AMD reveals 'Spider' platform
For the wicked gamer in your house
AMD is introducing its 'Spider' high-end gaming platform today, one week after Intel released its 45nm 'Penryn' processors.
It's the official outing of three new products under the Spider moniker: AMD's Phenom processor, the company's RD790 chipset and a pair of graphics cards. None of this is a secret, though. We've known what the package would hold since October.
Spider is based on AMD's quad-core Phenom X4 processor — the 9600 (2.3GHz) and 9500 (2.2GHz) chips. It's equipped with the Socket AM2+ interface and rests on a HyperTransport 3.0 bus. The processors are available now for $283 and $251 respectively, although in 1,000 unit pricing.
The platform includes the new HD3800 series graphics cards, formerly code-named RV670. This one is cheating a bit, as AMD officially launched the GPU last week as the Radeon HD3850 and 3870. The 3850 clocks inat 670MHz with 256MB of GDDR3 memory, while the 3870 runs at 775MHz with 512MB GDDR4 memory.
Check out our nitty-gritty details on the cards here. The 3850 begins at $179 and the 3870 begins at $219.
Rounding out Spider is the 790 FX motherboard chipset. The board features four PCI Express 2.0 x8 slots, HyperTransport 3.0, and support for 1066MHz DDR 2 memory. ®
COMMENTS
ok not clever
but why go and buy something inferior just because they actually have marketing? you wouldnt would you. and id be very suprised if you bought something without reading up on it right?
all im saying is that for the price for performance this a is a fantastic set of graphics cards. i expect the cpus to drop in price or they will seriously tank. but hell its the cheapest quad core on the market so for domestic use. why not?
i will buy the best i can afford at the time. no offence but sod brand loyalty im getting my monies worth.
Clever Marketing
Well i don't know about anyone else but I've yet to actually SEE an AMD advert? Those damn blue Intel guys were everywhere at one point, you can hardly pick up a gaming magazine without it telling you it's best viewed with nVidia hardware.
When it comes to what machine I'll buy next, I'll do my homework on the net then go see if I can actually buy the damn stuff. Last time I bought hardware I didn't buy cutting edge Intel OR AMD because there just wasn't any, I got a lower range Intel Core Duo and a really cheap (really happy with it too) motherboard out of a whole list of things I'd gone out looking for.
As for graphics.. I'm sorry but I am an nVidia fanboy. I game a lot and my games tell me to run nVidia because. I have no complaints whatsoever. Seriously nothing against ATI but why bother when what I have works and has gained my trust?
It's hardly clever marketing when it's telling the truth now is it? "our product is better than theirs".. oo clever..
Response
I dont consider myself misinformed or lacking understanding, but i take things for what they are, i dont see the top of the range model think wow thats amazing then go and spend my money on lesser model without research as im sure you dont either. If you do you are truly a fool.
End of the day i dont care who has the performance crown, i care what i can get for my money, i cant afford a grands worth of PC every year so why bother. I stick to midrange as do many many others. such as the previous guy who mentioned a crossfire setup for dirt cheap money.
There is a flaw in his argument as obviously crossfire and Sli dont generally scale well and lots of games dont make much use of the second card.
What im saying is that there is a lot of comments from people that theres no reason to buy and AMD. yes they are "generally" lower in performance however its always worth weighing up pro's and cons to any purchase generally i have found AMD machines to be great little machines which are cheap to build when you factor in motherboards (although i have to say recently theres some great budget boards for intel). Im sick of people who rag a product instantly because they dont do any research and generally its by the same narrowminded people who bash vista for no good reason having never tried it. (YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE)
The 38xx series is a brilliant performer for the price. thats fact. Its cool, thats fact. and it SOUNDS as though it will be in good supply. yes the 8800GT is a very good card, but with stock problems and such a variety in prices causes issues.
Amd cannot perform in the high end. im pretty sure they know that, but isnt this how AMD started out? they were the underdog, but suddenly stomped on Intel. Its a battle which keeps going, its going to keep going for a long time. Intel may have dirty tactics and may start annoying people with changing chipsets but at the end of the day i rarely upgrade my machine, i will usually rebuild. which means trauling through review after review finding the best for my money. WHICH IS 3870 at the moment (dont go blabbering on about the 8800GT because a graphics card is only good if you can actually buy one and use it)
the 8800gt is a paper launch from nvidia to steal some spotlight. hell if they can get them in stock i will happily retract this statement, but 90% of shops have sold out of them.
im not trying to be an arse i promise. but read my oriignal post, its regarding domestic markets, not entusiasts so water cooled machines dont really apply to the domestic market. as for my original graphics comments i stand by them. i will never buy a processor just because a company makes the best one ever!!? think about it do you? if you do then you are nothing but a victim of clever marketing.
Wow... fan boyism.. and AMD is gonna die... sigh.. sad.
I have a 3870... Yeps.. and i'll buy a couple 3850s to round it out when I get my new board.
FYI: My $219 CDN 3870 OC's easily ( beautiful temps at 55% fan speed) to 855 core, and 2600 mem (1300 x2). With this and my dirt cheap $65 x2-3600, and $70 biostar tforce 7050 mobo, I run at 3040mhz , and pull over 11000 in 3dmark 06. I managed to pay my rent back when i had to sell off my C2D oc'd to 3.1ghz, 7900gt, etc (months ago) and purchase my current box sans video card.
Holy price difference batman!
I can buy 2 3850s and run them in corss fire and match or beat a GTX or Ultra in most things... Wanna compare the prices there? $350 vs $500+?
ATI/AMD/ TSMC's 55nm process is beautiful, and once we unlock the bios; Overclocks in excess of 855 core are going to be very easy.
The sweet chip from intel is the q6600, and if there was no AMD around, that chip would not be >$300 CDN. However, just to show they aren't being overly friendly, the next step up is roughly double the cost.
Did I expect more from phenom? Yes. Did AMD screw up by going monolithic vs MCM? Yes. Notice not even intel was that ambitious. And won't be at 65nm thats for sure.
This was a gamble, that went poorly for AMD, they could have had mcm x2s for months now, had they not been so intoxicated by Hubris. Does it show AMD is dead? No. Does it show that transistor size matters? Yes.
See phenom for what it is, a gamble gone bad. The 790 series chipset will be fine, and once they, or a partner spins phenom at 45nm, it'll be fine.
As rumors go, AMDs death is vastly over played. Hyperbole in essence. They aren't they simply have to nail a good respin on 65nm, or move to 55nm / 45nm quickly, and further MCM is you're friend... Even if you have more FABs then god.
More "AMD is gonna die"
Hmm . . how long have I been hearing that ? Gosh, just about ever since AMD existed, if I remember correctly.
And it'll continue for the rest of the century, I guess.
AMD has already been in worse shape, and now it has graphics potential to boost it along as well.
I don't know, but I'm guessing that AMD is going to burst the shell again in a year or two, just like it did with the Athlon range that rattled Intel's cage so much. I think AMD is going to give us a really good CPU with integrated graphics in the coming years, and that CPU is going to give Intel a hard time again.
The only frustrating thing about AMD is the fact that it screws up so regularly. But it has survived dire straights before, and I don't think that its current potential puts it in a worse situation than it was seven years ago.
In any case, I've heard "AMD is gonna die" for decades now. AMD is still here, stronger than before. Still got problems, but still here nonetheless.
