Anand: On Barcelona

[Periander]

Uh-oh

http://www.anandtech.com/tradeshows/showdoc.aspx?i=3002

Speaking of AMD, we were originally hoping as many others that Computex 2007 would have been the launch event for Barcelona and Agena. Unfortunately, this will not occur and the best we can hope for at this time is a Barcelona release in the latter part of Q3 at best and Agena following up in late Q4 or possibly sliding to Q1 2008 based on recently received information.

In fact, although we have seen DVT level chips running up to 2.3GHz, we understand there might be another silicon spin (maybe more) of Barcelona that is due later this month. If this occurs, then current rumors swirling around the trade show floor about the mass availablity of product not occuring until the fourth quarter might just be true. At this time the motherboard/chipset companies are in the process of locking down their designs and optimization of the BIOS for performance is just starting. Our early first looks at application benchmarks show a great deal promise for this processor series but nothing overwhelming or very exciting at this point in the game. We, as others, are hoping for some serious competition from AMD as this is good for the market whether you are an Intel or AMD fan. Let's just hope the Barcelona/Agena series performance comes up to speed quickly (along with supply) or AMD is going to be in real trouble heading into the critical Q3/Q4 buying season.

 

[r0ck]

Your 2nd block of text is rather....wordy.

Our early first looks at application benchmarks show a great deal promise for this processor series but nothing overwhelming or very exciting at this point in the game.

Yawn?

 

[BaronMatrix]

Your 2nd block of text is rather....wordy.

Our early first looks at application benchmarks show a great deal promise for this processor series but nothing overwhelming or very exciting at this point in the game.

Yawn?


And that is possibly the most ambiguous statement I've ever read.

 

[r0ck]

Sorry, let me translate for you. The first block of text conveyed the message of "Computex was supposed to be launch (release) of Barcelona but it seems delayed". The 2nd block was just a mess of messages. So I just a certain statement of particular interest to me, and yawned that after months of AMD "blowing away Clovertown", Anandtech guy is not impressed.

 

[Wombat2]

Until some integrator with a Barcelona sample leaks some benches, Barcelona isnt even on the retail horizon.

I am going to laugh my ass off if Penryn launches before Barcelona.

Desktop K10s certainly look to be a pipedream for 07.

 

[Periander]

Your 2nd block of text is rather....wordy.

That's why I put the link to the article there. I suggest checking it out. Quite a bit of interesting stuff that I didn't quote.

Yawn?

I thought the 2nd block of text's mention of a possible respin at this late date, and possible lack of availability till Q4 more interesting than the (meager) performance hints (I threw that part in too just because it might be of interest to some who want to speculate about it). A delay because of another respin would fit in with the Cray warning yesterday btw.

 

[dean7]

Interesting. Man this is a crappy time to be a fan of AMD. 🙁 🙁

 

[TechnologyCoordinator]

Desktop K10s certainly look to be a pipedream for 07.

Agreed.

 

[dean7]

Nice avatar. 😀

 

[rationality]

Looks like Fudzilla is smoking an extra large amount of crack today if Anand's post is correct:

An industry source has confirmed that K10, Barcelona CPU will start shipping in late July. It will ship with the leading servers and it will be called Opteron 2200 series.

The CPU is sampled, up and running at the press time and we’ve seen it. The server CPU comes first and it will be followed by the end of Q3 by Phenom FX a 1207+ socket based high end desktop chip.

There will be more about Barcelona, stay tuned, as the CPU is real and it is showcased at the show.

As an AMD shareholder I find myself in the odd position of pinning my hopes on a fudzilla story, it's a sad day indeed.

 

[TechnologyCoordinator]

Nice avatar. 😀

lol. I don't know who originally had it, but I vow to keep it until jack comes back. My last avatar was even awesomer though.

 

[Wisecracker]

Did anyone read where the Intel X38 chipset would debut without SLI and operate "at or above 60c" ?

60C is 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Ouch.

I like the idea that rd790 and Barcelona would launch at the same time but I hope when they say *Q3* it's July - not September.

we understand there might be another silicon spin (maybe more) of Barcelona that is due later this month.

The motherboards and chipsets to support this new processor family are starting to take shape but they are far from optimized at this point with early production level silicon just now being made available for the various suppliers who will offer products at launch. Our first look at the RD790 . . .

 

[Wombat2]

Barc shipping in July?

We're one month away and there hasnt been one credible benchmark official or leaked :roll:

Fudzilla's track record makes the Inq blog look like the Washington Post.

 

[dean7]

Nice avatar. 😀

lol. I don't know who originally had it, but I vow to keep it until jack comes back. My last avatar was even awesomer though.
Haha. Pretty soon every single person on the forumz will have a "Jack: Come Back!" avatar besides Baron.

Oh well.

 

[TechnologyCoordinator]

I like the idea that rd790 and Barcelona would launch at the same time but I hope when they say *Q3* it's July - not September.

With the way AMD has been launching the last year if they say Q3, they mean the paper launch will happen at the VERY VERY end of Q3, and you'll get volume shipments sometime midway through the next quarter.

