AMD QuadFX Reviewed!

eascarface · 30-November-06, 01:07 AM

Quote:


	AMD's new dual-socket Quad FX platform abounds with ironies. Once the purveyor of "Cool 'n' Quiet," the company's reference system is one of the noisiest PCs we've had in our labsÃ‚â€”and that's with Cool 'n' Quiet and BIOS fan control enabled. Until Intel shipped its Core 2 line of processors, AMD touted its lower power capability, but the 4x4 (AMD's code-name for the platform) eats nearly 600W at full loadÃ‚â€”and that's with only one graphics card. AMD is launching new CPUs, including a new speed grade, but the underlying platform technology is more interesting than the processors. On top of that, AMD is touting Quad FX's capabilities under Windows Vista, for some good technical reasons. But those same reasons make it a somewhat anemic performer under Windows XP. Another irony is the underlying platform itself. Quad FX is built on Nvidia's 680a core logic, which gangs two Nvidia MCPs together to support the dual sockets. After acquiring ATI Technologies, AMD still finds it dependent on one of ATI's competitors to stay in the game. And if the ironies weren't enough, there are the contradictions. The twin CPUs, which will be shipped in pairs, are aggressively priced. For example, two 3.0GHz FX-74 processors will cost $999 for the pair. When asked about the possibility of shipping a single 3.0GHz processor for its socket 940 platform, company spokespeople acknowledged that the product mix hasn't been fully fleshed out. So you can buy a pair of 3.0GHz, Socket 1207 processorsÃ‚â€”the same socket used for Opteron server CPUsÃ‚â€”for $500 each, while a single Socket 940 Athlon 64 FX-62 running at 2.8GHz will set you back about $700. Still, the platform itself is intriguing, and we spent a little quality time with an AMD reference system. Our primary goal here is to check out how the paired FX-74 CPUs perform relative to the competition. We'll examine the goals for the platform along the way. Continued...

Link

Poor AMD.

IcEMage · 30-November-06, 07:56 AM

What are they thinking.......

They seem to be getting off track...err way off track, looks like they did this just to fill the gap from now till they launch their quad core chips, but if this is any indication of what those chips will be like, the future for amd looks grim.....

and damn almost 600W with only one video card

30-November-06, 07:56 AM	#2 (permalink)
IcEMage Apex Tech God Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Hoe'cala FL Posts: 2,334	Re: AMD QuadFX Reviewed! What are they thinking....... They seem to be getting off track...err way off track, looks like they did this just to fill the gap from now till they launch their quad core chips, but if this is any indication of what those chips will be like, the future for amd looks grim..... and damn almost 600W with only one video card __________________

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