Rich said:
If you want to argue, speak to the magazine editors. According to
them, banks
of Opteron-powered servers (in one case, 3000 of them at one company)
are driving
the business.
The majority of animation studios in Hollywood have converted to HP
workstations using AMD Opteron processors.
The reasons are quite simple; the new Opteron based workstations perform at
or above the level of the workstations they replaced (such as Silicon
Graphics), they are a fraction of the cost, and they are much more
upgradeable and scalable than the workstations they replaced.
Intel has fallen out of favor for several reasons. First, Intel does not
make a processor that can compete with the Opteron on a "bang for the buck"
basis. The cost of an Intel based workstation of less power is quite
significantly higher than say an HP 9300. The cost per hour to operate and
cool the Intel is also significantly higher.
What is driving the shift is that AMD makes a fast, efficient easily
upgradeable platform, while Intel continues to build their workstations the
way they always have, which means they are not easily upgradeable, and they
are much more costly than AMD.
Personally, I commend AMD for the strides they have made. While Intel huffs
and puffs and continues to churn out the same old stuff, AMD has quietly
implemented new technology that provides real world benefits.
Bobby