[Beowulf] PCPro: AMD: what went wrong?

[Christopher Samuel]

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Interesting article on why AMD has been on the back foot.

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/features/372859/amd-what-went-wrong/print

[...]
Yet comparison is inevitable ? and not very complimentary. Our review
concluded that ?Intel still holds all the cards?, with pricier AMD FX
processors delivering benchmark scores synonymous with Intel?s
mid-range Core i5s. The verdict was unanimous; our sister title
bit-tech dubbed the FX-8150 a ?stinker?.

Light was shed on Bulldozer?s problems when ex-AMD engineer Cliff
Maier spoke out about manufacturing issues during the earliest stages
of design. ?Management decided there should be cross-engineering
[between AMD and ATI], which meant we had to stop hand-crafting CPU
designs,? he said.

Production switched to faster automated methods, but Maier says the
change meant AMD?s chips lost ?performance and efficiency? as crucial
parts were designed by machines, rather than experienced engineers.

AMD?s latest chips haven?t stoked the fires of consumers, either.
Martin Sawyer, technical director at Chillblast, reports that ?demand
for AMD has been quite slow?, and there?s no rush to buy Bulldozer.

?With no AMD solutions competitive with an Intel Core i5-2500K?, he
says, ?AMD is a tough sell in the mid- and high-end market.? Another
British PC supplier told us off-the-record that sales are partly
propped up by die-hards who only buy AMD ?because they don?t like Intel?.
[...]


- -- 
    Christopher Samuel - Senior Systems Administrator
 VLSCI - Victorian Life Sciences Computation Initiative
 Email: samuel at unimelb.edu.au Phone: +61 (0)3 903 55545
         http://www.vlsci.unimelb.edu.au/

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