Replies to post #42729 on Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD)

[wbmw]

Duke, I've heard it multiple times on the Inquirer, so take it with the appropriate amount of salt. Here's one:

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=16868

There was one casualty of note here. Abhi knifed Bayshore in favour of other projects. In case you are not following the unreleased IPF chipsets as closely as the rest of us, Bayshore was the follow up to the 8870. This Itanium chipset was meant to update that long in tooth architecture to many more modern features, perhaps even to give it feature parity with Xeons. Whatever the checklist said, it was meant to carry IPF to Tukwilla, which will have a very different architecture and support mechanism.

This hole is, in my opinion, huge, and will have a possibly devastating impact on the whole IPF ecosystem. Remember, it was just a few short months ago that Intel was talking up a storm about 533 and 667 MHz busses for Itanium. Notice the deafening silence now? Bayshore was the vehicle for that transition, and now it is gone.

I have to agree somewhat that a cancellation of Bayshore could be devastating to IPF's mainstream ramp. It wouldn't hurt the high end ramp, however, since OEMs will be using their own chipsets. I guess it all depends on where Intel sees IPF over the next year or so, when Montecito launches.