Okay, with the slot Athlon, AMD basically invited everyone (including remarkers) to overclock their chips, because I believe they thought that someone buying, remarking, and selling an Athlon was better than someone buying and then selling an Intel processor. At least AMD makes SOME profit off of their Athlon by doing so. And, in the process, they established a following of hardware enthusiasts who loved to tweak every last ounce of raw processing power out of their new Athlon.
Now with the socketed Athlon, AMD has decided to shun the following that they created with their slotted Athlon. No longer could people tweak their processor to their hearts content. Now, if you buy an 800 MHz Athlon, you get an 800 MHz Athlon. That's it. You can't try to get 850 or 900 (outside of playing with the FSB which is pretty much futile with the current chipsets and motherboards available).
What would have motivated AMD to do this?? Why would AMD want to alienate their new following and pretty much ask them to buy an Intel processor/815 motherboard?? Why would they pull a 180 and want people to buy an Intel chip that they can reasonably overclock via FSB modification than buy an AMD processor?? I thought that the perfect system to buy now would be a socketed Duron, overclock it like mad, then down the road pop it into a 760 based board with some DDR memory. Guess maybe that P3/815 doesn't look so bad now.
Also, what happens when motherboards based on the 760 chipset come out?? This will feature a 133 MHZ DDR bus. Now they should still be using socket A, so a socket duron/t-bird should work in that motherboard...but it probably won't. Why?? Well if the multiplier is burned into the processor, we'll use a 6x for a duron for example, the 600 MHz Duron we buy now will have to run at 800 MHz in a 133 MHz system, no?? If we can't drop the multiplier down to 4.5x so that it still runs at its rated 600 MHz, we have a useless chip, which means NO UPGRADE PATH!!! The KX133 fiasco was bad enough, this will be worse because it will have happened twice in a row. Does AMD not see this?? Hey, I guess they figure we'll have to buy all new chips and motherboards just like they're hoping we do now with KT133/Duron or TBird. More money for them, right?? Maybe not...some of us Athlon adopters may grow a bit weary of AMD's actions to alienate all of us and switch platforms.
I guess this is AMD's new marketing strategy. Gain a following with a kick-*ss product that people will love, execute really well with that product, then slowly begin to alienate all those who bought it until they're back in the position they were in before they released the product.
I hope that AMD realizes this fatal flaw. They should remember that if a lot of Athlons are remarked, that means they still sold a lot of Athlons, even if they are losing some revenue based on the fact that remarkers are selling lower speed processors as higher speed ones and taking away some of AMD's high-end sales. They're still sales, nonetheless, right?? Now I don't condone remarking at all, but I think AMD has to look at the big picture. They need those of us who look at the Athlon as a great chip, whose main advantage over the P3 is the ability to play with the multiplier. If I have a choice between a 700 MHz Athlon (which should be able to hit 800 to 900 MHz using standard bus speeds) or a 700 MHz P3 (which can hit 800 MHz using non-standard bus speeds), I take the Athlon. Now if you give me a choice between a 700 MHz Athlon which can MAYBE hit 750 using non-standard bus speeds or a 700 MHz P3 which can still hit 800+ using non-standard bus speeds (and utilizing a better chipset, nonetheless), I may think twice about buying the Athlon.
I hope AMD sees this and rethinks their strategy. Remarkers take away some potential profit, but it also shows that a lot of people like to buy the Athlon as a great overclocking processor, which is good for AMD. If AMD thinks that they will be boosting profits by locking their processors, I think they're in for a rude awakening. They will see their following, which they have built up over the last year, begin to dwindle. I have been loyal to AMD for a while since they have always been friendly to the overclocking community (even though the K6 was an awful overclocker, they still left the option open), but that loyalty is beginning to fade. By locking their processors, they no longer have that one edge they had over the P3.
Please share your thoughts about this in hopes that someone from AMD will read this and they will rethink their strategy. They should know what we all think about them locking their processors, potentially providing no upgrade path to the 760 chipset, and potentially losing the following they created over the last year.
Now with the socketed Athlon, AMD has decided to shun the following that they created with their slotted Athlon. No longer could people tweak their processor to their hearts content. Now, if you buy an 800 MHz Athlon, you get an 800 MHz Athlon. That's it. You can't try to get 850 or 900 (outside of playing with the FSB which is pretty much futile with the current chipsets and motherboards available).
What would have motivated AMD to do this?? Why would AMD want to alienate their new following and pretty much ask them to buy an Intel processor/815 motherboard?? Why would they pull a 180 and want people to buy an Intel chip that they can reasonably overclock via FSB modification than buy an AMD processor?? I thought that the perfect system to buy now would be a socketed Duron, overclock it like mad, then down the road pop it into a 760 based board with some DDR memory. Guess maybe that P3/815 doesn't look so bad now.
Also, what happens when motherboards based on the 760 chipset come out?? This will feature a 133 MHZ DDR bus. Now they should still be using socket A, so a socket duron/t-bird should work in that motherboard...but it probably won't. Why?? Well if the multiplier is burned into the processor, we'll use a 6x for a duron for example, the 600 MHz Duron we buy now will have to run at 800 MHz in a 133 MHz system, no?? If we can't drop the multiplier down to 4.5x so that it still runs at its rated 600 MHz, we have a useless chip, which means NO UPGRADE PATH!!! The KX133 fiasco was bad enough, this will be worse because it will have happened twice in a row. Does AMD not see this?? Hey, I guess they figure we'll have to buy all new chips and motherboards just like they're hoping we do now with KT133/Duron or TBird. More money for them, right?? Maybe not...some of us Athlon adopters may grow a bit weary of AMD's actions to alienate all of us and switch platforms.
I guess this is AMD's new marketing strategy. Gain a following with a kick-*ss product that people will love, execute really well with that product, then slowly begin to alienate all those who bought it until they're back in the position they were in before they released the product.
I hope that AMD realizes this fatal flaw. They should remember that if a lot of Athlons are remarked, that means they still sold a lot of Athlons, even if they are losing some revenue based on the fact that remarkers are selling lower speed processors as higher speed ones and taking away some of AMD's high-end sales. They're still sales, nonetheless, right?? Now I don't condone remarking at all, but I think AMD has to look at the big picture. They need those of us who look at the Athlon as a great chip, whose main advantage over the P3 is the ability to play with the multiplier. If I have a choice between a 700 MHz Athlon (which should be able to hit 800 to 900 MHz using standard bus speeds) or a 700 MHz P3 (which can hit 800 MHz using non-standard bus speeds), I take the Athlon. Now if you give me a choice between a 700 MHz Athlon which can MAYBE hit 750 using non-standard bus speeds or a 700 MHz P3 which can still hit 800+ using non-standard bus speeds (and utilizing a better chipset, nonetheless), I may think twice about buying the Athlon.
I hope AMD sees this and rethinks their strategy. Remarkers take away some potential profit, but it also shows that a lot of people like to buy the Athlon as a great overclocking processor, which is good for AMD. If AMD thinks that they will be boosting profits by locking their processors, I think they're in for a rude awakening. They will see their following, which they have built up over the last year, begin to dwindle. I have been loyal to AMD for a while since they have always been friendly to the overclocking community (even though the K6 was an awful overclocker, they still left the option open), but that loyalty is beginning to fade. By locking their processors, they no longer have that one edge they had over the P3.
Please share your thoughts about this in hopes that someone from AMD will read this and they will rethink their strategy. They should know what we all think about them locking their processors, potentially providing no upgrade path to the 760 chipset, and potentially losing the following they created over the last year.
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