Replies to post #16899 on Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD)

[Petz]

The french x86-secrets site says that Paris is based off the K8 core minus 64-bit. If 64-bit is really 100% eliminated with no possibility of changing it back to 64-bit by shorting a bridge or some such thing, then why wouldn't AMD just continue making Athlon XPs?

How small could a 256K L2 K8-based chip be? 110mm? OK, then it makes sense as a K7 replacement. It should outperform it because the integrated memory controller. But why disable 64-bit? Even if motherboards for Paris chips are incapable of having more than 2G or RAM, the AMD64 compatibility is still important so that the chip can run 64-bit windows and gain the additional processing speed for 64-bit games, video editing applications and the like. "Compatibile with Windows XP 64" should be a big selling point, even if no one ever plugs in more than 32-bits-worth of RAM.

OTOH, if a K8 256K L2 chip cannot be made that small, then why not just continue the Athlon XP?

Petz

[UpNDown]

blauboad, on Athlon-XP versus Celeron

Should be a slow weekend, let's see if I can stir up another PR debate :)

You can see what's happening now with the Athlon XP competing with Celeron instead of P4. The clock to PR pricing is identical, even though the XP is clearly superior. Now, if there were a value line like Duron, Athlon XP prices might have held up much better against P4.

How's this for a marketing strategy?

1) AMD announces that henceforth they consider Athlon-64 as the competitive product positioned against Pentium 4. Athlon-64s will be marketed with a PR rating equivalent to the GHz of a similarly performing P4, with the addition of 64-bit capability. Ratings will be in the form "3400+P" (P for Pentium 4).

2) Henceforth, Athlon-XP will be positioned against Celeron. The PR rating for Athlon-XP will be adjusted to match the GHz of similarly performing (or extrapolated) Celerons. The Athlon-XP 2500+, for instance, will be renumbered the Athlon-XP 3000+C (with "C" implying a Celeron-type rating, the 3000 a WAG for competitive match).

AMD announces this and lets the fur fly.