NDA lifted...Socket 939 reviews surface

The Socket 754 A64 3700+ 1MB L2 Cache ClawHammer shows its superiority over the Socket 939 A64 3800+, 3500+ 512KB L2 Cache Newcastles (even after Socket 939 brought dual-channel). ClawHammers scale better than Newcastles. Just like we thought, these things will cost a fortune...

AMD Athlon 64 FX-53 processor $799 each
AMD Athlon 64 3800+ processor $720 each
AMD Athlon 64 3700+ processor $710 each
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ processor $500 each
 
So like instead of pushing the current Athlon 64's down to lower price points and replace them with these new ones. AMD has chosen to one up customers and just introduce the new processors at even higher price points than before! Man, I really can't wait until Intel gets their things in gear again. AMD's just gone crazy!
 
AMD thinks they will benefit by becoming a "premier" cpu vendor. And they know that Intel won't have suitable competition for quite awhile so they are making us pay exorbant prices until early-2005. :mad:
 
Well when they have a 3800+ system and they're already beating the 3.4C/E at its price point, any higher speeds and they have no competition at all. Why level the prices when they aren't equal in performance. the 3.4C and E are still more expensive than the 3400+.
 
Geezus, those prices are... :(

I had just assumed that AMD was going to slide thei new chips in at current levels and migrate current chips down. But apparently with little competition from intel AMD are taking some added profits.

Not sure how I feel about this.

On the one hand, I think its pretty great that AMD is finally able to command top tier prices with a market leading processer(s). And I'm an AMD shareholder too boot so I like seeing those ASP's fatten up.

On the other hand as a consumer (looking to upgrade yet!) I'm a little chagrined that the 'mainstream A64' ceiling has been raised to within a mere 70 bucks of the uber enthusiast FX line. I'd have prefered to see more segmentation there. I mean I may as well go for the FX if its only 50 bucks or so more expensive anyways.

All in all, I think I would have prefered seeing the 3800+ at around the $600 level and the 3700 coming in slightly below that. These are going to be hard prices to swallow (especially since PCI-E is still nowhere to be seen for A64).
 
I'm glad the average selling price is on the up. It can only help amd, though we as consumers could use some more competition to drive them back down.
 
I can see it now, a headline over at the inq reading 'studies show a definite correlation between socket 939 and male prostitution'.

So I say again...bastards. :mad:
 
It'll be interesting to see what the bottom-line price will be for a s939 board and the cheapest s939 chip together.
 
AMD Athlon 64 3700+ processor $710 each :eek:

I was going to build a SFF gaming rig with an X800XT and a 3700 but now with that price I don't know.

Who do they think they are? Intel?
 
Anandtech reviews the FX55 (socket 939) too! Don't get me wrong, it puts up great #'s but the damn thing doesn't come out till Q4'04!

DONT FREAKIN TEASE ME LIKE THAT!!

BTW, will shuttle be making a socket 939 box????
 
I'm sure they will, but I am eyeing that dual opteron Iwill SFF goodness.

And at that price, why just not buy the FX53, as you can surely afford it. :eek:
 
emXry said:
and hopefully the price will drop if AMD see's nobody is buying them.
It doesn't work that way. AMD is raising the prices on the new processors for two reasons:

1. Intel doesn't have a really competitive response to the new processors, so there's no reason why an arguably better performing CPU should be priced according to Intel's prices.
2. Quantities of Socket 939 processors are low, especially compared to Socket 754 processors. The demand is high, especially among overclockers. Low supply, high demand--higher prices.

AMD may be much smaller than Intel, but it's still a big company with billions of dollars in revenue. The enthusiast market alone will not convince AMD to drop their prices. Apparently, the OEMs are willing to pay the price, because first-tier offerings of AMD64 processors are beginning to crop up in many market segments. At worst, they are on the rise. I don't see AMD dropping the prices until at least the 3.4E and 3.6E (scratch that, Pentium 4 560) show up in decent quantities.
 
