CNET dual-core CPU "prizefight"

  • Thread starter Thread starter Yousuf Khan
  • Start date Start date
I'd always thought the issue for Dell was that AMD couldn't manufacture
enough of their CPUs. I'd heard the problem was that Dell produces so many
systems that they could take all of AMD's production and that wouldn't be
enough.
 
I'd always thought the issue for Dell was that AMD couldn't manufacture
enough of their CPUs. I'd heard the problem was that Dell produces so many
systems that they could take all of AMD's production and that wouldn't be
enough.
Click to expand...

Maybe AMD has not enough output for Dell's Celeron-class volume.
However, AMD can package enough [dual]cores into 940 to cover all of
PowerEdge volume, and then some, without squeesing any existing
customers, leaving some remaining [dual]cores to package into 939 -
enough to cover the whole XPC line.

;-)

NNN
 
Check out these results. The results speak for themselves.

CNET prizefight: AMD vs. Intel dual-core CPUs - CNET reviews
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-10442_7-6389077-1.html?tag=lnav
Click to expand...

They should of added power usage and CPU temps too :), I just upgraded
to a X2 4200+, amazing how cool it runs and the whole system at idle is
only using 117W, with CnQ enabled it drops to 71W! Compared to the s754
I just upgraded the X2 system is using about 60W less at idle without
CnQ enabled.

With 2 copies of Prime95 running, (most power usage setting) one copy
per core, it peeks at around 205W.

Ed
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I'd always thought the issue for Dell was that AMD couldn't manufacture
enough of their CPUs. I'd heard the problem was that Dell produces so many
systems that they could take all of AMD's production and that wouldn't be
enough.
Click to expand...

HP and Dell have basically the same volume (give or take 5% on any
given quarter). HP has had little trouble getting sufficient volumes
of AMD chips, so why should Dell be any different?

As usual, the answer is that Dell (both the man and the company) are
just feeding a nice easy line that doesn't tell the real story. I've
managed to gain a bit of an insight into the behind-the-scenes
workings of the computer industry of late, and I've learned an
important characteristic about both Dell and about HP. In the case of
HPaq the one thing I've learned is that no one seems to know what
anyone else in the company is doing. The one thing I've found about
Dell is that what they say in the media and what happens in reality
usually have little in common with one another.

Dell has some good (and some bad) reasons for not using AMD chips, but
manufacturing capacity is NOT one of them.
 
HP and Dell have basically the same volume (give or take 5% on any
given quarter). HP has had little trouble getting sufficient volumes
of AMD chips, so why should Dell be any different?

As usual, the answer is that Dell (both the man and the company) are
just feeding a nice easy line that doesn't tell the real story. I've
managed to gain a bit of an insight into the behind-the-scenes
workings of the computer industry of late, and I've learned an
important characteristic about both Dell and about HP. In the case of
HPaq the one thing I've learned is that no one seems to know what
anyone else in the company is doing.
Click to expand...

HP was always a highly divisionalized company - kinda like a wannabe
mini-IBM; also, traditionally, companies which valued OEM resellers & ISVs
as part of their business model had to present an image which did not
threaten those important 3rd parties. Some of those divisions, dating back
to the days of minicomputers, have faded way, or, as in the case of
Agilent, been spun off but the corporate culture has stuck to a certain
extent. At one time they had at least three separate divisions making
PC-type devices targeted at different vertical sectors - they used to
exhibit at conferences separately.

During the darkest days of the Carleton era I suspect that they came very
close to a spin-off/management buy-out of the printer division... something
I would not totally rule out even now.
The one thing I've found about
Dell is that what they say in the media and what happens in reality
usually have little in common with one another.
Click to expand...

Has DFS gotten over its hump of bad rep yet? They came pretty close to a
legal catastrophe there AIUI.
Dell has some good (and some bad) reasons for not using AMD chips, but
manufacturing capacity is NOT one of them.
Click to expand...

I think the problem for Dell with AMD is that the CPUs they covet, for
servers, are the ones which will hurt their relationship with Intel the
most. I find it hard to believe that Intel would put up with Dell selling
Opterons into the high ASP sector while at the same time allowing Dell to
dump low-end Intel CPUs in desktops. It breaks the Dell-Intel equation.
 
HP was always a highly divisionalized company - kinda like a wannabe
mini-IBM; also, traditionally, companies which valued OEM resellers & ISVs
as part of their business model had to present an image which did not
threaten those important 3rd parties. Some of those divisions, dating back
to the days of minicomputers, have faded way, or, as in the case of
Agilent, been spun off but the corporate culture has stuck to a certain
extent. At one time they had at least three separate divisions making
PC-type devices targeted at different vertical sectors - they used to
exhibit at conferences separately.

During the darkest days of the Carleton era I suspect that they came very
close to a spin-off/management buy-out of the printer division... something
I would not totally rule out even now.
Click to expand...

It was rather interesting that one of the last things that Carly did
was to merge the PC and printer divisions into one. And one of the
first things that was undone after she was unceremoniously booted was
to unmerge these two divisions!

FWIW there have been some positive rumblings in this regard since Mark
Hurd took over, though it's way too early yet to know if it will
translate into anything meaningful.
Has DFS gotten over its hump of bad rep yet? They came pretty close to a
legal catastrophe there AIUI.
Click to expand...

I'm not too sure, I don't see that side of things too often. All I
remember of it is a few articles I read back when the whole class
action suit came out some time back.
I think the problem for Dell with AMD is that the CPUs they covet, for
servers, are the ones which will hurt their relationship with Intel the
most. I find it hard to believe that Intel would put up with Dell selling
Opterons into the high ASP sector while at the same time allowing Dell to
dump low-end Intel CPUs in desktops. It breaks the Dell-Intel equation.
Click to expand...

The other obvious market for AMD chips in Dell products is their XPC
desktops (ie their "luxury" line of high-end PCs). Again it's
substituting high-end/high-cost Intel chips for AMD ones.

At the low-end it kind of makes less of a difference who's processors
you are using. If you're looking at a Celeron 2.8GHz vs. a Sempron
2800+, it's pretty much a toss-up when it comes to performance and
both chips cost less than $50 (for Dell that is, not for you or I). A
savings of $1 here or there or a performance difference of 5% isn't
going to matter much to most of the customer's buying these systems.
 
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