AMD delaying quad-core Phenom 9700 and 9900 once again? UPDATE: AMD says everything's on track
By Nilay Patel 
posted February 8th 2008 1:41PM
posted February 8th 2008 1:41PM
Update: We just got off the phone with AMD, who told us that they're actually ahead of schedule on the "B3" Phenom silicon, which fixes that buffer error without requiring a new BIOS, and that they expect to ship higher frequency quad-core Phenoms in Q2 as planned. They would not, however, give us model numbers or clock speeds, and wouldn't commit to a date in Q2 -- so don't be surprised if these hit as the 9750 and 9950 on the last day of Q2 after all.
[Thanks, Mack S.]
[Via X-bit Labs]
Nice picture! AMD should use it in their marketing campaigns lol
Intel should start providing engineering support to AMD - it would reduce the risk of AMD going under and Intel being subjected to a monopoly investigation...
Damn. Soon its going to be just.. Intel and Intel. who as we all know have at least 30 years worth of tech boxed up and ready to be put into mass production, over the past few years AMD have forced them to occasionally skip one or two cycles of 'filler' technology which is basically a crippled version of something they invented in the early 90's.
Most of intel's R&D spending probably goes to finding ways of crippling more advanced technology and presenting it in such a way so that it doesn't appear crippled. yea Intel probably has a few quantum processors lined up but first they are going to bore us with the Core 3 Duo and Core 2 Trio and the likes so they can spread it out over as much time as possible
Yeah, I am actually afraid that if AMD were to go under that intel would have no reason to up the ante anymore, and would basically just do what they were doing pre-amd64 days- putting out the same chips with tiny incremental clock speed changes and making us all pay for it and limit other technologies to their will.
I think it would just be best if AMD were to all of the sudden start doing really well. It's not like it would do very much financial damage to intel because of how deep their pockets are and how widespread their chips are in the electronics industry. WE THE CONSUMER need AMD to do well so that prices come down, and new technologies and efficiencies are introduced in the heat of competition.
I agrees with Organic_Shadow, we (the customers) need AMD to do well in order to counter-balance Intel's monopoly in computer chip market.
@cellular. Then a lot of people need to ante up and buy AMD machines... I just bought an AMD based laptop. Any other takers?
Unfortunately a quick search of Dell seems to indicate that you can't get an AMD powered Dell any more, not that I would ever recommend anyone buy a Dell, but for a company their size to stop offering AMD processors is gonna hurt AMD
No kidding. Intel was just putt-putting along until the Athlon 64 came around and demolished P4. And boy, did they. That was brutal. These things happen in cycles- Intel is ahead for this cycle.
The difference, of course, is that Intel had been around for long enough that they had the piles of cash to weather the beating they were taking. AMD, on the other hand, does not, as far as I know. I think that the Phenom is getting an amount of bad press that is not exactly fair- in order to really school the Phenom, you're looking at a MUCH pricier Intel chip.
I do think that AMD still has the technology advantage- HT 3.0 is a screamer, and although the intel's use less power and run cooler, it's because intel has the money on hand to suddenly switch out to a 45nm process. I hope AMD can handle this, but I think I will build my next system on and AMD (again) since they do keep prices down for all of us, and they keep technology driving forward, which a company, left to itself, has no reason to do.
@JD: you don't need to go too far up the Intel range to start handing out beatings...
'The Core 2 Quad Q6600 is around 6% faster than the Phenom 9900, 10% faster than the Phenom 9700, and almost 16% faster than the Phenom 9600 which is its closest price competitor throughout the rest of 2007.' - http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=3153&p=6
Ok, it's a little old now but highlights AMD's woes in great detail.
@CraigJ: I just bought an all AMD/ATI lappy as well,(Gateway T-1625) it's kind of nice to have 0 Intel content in this new machine... but I'm not giving up my Q6600 desktop any time soon.