Damn, here I've been waiting for S939 to upgrade, and the freaking CPUs are that expensive. Guess I'll wait a bit longer.
 
heh...i was going to upgrade to a 3800+, but with these prices i think i'll go fx-53 :D

i totally agree with AMD's pricing right now (even though i hate the high prices), they have the best cpu right now and intel has no answer so why not get the most money for the cpu
 
PureBooYah said:
heh...i was going to upgrade to a 3800+, but with these prices i think i'll go fx-53 :D
Agree. There's not much room to OC the AMD chips, so midas well go with the fastest and run it at stock speed. The smoke is clearing. AMD if you're only running games. Intel if you're doing content creation. I'm an Intel fanboy, but seeing the benchmarks over the past year, is making me realize it's time to jump on the AMD bandwagon.

Now it's just a question of waiting for an Abit MB, and for the PCI thing to settle. I'm thinking 2 more months. But when you think about it, many have said that PCI won't make much of a differance. So it's really a question of a good MB and waiting for the stuff to arrive on Newegg.
 
We said months ago that AMD had apparently taken a new course and was introducing all new top end processors at even higher prices than the previous units. It doesn't take a degree in economics to understand Intel will do the same now. We will now suffer the concequences of this action on AMD's part just like we benefited from the years when they sold "cheap" ones. The difference now being CPU/Platform upgrades will be much farther apart as they are more expensive and I suspect we'll see a slow down in releases. Based on the posted results it looks like 754 will be holding me for longer than I first thought. Glad Nvidia has a nice new chipset for 754.
 
CIWS said:
Based on the posted results it looks like 754 will be holding me for longer than I first thought. Glad Nvidia has a nice new chipset for 754.
So if you're going to stay with 754 a while longer, what do you think of these new low-power A64M / 754 cpus?
Seems like the 35w ones would be something, assuming they work in a desktop board. You going to get one and try it out?
 
You consider Intel Cheap? Common guys they have realy fast AMD cpu's for premium and Intel Has nothing and you expect AMD to sell them for less then Intel stuff. Do you think if Intel had speeds like AMD they would charge next to nothing for them, I don't truly think so.
 
CIWS said:
Based on the posted results it looks like 754 will be holding me for longer than I first thought. Glad Nvidia has a nice new chipset for 754.


I am doing OC testing on the ABIT KV8 board this morning. It is 754 with K8T800Pro and looks to be REALLY solid so far.
 
NoGodForMe said:
AMD if you're only running games. Intel if you're doing content creation. .
Not even, AMD has recached near-parity with Intel in content creation. Just look at the latest benchmarks. Meanwhile, AMD's lead in games continues to widen.
 
Wrench00 said:
You consider Intel Cheap? Common guys they have realy fast AMD cpu's for premium and Intel Has nothing and you expect AMD to sell them for less then Intel stuff. Do you think if Intel had speeds like AMD they would charge next to nothing for them, I don't truly think so.

Does the 3800+ perform twice as well as a 3.4C? Didn't think so. I didn't expect them to sell less than intel's, just less that oh...I dunno...700 goddamned dollars. At that price I'd rather get a FX-53.
 
It doesn't work that way...a BMW 7 series doesn't drive twice as fast as a Toyota Camry...
 
xonik said:
It doesn't work that way...a BMW 7 series doesn't drive twice as fast as a Toyota Camry...

No it DOES work that way, at least it SHOULD and until recently IT DID in regards to MAINSTREAM chips. I can understand the prices of the FXs and EEs, but look at the mianstream cpus. The 3400 is a bit more expensive than the 3200, the 3200 is a bit more expensive than the 3000, the 3000 is a bit more expensive than the 2800. It's pretty much the same thing with intel. Over the course of 4 cpus [2.8 to 3.4] there is about a $220 price parity. The 3800 is $220 more expensive than it's closest brother the 3500. Over the course of 2 cpus there is a $220 price parity. Mainstream my left nut. These had better be early inflated prices that'll go down to something sane in a month.
 
