Do you think the K6-2-400 hurt the new sales market?

[MadRat]

Alot of shops around here pushed hard to upgrade Socket-7 boards from 166-200MMX up to the K6-2-400. In doing so they probably killed off potential new sales. Its always better to make a jump to better peripherals, but in many cases people didn't want to spend $1500 for a new PC.

AMD claims the K6-2-400 is compatible with most Socket-7 motherboards, since it remapped the 2x multiplier to 6x. In most instances that I recommended this upgrade it looked like it went with zero hassle. The idea swept through my office; alot of people still had MMX pentiums.

Does anybody see this as a national trend? Or could it be that people are simply scared off buying new equipment for another reason?

 

[MadRat]

Surprised as many K6 users we have, that nobody responded.

Did nobody here delay buying a system simply for this exact upgrade?

 

[Soccerman]

I don't think I quite understand what you're saying..

are you saying that because there are a massive amount of computers out there that were originally designed to end at 200-233mhz, but AMD found a way around it and extended the life with the K6-2 400, so that people now-adays don't want to buy new hardware?

I personally think it's partly true. people who bought K6-2's for that reason, did so becuase it was just a chip, rather then a new motherboard, possibly new RAM, and a new CPU.

people like things to be compatible years down the road, which doesn't appear to happen much anymore.

The new equipment today requires a fairly large initial investment, but then you can almost surely finish it off with a CPU that was made a year or two later when that line of CPU's is finished.. it's almost the same situation, but accelerated. if I got a 1st generation Socket A motherboard when it first came out, I'm almost totally assured of being able to hit 1.2 ghz. it's possible I could get higher, with a BIOS update.

but after that, when hopes are lost for that platform, there truly is no hope for an upgrade on the Socket A platform. things move too fast for it to be economical.

 

[Moohooya]

For mostpeople, todays CPUs are much faster than they need. They read email, chat online, surf etc. Then they play the odd card game, and a few even have some 3d games that seem to work just fine with their 200MHz CPU.

Then there is the rest of us. We drive our computers into the dirt. We run them flat out for hours on end. Some of us have little processes running in the backgroud using every last cycle to solve some mystery of the universe, or perhaps just prove a fact. Raw speed is what we dream of.

Back to category 1. The average user. So we tell our friend, mother, neighbour. Hey for $30 you can get a K6-2 450, $40 including shipping. You can OC that and run at 500, and your machine will be much more responsive. Sure, I bet you can get them to go along. How many of them would get a new machine for $500-$1000, I'm guessing not many. Perhaps AMD has lost 5% of their Athlon market. Most are happy enough, perhaps their machine is slow but they don't notice this as they've been running the same software for 3 years now.

I think the K6-II is a good thing. I just spend under $70 to upgrade to a 500 and 128MB. I wouldn't have spent the money for a new system, that will wait until DDR is more stable and cheaper.

Moohoo

 

[cavingjan]

I took my system from a K6 233 to a K6-2 300 and finally to a K6-2 450 inside of 2 1/2 years. All with the same motherboard. Not too bad. That system has gone back to a 300 and I gave it to a friend for his mother (in exchange for a 3com router). I've probably spent enough money in the past 4 years in that system to buy a system and a half but it was pretty current at all points of time.

 

[MadRat]

That is a good example of what I meant.

 

[MGMorden]

I really don't think it hurt sales too much. For the most part the people who just popped out the old chip and put in a faster K6-2 are the more technically inclined. Therefore even when they/we don't have that option we still just replace the mobo/cpu and sometimes ram, which though a more price heavy investment, doesn't constitute a complete new system.

 

[Zucchini]

For mostpeople, todays CPUs are much faster than they need. They read email, chat online, surf etc. Then they play the odd card game, and a few even have some 3d games that seem to work just fine with their 200MHz CPU.

Thats right, for the low end crowd.. they weren't going to buy new pc's anyhow. A k6-2 upgrade for most gamers/power users isn't going to cut it at all.. even when 400mhz was fast. I've built a a k6-2 400 for a sibling.. lets just say performance was a joke when compared to my p2-400. for email? fine.

 

[gtd2000]

3 years from now there will be a similar post for Duron 2.5's for KT133 'boards running Duron 600's