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PUBLIC TOILET
Jun 13, 2009

If it can seriously compete with Sandy Bridge when it arrives and maintain cheaper pricing, I'd be interested. Given AMD's history with new architectures (Athlon 64), they have the ability to compete with the competition. gently caress though, Q2 2011? What the poo poo. Sandy Bridge is OUT NOW, what is taking AMD so long? By the time Bulldozer arrives, Intel's next platform could be close to the hands of reviewers and probably be ahead of Bulldozer in benchmarks.

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PUBLIC TOILET
Jun 13, 2009

Maggot Monster posted:

I apparently had a different experience to you guys because every loving nvidia chipset board I had would cause endless and bizarre problems. The worst of the lot was after I put together some Shuttle/nforce3 computer that would destroy harddrives.

I send the drive back and get a replacement - it eats the replacement. I send that back and get another replacement and it eats that one. We're all a bit baffled at this point so I try with a couple of older disks - it destroys those.

Anyway, to cut a boring story shorter the fix was to flash the firmware on the cd-rom drive in order for it to stop destroying hard drives. It made no sense at all and the assumption was that the cd drive was putting garbage onto the ATA bus and breaking things in some crazy kind of way.

I always had weird nforce issues like that, from network to i/o errors, across three different desktops.

I had great experiences using AMD-based nForce boards. Intel-based nForce boards on the other hand, holy poo poo. Never again will I do that.

PUBLIC TOILET
Jun 13, 2009

I'm waiting anxiously for some serious benchmarks against Intel. If there's a considerable price difference and a negligible performance difference, hell I might as well just build an AMD system this time around. As much as I like Intel reference boards and Intel's virtualization performance/features, I could settle for something like an AsRock motherboard and a ridiculous amount of core AMD processor.

PUBLIC TOILET
Jun 13, 2009

Yes, AMD is trying to go up against a monolithic company that's been using underhanded tactics. In response, they should be shifting their focus on what needs to be done to compete with Intel. Llanos is a good start, but they could continue looking at what Intel is not doing well and strong-arm into that. For instance, Microsoft and Intel aren't getting along in terms of ARM architecture. Work with Microsoft then, see if some deals can be made. Start there, see if Apple will do the same. Spend more on R&D, look at what can be done in the server market. AMD could also try combining the AMD/ATi technology to start pushing out AMD reference mainboards (like Intel does). Make them stable, make them reliable, push them to consumers and manufacturers. I'd build an AMD machine with an AMD reference board if it's comparable to Intel's. Stability, simplicity and well-documented functionality. Obviously you'll need a comparable CPU to go with it. AMD & Microsoft working (or at least looking like they're working) on ARM could act as a distraction for Intel. AMD could use that to re-position themselves in the market by getting the desktop market back into play and come up with a useful product.

PUBLIC TOILET fucked around with this message at 05:08 on Jun 25, 2011

PUBLIC TOILET
Jun 13, 2009

Alereon posted:

SemiAccurate had an interesting article on Wednesday about the AMD/ARM collaboration. In short, they're working on creating a standard on-chip interconnect so that manufacturers can combine ARM CPU cores with an AMD GPU block, or AMD Bobcat CPU cores with hardware acceleration blocks from/for ARM for ultra-low-power x86/x64 applications. The fact that Bobcat CPU cores are designed for production in third-party fabs (since Brazos is fabbed at TSMC and not Global Foundries) will help make adoption more likely.

There's no real reason for AMD to make their own branded motherboards, this makes them a competitor with their own partners and is what killed 3Dfx years ago. Intel isn't doing so well in the motherboard arena either, as the complexity and engineering challenges of modern motherboards require a level of focus and dedicated resources that you only see in companies like Asus. None of Intel's motherboards have any interesting or differentiating features, and even their high-end boards are unreliable garbage because they simply don't do the engineering/QA necessary to make good products. Intel's recent drive to push their own branded motherboards could easily end up as a coup for AMD, as Intel damages their relationships with their partners.

In response to the article about the Intel board, I've noticed a common similarity between Intel reference motherboards over the years. I've built machines using them for the past six years and out of 400 or so workstations in a corporate setting, I've only seen maybe five fail for no reason and a few fail because of water damage or neglect by the end user. In a home user setting, I've only had a problem with one and it was a Sandy Bridge board with the SATA port issue. If you ever read through the manuals and PDF files for Intel reference motherboards, you'll notice a very specific memory compatibility guide. Additionally, they are designed to work within very specific guidelines and nothing more (this means they're designed to run stock and not be overclocked or hosed around with for a long time.) I use them exclusively for that reason. I hate to use a car analogy, but they're pretty similar to German cars. They'll run for a long time, but you'll have weird issues with them in between, especially when you try to make them perform outside of their original specifications. In my personal opinion, anyone that chooses to build a machine with an Intel reference board should use reputable, brand-name components that have been around for a long time. Research is important as well (get the right memory, make sure your video card fits properly, etc.)

PUBLIC TOILET fucked around with this message at 16:22 on Jun 26, 2011

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PUBLIC TOILET
Jun 13, 2009

Lum posted:

Actually modern BMWs and Audis are really easy to overclock. For many of them you just need a BIOS flash.

True, and then the check engine light will come on a couple months later. :ughh: I went through two Audis and a VW in my lifetime. Not much has changed in the way of immediate reliability from my personal experience. But the previous poster was right, let's chat about AMD's bleak future in the desktop processor market now and what technologies they have available! :allears:

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