No DDR2 until 2006...

Chip firm AMD appears to be re-thinking its attitude to sockets when it introduces desktop dual core chips - which might not come until the very end of next year or perhaps even 2006, according to reliable sources.

According to those motherboard partners of AMD, it wants to avoid manufacturers having to re-tool too much when it launches dual core chips for desktops, but it is considering a pin out of 942 or 941, the sources said.

AMD has had a lot of stick from its partners during 2004 over the shift to 939 pins and the simultaneous existence of 754 pins and 940 pin Athlon 64s. This didn't make life easy for them - and that's somewhat understating it.

Meanwhile, it could well be that AMD doesn't implement DDR2 for its processors until 2006 either, by which time DIMMs at 667MHz will be widely available and also affordable.

And AMD is, at the highest level, determined not to beat Intel over the head with processors that outperform the chip giant's offerings. It will gauge the release of future processors to maximise profits rather than to rub Intel's nose in it.

This might be good news for AMD shareholders, but won't necessarily please anyone else in the food chain.

Meanwhile, a page on the AMD web site gives a clearer idea of how far the firm has migrated its products away from .13µ (micron) technology to the newer 90 nanometres process. Here.


Source : TheInquirer

Oh, no! Not another change to amount of pins for CPU socket!
I've already lost, when it becomes to choosing next MB upgrade...

(in reply to SiliconFreak)

Dont worry...like I said...those pin numbers and stuff are constantly changing...its up to each person to decide which is the best option when he/she decides to upgrade or buy new stuff...what I think is...that soon (or even today) isnt worth to upgrade anymore...or to buy some i.e. motherboard with some support for upcoming CPU's and other modules - by thinking "Oh...I could buy new CPU later and have best results again"....forget about that....because till then...everything else on that motherboard wont be that fast anymore to keep it up with (at that time) new products.... So by my opinion...it is always best to buy some upper-middle class products (so you dont spend all fortune on them)...have them for some 2-3 years(if lucky enough) and then replace them completely with new ones....

(in reply to Cooler)

So... is it Socket 939 way to go, as S940 is surely not? Or S754... or...
It's nice to have options... but this load of hard choices is killing me!

Oh, wait... is that so bad thing after all?

(in reply to SiliconFreak)

Dont know right now...I am not in the process of upgrading my MB...so it doesnt matter to me...and when the time comes...I'll just take some 2-3 days to think all over and calculate everything up...and go to store and buy it...without ever looking back...

(in reply to Cooler)

Maybe I should just play cheap and only get better Socket A CPU...

(in reply to SiliconFreak)

Dont be so saddddddd......I mean...why not?...check out the the fastest CPU that Your MB support and go for it...in that case You would save some money (cause You wont need new MB)...and maybe invest it in buying some Seagate external drive with 200+GB...)...

(in reply to Cooler)

Whoopie, they're strting to think like Intell, keep changing things so we constantly have to do a complete upgrade rather then just get a new chip, then not release the greatest cpu right way to milk the old ones :(
I've been thinking of getting a 64 but with this socket crap it's hard to say what to get now.
The 754 is fast and cheap, the 939 is some what the future but much more money.

(in reply to SiliconFreak)

Yes, Dartman...exactly...

And You said 754 is fast and cheap? Well...I agree with the latest (that its cheap)...but fast...no no no...maybe we all "think" its fast (that goes to all CPUs&MBs not only socket 754)...because we havent seen something REAL FAST yet... The problem is...that those improvement of maybe 10% or so...arent BIG DEAL... My point is that if they only wish...they could release some CPUs that would be like 100-200% faster (or more)...but their strategy is...rather slowly advance in this area (and in meanwhile keep telling customers about how hard is it to make them, how "fast" those new CPUs are and other crap) and earn much more $$$ this way... I.E. Dont You remember how they were saying a while back about how 90Nm technology will make CPUs sooooooooooo fast......and what we got?..."maybe" to be little less power hungry (or sometimes they even consume more than older ones!)...and in speed...they gained like I said..."MAYBE" 10% or less...so whats great about that? I dont see a single good point here!? (and they are also more expensive - maybe this is the greatest achievement > but they didnt advertised that to their customers ).

See Ya in the next war generals...

*SF OUT*

(in reply to SiliconFreak)

Yeah, they keep trying to play the game with memory too. Oh theres a shortage, ooops price is up, no there's not, then people quit buying so price is forced to drop. Then they change the architecture so you gotta buy new, better, memory,...... for more money..., plus a new board and chip to support it. Luckily sometimes it backfires, remember RDRAM
When I started memory was around 100 a meg, and 20 meg HD's were rare and expensive. I'm sure they are trying to get back there again but it wont happen now

(in reply to SiliconFreak)

Hi!

