Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Paul Engel who wrote (70859)	9/3/1999 10:47:00 AM
From: Rob Young	Respond to of 1574493

Rob - re: "So.. maybe they will clean up critical paths and get Merced to 1 GHz late next year... but will Athlon still only be at 1 GHz in copper? " Paul: <Athlon ISN'T at 1 GHz and it ISN'T in COPPER.> Correct.. but this is all about futures. In a sense the Merced talk at IDF was just that.. samples available, production late next year.. boxes by Christmas 2000? Since Intel is selling futures, why can't we sell Athlon futures? <Sure - try stringing 64 Athlons together in an SMP server - or 256 - or 512.> Very narrow market ... no one (OS ready) for such a beast. Certainly not Win64 next year. Certainly not Solaris. Sun is interested in selling UltraSparc III on follow-on to UE10000. Would you suggest Linux is the OS that will be running on a 512 processor Merced box? If so, then why? Why not run it on a much higher performing Alpha box? After all, Linux is responsible for shipping quite a few Alpha boxes today. Linux hasn't had much impact on Merced sales. Monterey? Okay. I am sure IBM will be pushing that real hard, will it be ready? Which application? SGI's Irix? Nope.. not ready. But out of them all this is the most needy. I think Merced will be faster than MIPS but hey, a Pentium II is almost faster than a MIPS chip. Question: Tell me which OS will be shipping on a 64, 512 processor Merced box late next year and I might accept your premise. I don't think there is such an OS. <Once again, AMD's advantage will be that it is CHEAPER than Intel.> Different this time. Cheaper months before Intel ships and far faster on IA32 binaries. It is almost as if Intel needs something magical to ensure Merced boxes take off.. Rob