AMD Responds!

With nothing, unfortunately. I finally managed to get hold of their local representative. This is what she could only tell me :

Benchmarks are not available for dissemination yet. She is still trying to obtain confirmation from global HQ for their release date. Once she gets the information she will release the information to you prior to the date. Sorry about this but this is the best we can do at the moment.

It sounds as if AMD has the benchmark results but they have not been given permission (by HQ) to release them. I'm just wondering, if not now, when??? The launch date is fast approaching. Surely AMD would want to entice some folks into waiting for the Barcelona processors, instead of buying Intel Core 2 processors. Unless...

AMD's bizarre behaviour could be explained if we consider the possibility that the elusive benchmark results are so bad that AMD cannot release them without starting a riot within their fanbase and shocking their investors into a selling panic. Now, that is something to think about, isn't it? Tell us what YOU think.

If that is really the case, I wouldn't be surprised if they never release benchmark results at all. Or at least, benchmark results pitting Barcelona processors against Intel's Core 2 processors. At the very most, they will only release benchmark results comparing the Barcelona processors against their predecessors, the Athlon X2 and Opteron processors; and hope that you will buy the Barcelonas just based on those results.

What George Says

Let's hear it again from George Ou of ZDNet about the performance of the AMD Barcelona :

I can tell you right now that 2.0 GHz Barcelona will be disappointing compared to Intel Clovertown 80 watt E5335 or the low-voltage 50 watt L5335 2.0 Processor. It will likely be a little slower even at the same clock speed at 2.0 GHz for SPECint_rate2006. It will dominate the two socket space for SPECfp_rate2006 and based on numbers they posted at the analyst conference, the Barcelona 2.0 GHz quad-core in a dual-socket configuration will even beat an Intel 3.0 GHz quad-core Clovertown dual-socket server.

So its floating point will be VERY impressive but it will be a disappointment for integer where most of the server market cares about. Barcelona will not overtake Intel at the same clock speed until it gets to 2.6 GHz but that's a LONG ways off since it takes a good deal of time to ramp a chip from 2.0 GHz to 2.6 GHz and you probably won't see 2.6 until Q2 2008. Time is something that AMD does not have with the onslaught of Intel Penryn coming most likely in November.

He also has this to say about the recent reports of AMD running a Phenom X4 processor at 3 GHz :

The problem is that anyone can cherry pick a chip and crank it up. Intel was showing off 3.8 GHz Core 2 quad-core chips in Fall 2006 IDF and they were showing off 4 GHz dual-core Core 2 Duos all running on Air cooling. Even the enthusiast sites in 2006 had independent full suite of benchmarks at those cranked up clock speeds.

But what does that prove? Nothing! Getting a sample to run at high clock speeds is easy. Getting a consistent percentage of chips to run that fast at a profitable yield within the allowable TDP is a whole different story.

If George's analysis is right on the spot, then it really makes sense for AMD to keep mum right up to launch date. All they have to do is fend off our pesky requests for information until launch date. Then they will have a much better chance of selling these processors before the actual benchmark results hit the market. Tell us what YOU think.

Questions & Comments

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