raw performance in a 2P system, Nehalem still reigns supreme.

[ocgw]

but the 2435 costs more than the cheapest intel chip tested, the 5450, scores lower in total encoding frames in the 264 test and uses 50% more power.

not that i consider either listed test an on point test of a "server" chip. but it doesn't look good at the current price. if it were 500 rather than a grand maybe...

AMD Istanbul 2435 2.6Ghz 6-core cpu $989.99USD

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103689&Tpk=amd%202435

Intel 5580 4-core 3.2Ghz cpu $1699.99USD

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117179

ocgw

peace

[minidv2dvd]

but the 2435 costs more than the cheapest intel chip tested, the 5450, scores lower in total encoding frames in the 264 test and uses 50% more power.

not that i consider either listed test an on point test of a "server" chip. but it doesn't look good at the current price. if it were 500 rather than a grand maybe...

AMD Istanbul 2435 2.6Ghz 6-core cpu $989.99USD

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103689&Tpk=amd%202435

Intel 5580 4-core 3.2Ghz cpu $1699.99USD

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117179

ocgw

peace

i said it's slower than the slowest intel tested the 5450, not the 5580. e5450-$989.99 - ok so they are the same price i'll take back it cots MORE...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117142&cm_re=e5450-_-19-117-142-_-Product

[rallynavvie]

Initial hardware costs like these are irrelevant to enterprise systems though, only support and maintenance (recurring cost). Price comparison for this type of hardware is only relevant to SOHO and SMB and even then many of them are going with OEMs.

[ocgw]

but the 2435 costs more than the cheapest intel chip tested, the 5450, scores lower in total encoding frames in the 264 test and uses 50% more power.

not that i consider either listed test an on point test of a "server" chip. but it doesn't look good at the current price. if it were 500 rather than a grand maybe...

AMD Istanbul 2435 2.6Ghz 6-core cpu $989.99USD

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103689&Tpk=amd%202435

Intel 5580 4-core 3.2Ghz cpu $1699.99USD

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117179

ocgw

peace

i said it's slower than the slowest intel tested the 5450, not the 5580. e5450-$989.99 - ok so they are the same price i'll take back it cots MORE...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117142&cm_re=e5450-_-19-117-142-_-Product

no, you said, "but the 2435 costs more than the cheapest intel chip tested", which it doesn't

and I said the AMD beat the 5550 in three tests, and even the 5580 in 1 test, we can go back and forth all night

ocgw

peace

[deadrats]

pretty much amd's business model. cheaper almost as good.....

Along with their massive losses quarter after quarter.

actually AMD just posted their first profitable quarter in a long time:

http://anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3663

i personally like AMD's current cpu marketing plan, so long as they are making a per cpu profit, then in the long run they will find that they have a winning formula for success. in a nutshell, it's always easier to sell something at $90 than it is to sell it at $200, and especially in the cpu market, a $90 price point works is a great tool for breaking consumers tendency to avoid upgrading. i know in the past i would buy a cpu/motherboard and stick with it for a year and i was considered a pretty aggressive upgrader, most people would stick with what they had for 2+ years and i'm willing to bet that most buyers of cpu's such as the i7 920 will probably end up keeping their systems until well after sandy bridge is released, whereas at $90 a pop i can already tell you i can easily afford to upgrade again in 6 months, and from AMD's perspective getting $90 every 6 months is way better than getting $200 every 2-3 years.

my only qualm is that they seem to be taking the wrong track to compete with intel at the high end, instead of thinking 6 and 12 core cpu's, they should be thinking high clocked dual core cpu's that can handle multiple threads, the technology exists, they have licenses to use hyper-threading, they should release a dual core cpu that can handle 4-6 threads per core (cpu's exist that can handle 8 threads per core, so this isn't outside the realm of possibility).

a nice dual core 12 thread beast that runs cool would allow them to compete at the high end and they could easily disable the number of threads it can handle to compete with the same cpu in all market segments.

[minidv2dvd]

i sincerely hope hobbyists and the unknowing public continue to purchase low end acers, emachines, compaqs, etc with amd chips. amd serves a useful purpose keeping intel's prices in check i would hate going back to the 80286, 80386 days of intel charging whatever the market would bear and then some.

[ocgw]

i sincerely hope hobbyists and the unknowing public continue to purchase low end acers, emachines, compaqs, etc with amd chips. amd serves a useful purpose keeping intel's prices in check i would hate going back to the 80286, 80386 days of intel charging whatever the market would bear and then some.

You mean "craptops" like these?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2032280010%201141846180&bo...e&Order=PRICED

Me thinks you got that backwards, the "unknowning public" paying $1000USD+ for cpus is the problem

ocgw

peace

[minidv2dvd]

pretty much yes - "ibuypower", "cyberpowerpc" brands etc. sound exciting don't they? marketing for the masses. get-um while they're hot. no joke

[ocgw]

pretty much yes - "ibuypower", "cyberpowerpc" brands etc. sound exciting don't they? marketing for the masses. get-um while they're hot. no joke

Chit, I am no snob, those are some decent PC's, I wouldn't find any humor in anyone owning them

not like I couldn't find 100 examples of Intel "barebones" bargain bin "blue light special" PC's"

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2032280010%201141829410&name=Celeron

ocgw

peace

[jagabo]

pretty much amd's business model. cheaper almost as good.....

Along with their massive losses quarter after quarter.

actually AMD just posted their first profitable quarter in a long time:

http://anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3663

While the company as a whole lost money, the Product Company (CPU and GPU design) turned a small profit.

Although their losses were tiny this quarter compared to last: $127M vs $1,424M.