On Fri, 31 Jul 2009 08:46:53 -0600, rms wrote:
I built my current computer in the beginning of 2008. I went to New
Egg today and I was very impressed with their new Phenom II cpus. They
have pretty much every power feature you could want. So have they
restored their reputation with gamers?
It's clear that intel cpus, especially the latest i7 or whichever
cores,
are dramatically faster than any amd offering. That being said, amd's
newer cpus are 'fast enough' for most people -- and most gamers -- fast
enough that other factors like disgust at intel's predatory marketing
practices, nostalgia or inertia, will keep people buying amd. This
includes me.
I agree. I have been using AMD since the K6 days. It has always offered
a better value for me than Intel solutions. I'm not an overclocker or
modder and don't care about having the absolute fastest system
available. I just want a well-priced, well-performing, and reliable
system.
One of the things that Intel's been doing recently, which really bugs me,
is dividing up certain new features simply for market segmentation
purposes:
* Want hardware virtualization? I do so I can run Windows efficiently
under Linux. Some Intel CPUs have it and some don't (http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_vt-
x#Intel_Virtualization_Technology_for_x86_.28Intel _VT-x.29), even when
they're based on the same core... you have to pay more to get this
relatively straightforward feature.
* Want x86_64? I run Linux and have 5gb of RAM. Some Intel CPUs do it,
some don't (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
X86_64#Intel_64_Implementations). Notably, none of the Atom N-series
CPUs support x86_64 (the ones used in netbooks).
* Want DVI or HDMI output on a low-power Atom system? Tough luck! As
far as I can tell, all of the Atom chipsets only have VGA output, because
Intel doesn't want to cut into its pricier offerings. I would like to
build a compact, low-power media center. Atom seems to fit the bill
since you can get a motherboard, processor, and case for $100 these
days. But none of them have DVI or HDMI output. (I would love to be
proved wrong on this!)
To be fair to Intel... I *do* really appreciate the forward-thinking
stance they've adopted in terms of making open-source drivers available
for their graphics adapters. Open-source Linux drivers for Intel
graphics are way ahead of ATI and especially NVidia as a result.
However, AMD has been doing the right thing recently and releasing docs
for their ATI GPUs, so ATI drivers are catching up fast.
Dan