Originally posted by JF-AMD
OK, let me begin by saying "I'm gonna post this once."
Everyone, please just point people back to this post when the 1,957,837,842 questions show up that are all the same. This will be easier than me posting it up over and over.
Admin, please lock this thread ASAP, I am not going to answer questions here.
Thanks.
Q. I saw a benchmark on xyz website. Is that how bulldozer will perform?A. No. Nothing posted before launch will be representative of actual performance. To get actual performance, you need:
Final production silicon
Final processor microcode
Final system BIOS
Final OS optimizaitons
Final drivers
An app compiled with the latest flags
A person who understands the app and configures the test properly
Without these things (and there are probably more), you cannot get an accurate benchmark. Any extrapolation of a crappy benchmark gives you a crappy estimate of actual performance. Period.
Oh, and many of the benchmarks that you see were probably not run, those are just charts made in excel. It's really easy to make a chart in excel - what do you want, bulldozer faster by 3716%? Intel faster by 293%? Sure, I can do either one in 10 seconds. Why are you arguing about benchmarks that probably aren't real?
Q. When are you launching? Why don't you release the date?A. When we launch, we launch. I will not comment on dates, I will not comment on schedules. We do not release dates prior to launch, at most we give quarter granularity. Giving the date out will stall demand. We have a business to run. While you might think that it will make your life easier to not have to guess, the reality is that we have a business to run and the minute you let the date out, sales stall. For everything. The cost impact of announcing the launch date is always bigger and drives these decisions.
Q. What are the prices?
A. Look at the above question and you have your answer.
Q. Why don't you release benchmarks before launch? You could steal so much business away from the other guy?
A. Again, releasing benchmarks before launch will simply stall sales. Believe me, if the competition thinks they are out of position, will they just sit back and say "oh well" or will they react? Handing them benchmarks is simply giving them time to form a strategy. I am not in the business of helping them, they are on their own on this one.
Q. Will bulldozer be faster than....?
A. I don't need to finish the question, please read above.
Q. I read on xyz site that you were launching on xxxxx?A. Yeah, and I read on another site that elvis was still alive. The reason I don't comment on date rumors is that there are a limited number of days in the quarter. Once you say no to some, and suddenly say "no comment" or don't answer that one, immediately everyone thinks that is the date. So, no matter how crazy it sounds, you can't answer any of them.
Q. I saw someone selling bulldozer parts online, that must mean the launch is happening, right?A. No. First off, many of the people that are advertising parts for sale ahead of time do not have parts in hand. Buyer beware. If they are selling engineering samples, we will take care of that. Occasionally parts are loaded into disti databases, and if the flag is set wrong, it can flow through EDI to a partner's database and show up online. That does not mean parts are available. Oh, and sometimes distis use planned pricing and part numbers as placeholders, so don't believe what you see. Nobody is allowed to advertise parts ahead of launch.
Q. I know someone who knows someone who has a cousin who lives next to...?A. Ask yourself this. Would you take investment advice from someone like that? If not, put a big grain of salt into those conversations.
Q. Why haven't you guys launched?
A. The key to a successful product is lauching it once you are ready. When you are trying to put hundreds of millions of transistors onto a piece of sand about the size of your thumbnail, there is a lot going on. It's a pretty complicated busines.
Q. Why don't you comment on client stuff? Why don't you get a client guy to post on here?
A. I am in the server world, I comment on my products. I will not comment on their products, because I don't want them commenting on mine. The few times I have ventured into the client world, I have caught flack for my comments. It is not worth the trouble. Based on the filth that seeps into my inbox from a very small segment of the enthusiast world, I can understand why the client people might not want to make their names known. When you are attacked in a vicious way for no reason, and you are doing this on your own time, you start to ask "why bother"?
Q. I see you have <feature x> on server, so we will see that on client too?A. I can't say for sure. We both productize different features based on our customer needs. Wait for the launch to see for sure.
Q. Why aren't you doing an unlocked Opteron so I can do 2P overclock?A. First the market for 2P client systems is tiny, and getting smaller every day. While you would like to buy one, there just aren't enough people to do that. Second, I want to focus my time on servers, client overclocking will not be supported because it takes efforts away from making virtualization and cloud computing better.
Q. If AMD doesn't beat intel in xyz it is the end of the roadA. OK, this is not a question, but enough people make statements like this. AMD is a 40 year old company, not likely.
Q. Is IPC higher on bulldozer? All I care about is IPC.A. IPC is simply a measurement. What if IPC was 2X what it is today, but clock speed was 500MHz. Is that what you want? You are getting double IPC, right? IPC is only one measure. The people that are telling you IPC is the only thing that matters have an agenda. Taking only one measurement, out of context, is like trying to say that a person's weight is all that matters. I weigh 195. Does that make me fat? Does that make me skinny? It is impossible to say unless you know my height. IPC is like weight - it tells you something in context to other factors, but is meaningless on its own.
Q. What about single threaded performance?A. See above. Also, if all you care about is single threaded performance, might I recommend a lovely, inexpensive single core processor for your system?
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While I work for AMD, my posts are my own opinions.
http://blogs.amd.com/work/author/jfruehe/
Twitter: @JF_AMD
