Previews - Gigabyte A75-D3H 'AMD Llano' board hands-on

[HEXUS]

An AMD Llano APU board goes under the spotlight.

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[momoma]

Even if AMD's Llano proves to be better technology or differentiated technology, it is doubtful that OEMs will dare to line up to use it and risk Intel's monopolistic wrath.

The last time I checked, it was revealed (through court evidence) that Intel was bribing and threatening Dell, HP, IBM and others billions of dollars (6-billion in Dell's case) to limit their use of AMD's products - to keep AMD's market share under 5%.

So, unfortunately, it seems that business success will depend less on innovation and more on coercive (and at least slightly illegal) business practices? Still, though, Llano will at least compel Intel to engage in faster innovation and lower prices. AMD might not benefit from Llano due to Intel's unusual tactics, but customers will.

Keep in mind that European investigators discovered (through actual Swat style raids) that Intel was bribing retailers to not stock AMD products.

Now, if that is how things work with Intel, why would anyone sell Llano?

[Anosh]

Even if AMD's Llano proves to be better technology or differentiated technology, it is doubtful that OEMs will dare to line up to use it and risk Intel's monopolistic wrath.

The last time I checked, it was revealed (through court evidence) that Intel was bribing and threatening Dell, HP, IBM and others billions of dollars (6-billion in Dell's case) to limit their use of AMD's products - to keep AMD's market share under 5%.

So, unfortunately, it seems that business success will depend less on innovation and more on coercive (and at least slightly illegal) business practices? Still, though, Llano will at least compel Intel to engage in faster innovation and lower prices. AMD might not benefit from Llano due to Intel's unusual tactics, but customers will.

Keep in mind that European investigators discovered (through actual Swat style raids) that Intel was bribing retailers to not stock AMD products.

Now, if that is how things work with Intel, why would anyone sell Llano?

Which year are you in?

It would seem things have changed since the allegations and investigations you mention since it's been a while all that happened. Either I'm out of the loop or OEMs actually do stock AMD products when they're competitive. It's just that AMD is falling so far behind in manufacturing (size) that the products don't seem as good as Intels.

[watercooled]

Intel got massively sued by AMD for their tactics, and rightly so. And if you believe the fanboy speak then you'd assume Intels products are somehow better. However, if you actually take the trouble to do some research of your own you'll find for a given price you often get more for your money with AMD, especially mid-range stuff and their current Thuban chips offer exceptional value for money, especially for multithreaded apps that can take advantage of all 6 cores. And they're not 'so far behind' - yes, they are on 45nm but as I've said before and will say again they are just numbers, AMD have refined the 45nm process so it performs better than Intel's previous 45nm process. I could also say that AMD have only just needed to switch to high-k dielectrics on their 32nm chips whereas Intel have needed to use it since 45nm to control leakage. There is also the whole SOI vs CMOS thing but I'm just throwing words up, my point being it's all irrelevant - performance and price matter. And something people often forget to factor in is the platform cost - Intel motherboards tend to be more expensive for some reason and you need to use low-voltage DIMMS with Intel which are generally more expensive.

[The Hand]

I'm wondering if there is a 45w/energy efficient desktop Llano APU in the works.. say a modern equivalent to the Athlon II x4 610e. Its not far fetched idea, since a very similar chip will be coming out for the laptop market. If it does emerge, it would be awesome for a near silent small form factor build.

[scaryjim]

I'm wondering if there is a 45w/energy efficient desktop Llano APU in the works...

I'd be amazed if there wasn't. As you say, there will be laptop Llano chips, based on very similar silicon, at below 45W. Whether we'll get a quad core desktop Llano for 45W I don't know, given that the quad core parts have much beefier GPUs incorporated (the low power quads might end up at 65W, like the low power Phenom IIs), but I'd be surprised if there wasn't at least one dual core APU at 45W - which isn't bad when you consider that the chip will be the equivalent of an Athlon II X2 and a HD6450 rolled into one...

[cjs150]

" if you actually take the trouble to do some research of your own you'll find for a given price you often get more for your money with AMD"

Agreed

I would much prefer AMD to an ATOM for a low powered HTPC, even the new i3-2100T is not as good a platform (admittedly due to intel graphics not being up to job rather than processor)

If you have the need for 6-8 cores AMD makes for a very cost efficient choice.

But sadly in mainstream desktop market AMD is struggling