Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD)

[chipguy]

Taking away the northbridge makes the whole design simpler - and the whole product more reliable.

Important item for a server, don't you think?

Perhaps for a third tier server OEM wannabe. But from the
perspective of a first tier OEM like IBM, HP, Unisys, and
SGI this is a major disadvantage because it limits the
ability to achieve product differentiation by innovation.
It is no accident that IBM, SGI, HP and others have their
own chipsets for IPF that have unique capabilities and
feature sets for their intended markets rather than use
Intel's own 8870 chipset. Intel realized that it had to
leave room for OEMs to differentiate their products to be
able to sell IPF against proprietary RISC processors. OTOH
AMD targets lowest common denominator commodity SHV
model, not high end RISC. Different market, different needs.