I'm not going to bend over backwards to justify the price, but consider that the 3700/3800+

1) Has no Intel competitor;
2) Is in low supply.

That, and in almost any market, the price you SHOULD pay is rarely the price you MUST pay.
 
Vagrant Zero said:
Wow, you weren't exaggerating on the slightly bit were you. :D

nah, i call them as I see them.

I see 939 CPUs but no motherboards...those rich kiddies with the green to buy it won't have anything to plug it into just yet; that sucks.
 
qdemn7 said:
So if you're going to stay with 754 a while longer, what do you think of these new low-power A64M / 754 cpus?
Seems like the 35w ones would be something, assuming they work in a desktop board. You going to get one and try it out?


Honestly I will probably let someone else try them first and post their results, especially if the question is whether or not it will even run in whatever mainboard I own. As of right now I only have the one 754 MB, although the newer prospects like Nvidias and VIAs chipsets will probably mean I'll have two in the near future. I was kinda waiting to take a full plunge again. 939 CPU, MB and PCI Xpress video card, but now it will probably be a part by part upgrade and stay with AGP for a while longer. Where's the street ready Doom 3 engine when you need it ;)
 
xonik said:
It doesn't work that way. AMD is raising the prices on the new processors for two reasons:

I don't see AMD dropping the prices until at least the 3.4E and 3.6E (scratch that, Pentium 4 560) show up in decent quantities.

GRR! Those bastards at Intel! AMD makes their rating system compare CPUs to Intel CPUs and Intel CPU Frequencys, then Intel revamps into a rating system! Now AMD's rating system doesn't work too well... Hm, wise market strategy?
 
CIWS said:
Honestly I will probably let someone else try them first and post their results, especially if the question is whether or not it will even run in whatever mainboard I own. As of right now I only have the one 754 MB, although the newer prospects like Nvidias and VIAs chipsets will probably mean I'll have two in the near future. I was kinda waiting to take a full plunge again. 939 CPU, MB and PCI Xpress video card, but now it will probably be a part by part upgrade and stay with AGP for a while longer. Where's the street ready Doom 3 engine when you need it ;)

True, i'm going to take the plunge with a totally new computer, which i'll still be doing. But I don't think socket 939 will be the answer anymore; unless the 3500+ comes down in price. I might just upgrade to the 3400+, or try an intel prescott/northwood system. I keep juggling with ideas.

Hrm...OEM 3500+'s at newegg are only about $80 more than the 3400+'s...this could be an option for most people.
 
CIWS said:
Actually my current MB has K8T800 on it and I can honestly say this thing has been completely trouble free over the last 9 months. Anyone who might say AMD CPUs and/or VIA chipsets cannot be stable hasn't used this box. I've litterly had zero issues. Almost scary and I came from an Intel P4C.

I can second that, my K8X800 ProII has done very well since i've owned it. VIA made a solid chipset for the A64.
 
Matt Welke said:
GRR! Those bastards at Intel! AMD makes their rating system compare CPUs to Intel CPUs and Intel CPU Frequencys, then Intel revamps into a rating system! Now AMD's rating system doesn't work too well... Hm, wise market strategy?
Actually it might backfire for Intel. They have more or less pushed MHz for the past decade or more, and now AMD's rating system looks like nice clock frequency numbers. Now Intel's numbers are 570? 735? It has to be confusing to the consumer--Intel's processors are now 570 MHz? 735? I am not sure it'll go well for Intel, at least at the beginning.
 
A64's came out jsut recently, and have no competition to bring down their prices...people will buy them because they are the BEST, and they aren't forced to lower prices because intel si giving them no competition! i expect by fall time prices will be more competitive and more offerings :)
 
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