Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD)

[winemkr]

Asus goes out on a limb on AMD64 technology

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=16863

Can Intel put the genie back into the bottle?

By Mario Rodrigues: Monday 28 June 2004, 07:39

ANOTHER BANNER ad, this time courtesy of mega-motherboard manufacturer Asus, provides another intriguing story. This follows Sun’s "in-your-face" banner ad campaign for its AMD Opteron based server, which clearly spelled out the server’s performance advantages over its Intel Xeon based competition.

Asus USA’s banner ad links to a marketing page that could prove controversial for the board maker. The page headlines: "Powering the Best Motherboards Available", which then follows with AMD, VIA, and Asus logos.

In the first section, the first sentence of the second paragraph really nails the flag to the mast:

"AMD's AMD64 technology delivers the best performance available for today's 32-bit applications while providing a growth to even higher performance 64-bit software."

Asus goes on further to say:

"Together AMD, VIA, and ASUS have created motherboards that have the distinction of being praised by top reviewers and selected by the world's top gaming system builders."

Intel won’t be pleased to read that sort of language from a tier one motherboard manufacturer, especially Asus, but benchmark results and review verdicts attest AMD64’s overall performance advantage.

Asus also says:

"A leading class processor needs a superior chipset as a foundation. VIA's K8T800/K8T800 Pro chipsets with Hyper8 technology is an ideal platform for AMD's Athlon™ 64 and Athlon™ 64 processors. The K8T800 enables an unparalleled range of cutting edge I/O and multimedia features, including an optimized high-speed 1.6GHz HyperTransport Bus Link."

Via will be pleased to have that kind of limelight, but there are still those chary of Via motherboards. Nevertheless, if Via is able to maintain the standards that it has set with its AMD64 chipsets, by the time AMD’s K8 replacement chip debuts, that attitude should be well and truly buried.

The rest of that page goes on to promote Asus’ top three AMD64 motherboards for socket 754, socket 939, and socket 940 platforms, which are all VIA powered. Asus describes its new socket 939 based A8V as "The New Performance Champion".

Asus steps on the Tiger's Tail
Taiwanese motherboard manufacturers are normally muted when it comes to promoting AMD processor based motherboards, as they're very dependent on the chip giant for chipset and processor support when developing Intel based products. They understand the ground rules. They won't be in Intel's good books if they step out of line, which could be bad for business. So Asus' forthrightness in its marketing literature is surprising.

Up to now, Intel has pretty much had tight control over the Taiwanese motherboard manufacturers, so Asus’ action will be seen as stepping beyond the mark. If Intel isn’t able to put the genie back into the bottle, the other Taiwanese board makers may gain confidence and follow Asus’ example, which would be an interesting development.

Nvidia can’t be happy with the status quo
With all the bells and whistles that Nvidia’s late arriving second generation nForce3 core logic brings to the table, the chipset vendor has to feel a little frozen out by Asus. Nvidia only has two nForce3 based motherboards in Asus’ seven model AMD64 line-up - the rest being VIA based. It’s worse though at Abit - no AMD64 offerings in its four model line-up. So Nvidia’s late arrival with a competitive chipset looks to be costing it dear again. To gain the mindshare advantage that it currently has in the socket A space with its nForce2 platform processors, Nvidia will have to add a performance edge to its feature set advantage, which would truly differentiate its offering.

Intel has a plate full of problems
As Nvidia works to garner more design wins for its nForce3 core logic, it can be thankful that it doesn’t have the challenges that are on Intel’s plate. With the chip giant’s socket 775 platform receiving a cool reception from some, Intel has an uphill battle to win hearts and minds. Issues associated with that platform include thermal and supply issues with Prescott, the high cost of DDR2 memory, motherboard manufacturer socket 775 concern about potential mainboard returns because of bent processor socket pins, partner concern over the BTX platform, and a recall issue with ICH6 south bridge based motherboards. Taken all together, this doesn’t make things rosy for Intel at all. With all those issues on Intel’s plate, the chip giant's dual core processor platform can’t come soon enough.

One has to wonder why Asus has spoken so frankly in its marketing material. Could it have anything to do with the issues that are on Intel’s plate? The Taiwanese motherboard/infrastructure companies have no doubt told Intel what they think. Maybe this is Asus just publicly venting its frustration; or could it really be putting its customers who buy its products first? µ