It's not looking good for AMD. Remember the Cyrix 686? When they first came out, their chips were faster and cheaper than Intel chips. Very quickly, they became nothing more than inferior products.
Then AMD came out. Same thing but they lasted much longer. For many years they've always had superior chips when compared to similarly priced Intel chips. The smart money was always to go with AMD (as long as you weren't stuck with some crappy mobo chipset like the early ones from VIA).
All that changed when the Intel Core 2 came out. Intel released a superior product that AMD cannot match. Being "almost as fast" isn't going to cut it unfortunately. The underdog competitor has to have a superior product. Not something people settle for in order to save a few bucks. I'm a bit worried this may be the beginning of the end for AMD. Combining this problem with the terrible ATI deal (ATI also now suffering inferiority issues to Nvidia). Maybe IBM will get back in the game.
@Spyvie. I don't have any problems with intel, just in that particular case AMD made more sense because of the price and use of the machine.
@Sean. Almost as fast is fine if it's half the price...
2G of Ram, a 250G HDD, ATI X1270 graphics, a 14” screen and a DVD burner for $650... I've owned my AMD lappy for about 3 weeks now and I couldn't be happier with it.
The newest ATI cards are more than adequate competition for Nvidia, especially for the money and especially in crossfire.
Rumors of AMD's demise may be greatly exaggerated.
I am beginning to think Phenom was the wrong name for these chips....
They are less than Phenom-enal, har har har har har.....
*votes self down*
Try Phenom-anal, because that's how their investors are taking the news.
I can safely say that my confidence in them hasn't been improved, but then again maybe this only works on their fanboys.
Should we be too surprised? No, I don't think so.
Dangit! I want to build a new PC this month but now Intel doesn't have the pressure to lower their prices or release new chips that I've been waiting for. I'm so very dissappointed!
Asus P5N-MX? that's cheap.
Hey, we're all dissapointed. If we wait we'll get better stuff but until then we get to feel like crap while our friends buy q6600s and 8800GTs. They can't delay them forever right?
Oh AMD, why hast thou forsaken us? You once were an unshakable juggernaught...but you got too confortable. You got too used to kicking the stuffing out of anything Intel had to offer. When they had something better and released it, you had been resting on your laurels and had nothing that came even remotely close. I love AMD, and have always used their stuff...but you are getting harder and harder to stay with.
http://www.livingwithanerd.com
Unfortunately I just built a new rig, so it will be a few years before I do again, but if AMD are delaying because they feel that the current chips wouldn't be fit for purpose they should be commended and not derived, if only all companies would wait for the product to be operational. Unless AMD are lying, and they are stalling for time, but I have faith in them as a company.
There's a slight difference between choosing to delay production because you feel your product wouldn't be as good as it could and being forced to delay because your product is flawed.
AMD haven't chosen to do this, they've been forced to - there was no way AMD would choose to delay the launch of their high-end quads any more than they already have been, they're already getting beaten up and down by Intel.
I disagree. The way I see it, AMD has pulled resources off their normal CPU R&D and is deep in the lab creating a new CPU-GPU integration that will blow all of our socks off.
There is no other explanation for why they haven't released a new line of chips in nearly 2 years. I don't think the Phenom line should count as anything.
Companies can't keep secrets nowadays. Bloggers find things through leaks - then leaks get confirmed - then the companies have 2 options, announce the product or have thousands of bloggers and sites online term their products vaporware. There's really no way to win than to make 100% absolutely sure that whatever you're developing works, which doesn't always work that way.
I really hope that AMD gets back on their feet. An intel only world would mean $400 dollar core 2 duos and 700 core 2 quads - not to mention stagnant technology. We all know how this business works, we've seen it before.
No I don't want them to just start shipping the stuff if it's not working good. That's what's wrong with half the crap we get today. It should not be released until they get the bugs worked out.
If it was a flaw that wouldn't cost them more than they were making it would be out on the market already. The fact is it's a major flaw that would have the majority if not all these chips going back. That's not customer service it's just pure business.