AMD LAUNCH TRANSLATION
Q1 Launch = Midway through Q2
Q2 Launch = Midway through Q3
Q3 Launch = Midway through Q4
Q4 Launch = NEXT YEAR

 

[BaronMatrix]

Interesting. Man this is a crappy time to be a fan of AMD. 🙁 🙁

How can you be a fan of a company?

 

[TechnologyCoordinator]

Interesting. Man this is a crappy time to be a fan of AMD. 🙁 🙁

How can you be a fan of a company?

Did YOU really just say that? The the queen of all fanboys.

 

[BaronMatrix]

Nice avatar. 😀

lol. I don't know who originally had it, but I vow to keep it until jack comes back. My last avatar was even awesomer though.
Haha. Pretty soon every single person on the forumz will have a "Jack: Come Back!" avatar besides Baron.

Oh well.

Read your quote from me and perhaps my feelings on the matter will be come apparent.


O topic though, Barcelona is up and running at Computex and Fuad quoted an industry source as saying that major server vendors will get them in "late July."

The usual grain of salt included, though it still seems like what AMD has been saying all along. Sampling in June, shipping in July, systems around August.

 

[BaronMatrix]

Interesting. Man this is a crappy time to be a fan of AMD. 🙁 🙁

How can you be a fan of a company?

Did YOU really just say that? The the queen of all fanboys.

I'm not a fan of car dealers either but I am a BUYER. I've said before that I've had both and went with AMD because of all the FUD about how AMD wasn't stable enough.

Kind of like what you say.

 

[NMDante]

Well, if the respin of Barcelona wasn't bad enough (I am not sure if it will cause a delay, though - depends on how much has to be redesigned), the paragraph below it states that there may be issues with the release/introduction of HD 2600 and 2400.

it appears the upcoming product release of the HD 2600 and HD 2400 video cards from AMD/ATI are in a bit of trouble at this point.

After the UVD thing, I don't think AMD/ATI needs another R600 fiasco on their hands.

Although the motherboards are being shown, which is a good sign, but lacking final silicon, those same motherboards might have to be re-worked, depending on changes to final spin/stepping.

 

[commanderspockep]

Interesting. Man this is a crappy time to be a fan of AMD. 🙁 🙁

It's a crappy time to be a hardware enthusiast right now, period. AMD fan or not.

 

[dean7]

Interesting. Man this is a crappy time to be a fan of AMD. 🙁 🙁

How can you be a fan of a company?

Did YOU really just say that? The the queen of all fanboys.
Seriously. That's priceless.

And don't be an idiot, Baron. You can be a fan of a company just like you can be a fan of a baseball team.

fan 2 (fân) Pronunciation Key
n. An ardent devotee; an enthusiast.

Source: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fan

So if you are an ardent devotee or enthusiast with regards to AMD and/or their hardware, you are a fan. Can you really be so dim?

 

[dean7]

Interesting. Man this is a crappy time to be a fan of AMD. 🙁 🙁

It's a crappy time to be a hardware enthusiast right now, period. AMD fan or not.
True enough. But I think the C2D was exciting news for enthusiasts for a while. Especially the E4300 (the new D805... hehe).

 

[BaronMatrix]

Interesting. Man this is a crappy time to be a fan of AMD. 🙁 🙁

How can you be a fan of a company?

Did YOU really just say that? The the queen of all fanboys.
Seriously. That's priceless.

And don't be an idiot, Baron. You can be a fan of a company just like you can be a fan of a baseball team.

fan 2 (fân) Pronunciation Key
n. An ardent devotee; an enthusiast.

Source: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fan

So if you are an ardent devotee or enthusiast with regards to AMD and/or their hardware, you are a fan. Can you really be so dim?


How many baseball teams are there? How many CPU companies are there?

When you buy a VCR do you care if it's Sony or Panasonic?

So, no I am not an ardent devotee, I have two choices, I chose AMD.

 

[dean7]

Interesting. Man this is a crappy time to be a fan of AMD. 🙁 🙁

How can you be a fan of a company?

Did YOU really just say that? The the queen of all fanboys.

I'm not a fan of car dealers either but I am a BUYER. I've said before that I've had both and went with AMD because of all the FUD about how AMD wasn't stable enough.

Kind of like what you say.
First off, if you want to use car dealers as an analogy it would more closely match CPU dealers such as Newegg, not CPU manufacturers.

And with regards to car manufacturers, I believe you when you say you're not a fan. But that doesn't have jack to do with CPU manufacturers. So, what did you manage to prove? Nothing.

Name one person on these forumz that has said that AMD "wasn't stable enough". I don't think that's a real issue. In corporate environments that have been a fear back in the day, but that's because in corporate environments if buy a server with non-industry-standard hardware and that server has problems (even if it would have with the industry-standard hardware) people might think it was because of a poor purchasing decision. So, people usually just go with the safest route. Of course these days most data centers have tons of AMD cpus in them so it's not a big deal. So, I don't think that's a valid thing to be complaining about.