Full text of message from deja news board
Intel has tens of thousands of very smart, very hard working people, and a handful of creeps are going to destroy the company's reputation and put at risk a terrific business. It's a real shame.
x38.deja.com
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Subject: Re: Sharky - Biased review of Intel i820?
Date: 1999/10/05
Author: Dean Kent <dkent@realworldtech.com>
Posting History
Chris Robato Yao wrote in message <7te6sa$61r$1@brokaw.wa.com>...
OK - I am going to eat a little bit of crow here on one issue.
After our lengthy discussion, I called AOpen to ask some very specific questions - and got a few interesting answers...
1) They could not figure out exactly what the problem was with their board. They found that it would simply crash after a short while. They did not investigate using the VIA SB chip. Interestingly, I found the same problem with the SD11, until I added some cooling onto the NB chip, and then it was very stable.
2) They are making no Athlon board right now - not for OEMs nor retail. They don't have any solid plans for one anymore either.
3) In August, there was a little pressure from Intel to keep manufacturers from making Athlon boards - but it has been steadily increasing. This is where I will have to change my vote from previously. The explanation is that since the BX/ZX chipset has been contrained (due to Intel slowing down production, with plans to stop production in Q1 '00), Intel has begun using it as leverage to punish those who make non-Intel based boards. Since the i820 was going to replace it, most manufacturers expected to be able to use that chipset in place of the BX (about 70% to 90% of all board sales are BX boards, depending on manufacturer, according to AOpen). When the i820 was pulled, manufacturers were left with *only* the BX chipset as their choice through the Xmas season. Now, nobody wants to piss off Intel, and Intel is using it to it's fullest advantage.
Based upon this info, I have to admit that this may be the reason that Gigabyte and GVC are not marketing their boards anymore, rather than strictly chipset issues (though AOpen says those do exist). Here is the telling comment.. I asked "If you knew for a fact that every Athlon board you made would sell, would you make one now despite the pressure from Intel?". The answer was "No - we don't know the future of the Athlon, and to piss off Intel at this time would be suicide".
A different source (financial analyst) told me yesterday that his information says that AMD claims Intel is using scare tactics on manufacturers. He also said that while the board manufacturers are denying this, they all are saying they won't have an Athlon board until Q1 '00 - suspiciously close to when the BX chipset will be gone anyway...
4) The AOpen rep said that rumor had it Dell had made 20,000 i820 based systems, and other OEMs also had large amounts when the plug was pulled - and Intel will not reimburse *anyone*. They were lucky, he said, because they were just about to start production of 1000 i820 boards when the earthquake hit. Other manufacturers had already started production, and now they are sitting on worthless junk...!!!
Whew! Intel is not making any friends, but there does not seem to be any immediate threat to their dominance, unfortunately.
On the matter of why Gigabyte and GVC are not actively marketing, I will have to prepare for a meal of crow and admit that the stability issues may not have been their biggest concern. In the words of the AOpen rep, Intel is extremely fearful of the Athlon...
Regards,
Dean
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