I am a big fan of AMD, I know they have lost there way abit in the last year or so.
Lets hope the Phenom cpu is all its cracked up to be? I am not so sure.
Brian
http://www.britec.org.uk
Erm, all it's cracked up to be? We already have benchies on it. Intel's core 2 Quad Q6600 outranks even the fastest Phenom.
- JM.
Dang, the engineers who messed up that buffer are probably in really hot water right now...
Anyone remember the Pentium floating point bug? If AMD is willing to take the hit from the blogs and the boards to prevent a simular happening on their watch,I'm all for it.
I have confidence in AMD's ability to fail.
Thats disappointing.
I have had my Phenom9600 for almost two months now, and I love it. I have had great performance and stability all around.
Yes, I know there are Intel chips that are better, but they arent true quad core, nor could I really afford much.
Yet another sign of the end for AMD. I remember AMD had previously said that they would have 45nm cpus by the seccond half of '08 but at this rate intel will already have its 32nm out before they release anything new.
Great, now when are the Yorkfields going to be pushed back to? I wish AMD could get their sh!t together so Intel has a reason to ship the Yorkfields and drop the prices on the older quads. However as it stands Intel has no incentive to do so and can keep shipping the old stuff at the same prices.
45nm quads will eventually come, but until then they can just keep pumping out Wolfdale chips to keep the 45nm lines rolling. The option of 1 or 2 dies to a package has to be one of the smartest things Intel has done. The flexibility in their product is great for them, but can also be bad for the consumer like the current situation.
I hope they don't get pushed back! I need to build a new computer soon and I was relying on the Q9450.
Man AMD needs to come out with something good so Intel and real competition. Monopoly is NOT our friend.
so Q4 for the 9755 and 9955?
Reminds me of the last time AMD munged it up... The K5, in 95/96. It was at a much smaller scale, so the stakes were tiny in comparison, but all the pieces are the same:
- Reasonably good, budget predecessor
- delay, delay, delay
- Poorer-than-expected performance when finally released
AMD is doing nothing but going downhill lately.
The sad part is that the failures of AMD are in large part to the decisions of their CEO, who i might add they have not fired yet after dropping the ball time and time again. I dont know what fairy dust Ruiz is sprinkling on those Board members to make them forget but its working.
And you guys saying Intel will get investigated for a monopoly need to read up on the laws. You cant get investigated because you release a better product and your competition goes belly up. You get investigated for doing morally wrong or illegal things to force competition to fail. Like if tommorrow Intel cut the price on all their procs by 50% and started selling them at a loss just to force AMD out that is something you get in trouble for.
Overall the Phenom is exactly what the photo shows. Epic Fail. Not only is it not even comparable to current Intel products, its been pushed back, i think this is the 3rd or 4th time now. Intel has its 45nm processors ready to roll with 32nm coming next year and they will just continue to dominate AMD.
With Intel's Larrabee project having so much potential they could potentially give AMD/ATI the final knock out punch when they release their new codename Larrabee(wiki it) graphics card in 2009.
I too have just purchased an AMD-Based lappy. Its the Compaq F750US (AMD X2 TK-57 based) and with the exception of Windows Bitchsta, love it!! Not to mention it was only $500. It compares nicely to my X2-4800+ based desktop. I have always been a big fan of AMD and honestly hope they can turn this around.
I'll believe it when I see it.
http://packratstudios.co
actually, i'm looking forwards to the faster Phenoms. about the only processor intensive things i do much anymore is video compression, and with x264 it's highly competitive to the Q series C2D (C4D?) for slightly cheaper (i think i calculated 10% cheaper for a 4% decrease in speed), if Anandtech's benchmark setup is to be believed. Slightly less important is distributing computing (mainly just a heat-creator in the winter for me). Last of all in importance is gaming performance, as i've pretty much drifted away from games sadly, with WoW keeping me tided over til MGS4 and GT5...