Re: I guess AMD isn't executing FLAWLESSLY any more.
Well, it's pretty clear they're leaving money on the table when it comes to top binsplit Athlons. AMD was really worried about P4's release and set Athlon prices in the expectation that P4 would perform decently on actual programs (as opposed to synthetic benchmarks) and that demand for P4 would be fairly strong. AMD was probably expecting the kind of upside performance surprise coppermine provided.
The actual release of P4, of course, revealed a chip hard pressed to compete with 1GHZ Athlon or P3, much less a 1.2GHZ part. So those prices AMD set for 1.1 and 1.2GHZ parts turned out to be way too low, and AMD can't supply the quantities demanded at those prices.
Oh well, at least they aren't sitting on fast depreciating inventory (like certain competitors). The sad part of the story is that demand for the poor P4 (at its current prices) seems to have been heavily impacted - with the competition pricing against the expectation of a much higher performing part, P4 has a tough row to hoe in the marketplace.
Wasn't P4 going to boost demand for RDRAM way up? What's with this info from Anandtech?
demand for DDR SDRAM is high and it is a brand new technology, while RDRAM has been out for more than a year and demand is still very low. More importantly is the fact that DDR SDRAM is a fundamentally similar technology to SDR SDRAM, so it has quite a bit more backing and prices will drop as production/availability increase.
anandtech.com
and this:
Meanwhile, signs are growing that the Pentium III at 1GHz is already being discounted in the run up to the price cuts. This page at Tiger Direct shows the firm is currently offering the processor, bundled with 128Mb of RDRAM and a VC820 mobo for less than $500.
theregister.co.uk
AMD was realistic about demand, priced its parts well, and sold them. I think Intel is sitting on a lot of inventory. AMD goes into January with the excitement of everything in its mainstream line moving to 266FSB - AMD 760, VIA KT133A, SiS 730s, ALi Magik all support the new speeds). Intel has the very costly but mediocre performing P4 and the tired old P3 line.
Global computer has two low end systems on sale today:
A 566MHZ celeron for $399 and a 533MHZ K6-2 for $699 (both from compaq and the K6 system includes enough additional features to pretty much make up the price difference). Remember a year and a half ago, when Celeron could compete with just about anything AMD could make?
Times change.
Dan |
