AMD vs. Intel - Future finally unveiled
Well, with the release of AMD's new quadcore, dubbed Phenom, I think it is finally time for me to write up a blog detailing some pros cons, and what to expect. It appears there are some flaws with the phenom core, that when a certain sequence of code is executed while the machine is under load, it will lock the processor. This flaw was also found in early intel processors. AMD has announced that its higher end model of the phenom is delayed because of this flaw. Intel is still progressing forward with its roadmap, and we will hopefully have a new core from intel sometime in the next year or two.
AMD's new processor, phenom, fails to achieve the level of performance of the Intel counterparts, and even fails to beat the Athlon 64+ in some tests. I believe it is safe to say that AMD flopped on this processor design. This failure may also explain the reason why Hector Ruiz is being replaced, incase some of you have not heard. It doesnt look good for AMD in the graphics segment either. ATI has still not produced an answer to Nvidia's 8800 series. THe new AMD graphics chipset, the HD3800, fails to surpass the 8800 GT in most tests, which is the lower end 8800 series card.
As some of you may suspect, I believe that Intel will soon begin raising prices for some of its processors because AMD does not have a reasonable product to compete, but I believe the costs of buying a GPU and CPU together will balance out after\if intel gets their dedicated graphics card segment underway. This will hopefully introduce new competition, and drive GPU prices down why CPU prices increase, balancing the cost.
After months of anticipation, AMD fans should be ashamed of what AMD has put to the table. They tooks months upon months developing it, and still cannot outperform intel's current CORE architecture. AMD is in a world of hurt when\if intel gets its new processor off the ground with the built in memory controller.
UPDATE: It appears that AMD is now interested in buying Ageia, the maker of physics accelerating processors. This can only be described as a reaction to Intel's purchase of Havok. AMD will most likely plan to integrate Ageia's physics either on die of its GPU's or on the same PCB. Hopefully they dont decide to make it a dedicated card. I personally find this outlandish of AMD, considering they are bleeding money, and have no products to compete in the market, except lower end. Integration costs as well as the cost to buy the company will put AMD further into the red, and I believe hurt them even more. AMD should focus on its current status, and work to getting back into the ring with Intel and AMD to help keep prices low, and competition up.