Nicely timed. Already purchased new mobo to upgrade server - 940 looking good.

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It's to bad they can't get the L3/Memory controller speeds running faster by default I think that would help performance quite a bit.

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still will wait for the next gen amd at 32nm to bother making a major upgrade. If the price is right I may get a p40 to play with but not going to build a new PC for it

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In a rich man's house there is no place to spit but his face.
Diogenes Of Sinope

I don't think PII's will be much of a threat to Core i7s, since they are still clock-for-clock slower than Penryns in the Core 2 brand. However, the end of the AnandTech article suggests that Intel may respond in the short-term with a price drop of their quad cores to force PII to compete with higher performing Intel parts.

Up through the 80386 and maybe the 80486 basic clock-for-clock comparisons were valid because the AMD parts were licensed (and litigated) copies of the current Intel architecture.

Things diverged dramatically with the Athlon and Pentium, with "equivalent" Intel parts frequently running at twice the clock speed.

If you need an analogy, think of two cars: in one, the engine produces lots and lots of RPM, but not a lot of torque, and the other has lots of torque, but a very low red-line.

With the right gear ratio, both cars can spin the tires at the same speed.

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Up through the 80386 and maybe the 80486 basic clock-for-clock comparisons were valid because the AMD parts were licensed (and litigated) copies of the current Intel architecture.

Nope. The 8086 was definitely licensed to AMD. The 80386 was definitely not licensed to anybody. That was the great divide.

I don't recall whether licenses for the 80186 and 80286 were either offered or taken up, but the word in the press and inside the company was that Andy Grove drove a stake in the ground with the 80386 saying "no more".

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Quite an interesting set of benchmarks tests for the Phenom II directly compared on clock speed to others.

Looks like AMD are giving Intel a good race. The question is whether AMD can ramp up their clock speed and fab to jump Intel's next offering...

Happy crunchin',
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Quite an interesting set of benchmarks tests for the Phenom II directly compared on clock speed to others.

Looks like AMD are giving Intel a good race. The question is whether AMD can ramp up their clock speed and fab to jump Intel's next offering...

Happy crunchin',
Martin

Thanks for the link, Martin. Appreciated. At only £233, it is sorely tempting for me, but I'm wondering, might it be worth waiting a couple of months for the AM3 boards?.

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... At only £233, it is sorely tempting for me, but I'm wondering, might it be worth waiting a couple of months for the AM3 boards?.

Very much so but how long do you want to wait?

I've some AM2+ systems that might get a CPU upgrade later this year. Otherwise, AM3 is the more obvious choice.

The run-off this year between Intel and AMD is going to be rather interesting.

I'm still AMD for the time being for better data throughput. Number crunching is secondary.

Then again, just add a GPU or few if you want a numbers beast!

Happy crunchin',
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Quite an interesting set of benchmarks tests for the Phenom II directly compared on clock speed to others.

Looks like AMD are giving Intel a good race. The question is whether AMD can ramp up their clock speed and fab to jump Intel's next offering...

Happy crunchin',
Martin

lol ... on AMDZone ... duh!

Quite an interesting set of benchmarks tests for the Phenom II directly compared on clock speed to others.

Looks like AMD are giving Intel a good race. The question is whether AMD can ramp up their clock speed and fab to jump Intel's next offering...

Happy crunchin',
Martin

lol ... on AMDZone ... duh!

Compared to the £800/£900 cost of the i7 965, I tthink it will give Intel a run for it's money.

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There are other options then the cut down Q9300 AMDZone used and the Core7i. Those chips are faster then Phenom II.

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There are other options then the cut down Q9300 AMDZone used and the Core7i. Those chips are faster then Phenom II.

That maybe, but price & value for money are also 2 important options for many people.

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And with the expected price cuts from intel in a week or so it will probably change the field a bit.

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And with the expected price cuts from intel in a week or so it will probably change the field a bit.

If they drop the price of the i7 to match the 940 or near enough, then it'll be an Intel for my next build.

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The Q9400 is already as faster in a number of benchmarks and the Q9550 wins about all of the tests. There isn't even a need to get the Core7i to be faster then AMDs best. The Core7i's prices will not be dropped because there is nothing competing against them.

A list of expected new pricing for the Intel quads.
http://www.techreport.com/discussions.x/16237

If this information is accurate, AMD will in all likelihood have to follow suit by slashing Phenom II prices. The Phenom II 920 and 940 Black Edition are currently priced slightly higher than their respective Intel rivals, the Core 2 Quad Q8300 and Q9400. AMD would have to drag both of its CPUs down around the $200 mark to stay competitive.

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The Q9400 is already as faster in a number of benchmarks and the Q9550 wins about all of the tests. There isn't even a need to get the Core7i to be faster then AMDs best. The Core7i's prices will not be dropped because there is nothing competing against them.

yeah, the PHII doesn't stand a chance against a Q95xx, not even to mention the i7.

I just wonder what kind of marketing gag the numbers on the new phenoms are... 920,940... kind of makes me wonder if this is just to scam potential customers by deliberately making it look like it could actually compete with an i7 920,940 etc...

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Join BOINC United now!

Im just happy about the fact that I dont need to buy a really pricy board and ram to be competitive.

Quad core intel to an i7? New pricy board and ram. 478,775,lga1366
Dual core amd to a quad core? New chip. AM2+

Backwards compatible is nice.

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Well the price drops hit today, so unless AMD cuts prices as well it looks like it is a direct competitor in price to the Q9550 now.

http://www.techreport.com/discussions.x/16254

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Looks like AMD just dropped prices as well, 940 is back to about par with the Q9400. That didn't take long :)

http://techreport.com/discussions.x/16257

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Looks like AMD just dropped prices as well, 940 is back to about par with the Q9400. That didn't take long :)

http://techreport.com/discussions.x/16257

Looks like AnandTech had it right!

the end of the AnandTech article suggests that Intel may respond in the short-term with a price drop of their quad cores to force PII to compete with higher performing Intel parts.

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