Again I totally agree...

The point is (my personal opinion)...that people wouldnt have nothing against all that "fast technology changing"...if only there were some TRUE ADVANCES seen in all that (100%+ in speed gains and so on)... Because to change architectures and say how faster and better will everything be...and then only deliver maybe 5-10% gains in speed and everything...I just think it isnt worth it (at least from users side of view - I know that from makers of motherboards, memory and other components its right the opposite!)...because then You have to change all other components also...just to be compatible with "new stuff"... Its neverending story like I said awhile ago... (They play with us like fools - at least with majority - they cant fool me...... - and like You said....first there are shortages...then there are not...etc etc...sucks...)

I remember good old days with 286,386 and 486...when there were only 1 socket...(on 286 or 386 you mostly couldnt even change the CPU and stuff)...also only 1 (maybe 2 or 3 at max, if we count older 36 and 72 pin ones also) memory socket - so You almost couldnt buy wrong ram for Your computer....also there were only 8 and later 16bit ISA ports...then VESA-LOCAL-BUS for graphics....and that was it.... I just wonder why cant they unite the standards today, so that there would be less incompatibility and other problems!? And also...this just came on my mind right now...why cant they develop some "universal motherboard"...where almost all components, bios, north&south bridge,sockets,expansion slots,etc etc...would be detachable somehow...and could be later upgraded with new ones... We could compare that to a phone line...some 5-8 years ago they were saying (in the years of ordinary modems) that 56Kb (and later 64Kb) is the fastest to go thru it...and then they discovered ISDN....then DSL,....etc etc...so the speeds increased over 100 times....WITHOUT physically changing wiring or anything (still works thru good old copper wiring)...and i guess that those speeds will increase over 10x (or more!) in near future without changing the wiring! They could take this as example for new architectures and other stuff...but then again...they WOULDNT EARN AS MUCH AS THEY DO NOW if the things would move in this direction...so I guess we wont see that in our lifetimes....


Take care and good luck to all of You!

Crazy days are ahead...


*SF-OUT*

(in reply to Dartman)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Dartman
The 754 is fast and cheap, the 939 is some what the future but much more money.

Unless I find new GFX in a few hours, I out to get S939-based MB and CPU.
Either way, I'm getting even small upgrade now... unless meteor strikes me?

(in reply to Dartman)

Eventually I'll probably get a 754 based board unless prices drop a bunch soon on a 939. My old athlon 1800 + 1533 cpu just cant keep up with my new hdtv card when I'm capturing at dvd quality and the board has audio noise in the capture too.
Maybe a X-mas present for us
I know a 64 will be significanlty faster then my little cpu, but not quite the jump I saw going from a 386 to a 486 and like that, but who knows.
As SF as said it's just not the quantam leap I used to get back in the ISA 16 bit days.

(in reply to Cooler)

Jumping from AMD XP 1700+ (1.5GHz) with 1GB RAM running 133 (266) to AMD64 (S754) 3000+ (2GHz) and running RAM at 400MHz can surprisinly(?) be seen at daily usage, so I'm not completely unsatisfied with my upgrade...

(in reply to Dartman)

Yes I agree that it sure is faster (running programs and everything else on AMD64 3000 than on XP1700+), but not thattttt much faster as someone might expect from numbers...its not 80% faster (as numbers suggest us)....maybe up to 50-60% depending on which programs or games we compare...but then again...for someone who was familiar with XP1700...the speed jump might be seen as quite impressive.... The same story continues with running ram on 266 or 400 Mhz....sure is faster....but......but...how fast really is fast???

The old days of miracles are over...at least they want us to believe that...so that they could make big $$$ from 5-10% performance increases rather than make same profits from 50-100% increases (which they could easily achieve today...but...they dont want to!)...

Dont worry...be happy...New Year Is almost here....


p.s. Cooler dont worry...this AMD64 sure is great CPU...also for gaming and stuff...and for some 200$ Canadian...also very affordable one...You did great deal with buying this one...now just go 4 the GFX...and Your upgrade mission ends...well for at least year or two...and then...story continues...buy buy buy...upgrade,upgrade,upgrade...HAHAHAHAHA....neverending story...

Best wishes 4 everyone...

Bye.

*SF-OUT*

(in reply to Cooler)

I'd like to turn off that useless "CPU thermal throttling" from BIOS... but taking it out makes 'puter unbootable... and requires CMOS clearing.

Oh, my upgrades are not over even after GFX card! After that I need HD space, etc.

(in reply to SiliconFreak)