AMD sueing Intel?

[Nazo]

I first read about it here:
http://www.firingsquad.com/news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=8298
Seems AMD has a press release here:
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Corporate/VirtualPressRoom/0,,51_104_543~99713,00.html

Apparently they are sueing Intel because Intel has supposedly been strongarming companies into staying with them over AMD. I've always wondered why I saw such a surprisingly small support for AMD even among companies trying to offer a best bang for buck type product. Especially with the early not so good P4s. And A64/Opteron should have been more widespread I thought considering.

I wonder what effect this will have if they suceed though? Intel's main downside is that it's usually more cost effective to get an equivalent AMD, so if they start charging more it could be a problem. I mean, I really want to see AMD get more support, but, if Intel dies, AMD will have a complete monopoly in the x86 world here in real life (even if someone else tries, Intel is the only other company that knows how to make a REAL x86.) I want to see AMD do even better, but, a monopoly would be bad for us all.

What do you people think? Heh, and let's not get into the Cell atm, we still don't know how that will turn out, but, it has some pretty bad disadvantages in a desktop system from what I heard.

BTW, I'm surprised this topic wasn't already mentioned somewhere. I ran a search, but, maybe I tried the wrong search terms. If I did, sorry. I also wondered if it belonged in a more processor specific forum such as AMD or Intel, but, it concerns both obviously, so general is most suitable I guess. Too bad it doesn't split off like video cards.

 

[hokatichenci]

If you look at the complaints list, you will see that AMD has been biding its time, really gathering evidence. If AMD has people to back up what its claiming, it will probably take a long time but my expectation is that Intel will be found at fault and likely fined some gigantic sum of money. Intel's relationship with a lot of businesses will probably be closely examined and nit-picked for a long time to come. It's been fairly obviously that this stuff has been happening for a long time, I just guess that AMD finally said enough is enough and took what it had to file a complaint.

 

[tiraides]

There were two threads on this topic in the AMD forums... the first one has since been deleted but this one is still running....

 

[Nazo]

You're right about that. Seems it's degenerated into another "AMD processors are better than Intel processors! No! Intel processors are better than AMD processors!" type of thread though... Really, I'm not interested in debating whether apples are better than oranges or not right now. ^_^ The real question here is more what effect will this have kind of thing.

There was one valid statement in that other thread (well, at least it was a valid argument, though possibly an incorrect statement, I don't know.) They said that the reason people like Dell, Gateway, etc hadn't been using AMD as much was that they couldn't produce the needed volume. Is this true? It seems hard to believe though, I must say. I mean, I don't know if AMD can produce major volumes or not, but, the only time I've heard of shortages seems to be when a brand new better core comes out and people rush to get it (just wait until Newegg gets the idea of a pre-order system, then it will become impossible to get a brand new one for even longer as the queues fill up...)

Personally, I want to see Dell, Gateway, and all those other companies that make premade systems start producing more with AMD chips and related chipsets. I know, I know, I'm not fond of those companies either (I admit it, by not fond of, I mean I bloody well hate many of them and want to see them suffer,) but, it's not really about that. I want to see the average joe start to actually have AMD systems, not just only Intel... Average Joe honestly believes that because those numbers he THINKS he understands are higher, it's ok to spend so much on it. Never mind the fact that in some of those cases that annoyed me so much there was an equivalent AMD system that would blow the other out of the water (don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about AMD vs Intel, I'm talking about a specific AMD vs a specific Intel.) Too often they get lured in by numbers that sound fast just because the alternative doesn't promise quite such high numbers (I think the thing that got me most was when Intel started doing the 4x FSB multiplier, so Joe thinks 800MHz fsb is just so uber fast compared to the mere 400MHz of the AMD. Thank goodness AMD finally bested that marketing hype with their so called HyperTransport.)

Maybe AMD's problem lies more in lack of advertising or something? Well, I don't see even Intel advertise MUCH on TV, though there are those occasional god-awful blue man group commercials that make me hate the color blue, but, those are rare. I mean more specifically, is maybe Intel going out there and catching the eye of companies putting systems together while AMD relies more on those free advertising methods? In other words, I'm curious about the more behind the scenes things that I don't really hear about. Is there some other side to this story?

 

[Stellar]

There was one valid statement in that other thread (well, at least it was a valid argument, though possibly an incorrect statement, I don't know.) They said that the reason people like Dell, Gateway, etc hadn't been using AMD as much was that they couldn't produce the needed volume. Is this true? It seems hard to believe though, I must say. I mean, I don't know if AMD can produce major volumes or not, but, the only time I've heard of shortages seems to be when a brand new better core comes out and people rush to get it (just wait until Newegg gets the idea of a pre-order system, then it will become impossible to get a brand new one for even longer as the queues fill up...)

That is entirely true. AMD only has one fabrication plant for their processors, located in Dresden, Germany. Intel has several located in the US as well as in Japan.

This is one of the major factors in the high prices of AMD's dual core processor offerings.

BTW, this same issue was already ruled upon overseas by the Japan Fair Trade Commission. Intel conceded to the charges. Now they are being accused on a much larger scale (this is not the only case currently pending, the European FTC is bringing charges on them as well). It will be interesting to see how this whole thing unfolds, but I for one will definitely say I'm glad it's happening.