PB,
<Fortunately, the PPro core looks like it'll scale something like 5-6X its original clock speed, [Will the K7 scale to 3 gig ;-)) and still be competitive with the K7 platform in performance. >
Competitive, like the K6-2 and K6-3 were with their Pentium equivalents. Not, much money in being compeititive, if you havne't noticed. The money is in being a leader.
<Also, Intel has not diverted any attention from it's manufacturing machine or its process R&D. Like it or not, these are pretty powerful competitive weapons that are hard to ignore.>
Agreed! this continues to be the bright spot.
<I also don't take as lightly all of the OS and OEM support for Merced as you seem to. I also do not discount the funding Intel is putting into platform development. >
Actually, I do not take it lightly at all. The support Intel has gained so far for IA-64 is nothing short of remarkable. However, I have seen many in the industry trying unsuccesfully to introduce a new instruction set and the odds are definitely not favorable. (even Intel had a preety high profile failure - remember?). If you doubt me, I suggest that you (or anyone else) post how many high profile new instruction sets were created over the last 20 years and see their relative market shares.
<If AMD embarks down the 64 bit path, will you levy the same criticism on AMD relative to diverting attention from their crucial K6/7 market?>
If AMD does x86 extensions, I will praise AMDs management for having the common sense to go down that path. If they go down the Alpha path, I will bw luke warm. If they go down any other path, I will probably codemn them to being a trading stock for ever.
Also, I do not think that there is a K6/7 market. The market is for running increasingly complex and power hungry x86 instruction set compatible applications.
<Why would they need to do this, if 64 bits is going to be a bust?>
Who is saying 64 bits is going to be bust? Actually, 64-bits got a fast track to success due to the boom in WWW.
<If AMD does do 64, how do you see AMD driving their new 64 bit platform?>
If it is x86 extensions, then the evolution will be natural. The question then becomes, how soon will Intel follow AMD into that market. If they do Alpha, it will be a uphill road. If they do anything else, it is like p*****g in the ocean.
PB, it occurred to me that you never presented your thoughts on why Intel is so far behind on its next generation core. For the record, Intel does a new x86 core roughly every 3 years. Now, the best case situation looks like it will be 5.
Chuck |
