How much is AMD behind.

[Yuriman]

Incidentally, for those who think Intel is their best friend: why exactly did i5-2500K launch at $216 and i5-3570K at $235? Maybe the lack of competition from AMD this year was even less than last year?

I'm not proposing that Intel is my friend, but it might be for the same reason that Intel decided to produce more Sandy Bridge chips for budget OEM HTPCs rather than Ivy Bridge versions - suggesting that the die size savings don't make up for the cost increase of moving to 22nm, even when you consider that the research and design is already done and paid for.

 

[KompuKare]

I'm not proposing that Intel is my friend, but it might be for the same reason that Intel decided to produce more Sandy Bridge chips for budget OEM HTPCs rather than Ivy Bridge versions - suggesting that the die size savings don't make up for the cost increase of moving to 22nm, even when you consider that the research and design is already done and paid for.

Ok, fair enough. Process costs have gone up (both Intel @ 22nm and TSMC @ 28nm) and even Intel seemed to have a bit of trouble at 22nm. So yes, that made a difference. Also, Intel probably noticed the amount of enthusiasts who bought 2500K's was higher than they expected. But the real question is: what would 3750K have cost if Bulldozer had been as fast or faster than a 2600K?

 

[Idontcare]

I was wondering... Does anybody really care about Intel's strong-arm tactics in the not so distant past as long as they deliver better products than AMD?

People care...they care enough to log into a forum and express their concerns.

But marketshare numbers would suggest that they don't care enough to bias their purchasing decisions on that basis alone.

Considering that most people in the USA will spend 5-6x more on gasoline in a year than they spend on their CPU that only gets replaced every other year (if that)...and people do not do what they can do to reduce their gasoline expenditures (i.e. the consumer activism against big oil pretty much ends with bitching and moaning in various forums and a facebook post or two).

Compared to Intel, there are far larger expenses incurred by consumers in other business segments - from energy to healthcare to mortgages to groceries - to which consumer outrage is limited to merely a vocalization of disgust followed up with zero changes in one's lifestyle choices.

Expecting those same people to care about what Intel did years ago is just not reasonable or practical. See Big Tobacco for a prime example.

 

[ShintaiDK]

Incidentally, for those who think Intel is their best friend: why exactly did i5-2500K launch at $216 and i5-3570K at $235? Maybe the lack of competition from AMD this year was even less than last year?

You mix tray and box.

2500K is 224$ boxed.
http://ark.intel.com/products/52210/Intel-Core-i5-2500K-Processor-(6M-Cache-up-to-3_70-GHz)

3570K is 235$ boxed.
http://ark.intel.com/products/65520/Intel-Core-i5-3570K-Processor-(6M-Cache-up-to-3_80-GHz)

Add US inflation and you are at ~230$. Then changes in other costs...I´m sure you see it.

 

[Khato]

But the real question is: what would 3750K have cost if Bulldozer had been as fast or faster than a 2600K?

Probably the exact same as it currently does? Considering the fact that AMD would have priced Bulldozer appropriately for its performance. Even if AMD were competitive Intel's primary competition would still be itself for a non-trivial amount of time purely because AMD would be constrained by fab capacity.

 

[Yuriman]

Probably the exact same as it currently does? Considering the fact that AMD would have priced Bulldozer appropriately for its performance. Even if AMD were competitive Intel's primary competition would still be itself for a non-trivial amount of time purely because AMD would be constrained by fab capacity.

I suspect this is closest to the truth. Bulldozer is a big chip and thus expensive to produce. If AMD could make more of a profit off selling them, they would.

 

[Ferzerp]

I suspect this is closest to the truth. Bulldozer is a big chip and thus expensive to produce. If AMD could make more of a profit off selling them, they would.

When they had the faster proc, they priced it accordingly. The $1k desktop procs were on the AMD side back then.