Screw Bulldozer, upgraded to Sandy Bridge yesterday.

[formulav8]

Blah Blah crybabies. Its only a cpu. Get over yourself already :\

We'll have none of that, thank you very much
-ViRGE

 

[bryanW1995]

That is a lot of money to pay for a low end product. You are right they bought a 5 billion dollar company. Their market cap is currently right around 4 billion. That return is going to take forever if it can ever be recouped.

Think of what AMD could had done with that money. Build chipsets and work with ATI\Nvidia to build a low power IGP that does the same thing and have a few billion left over.

And you know that it would have been nvidia, right? How sucky is this, JHH could have been the perfect guy to combine NV/AMD into a true competitor for intel, and instead we get to watch AMD slowly die. And even if they hadn't joined up with anybody, a few billion $$ is actually real money you know... they might have been able to use that money to put out a real Bulldozer instead of this little tonka truck with a BD logo on it.

 

[bryanW1995]

Microcenter is a B&M. So depending on how quickly you can drive there and back, service can be quite quick If you don't know about MC, I'd check to see if there is one in your area, because they and Fry's have some of the best prices in the industry, including Newegg, TD, etc.



Let's confirm BD sucks before we start the analysis of what went wrong. It doesn't make sense to me that they would have delayed so long to release something that is comparable to the X6.

From what we've seen so far, it's NOT comparable with the x6. That's the scary part.

 

[sangyup81]

And you know that it would have been nvidia, right? How sucky is this, JHH could have been the perfect guy to combine NV/AMD into a true competitor for intel, and instead we get to watch AMD slowly die. And even if they hadn't joined up with anybody, a few billion $$ is actually real money you know... they might have been able to use that money to put out a real Bulldozer instead of this little tonka truck with a BD logo on it.

I remember that Nvidia chipsets used to be superior to ATI's before AMD bought ATI.

 

[IlllI]

cool story bro

 

[Maximilian]

brool story co

 

[SickBeast]

I don't see the big deal in waiting one more day. At the very least, Bulldozer looks as though it will compete with the 2500K in terms of gaming. I say let things shake out for a month or so and then buy. Let the prices settle. Intel will probably have to respond with a new SKU or a price cut.

 

[exar333]

I don't see the big deal in waiting one more day. At the very least, Bulldozer looks as though it will compete with the 2500K in terms of gaming. I say let things shake out for a month or so and then buy. Let the prices settle. Intel will probably have to respond with a new SKU or a price cut.

Link please?

 

[Arkaign]

I don't see the big deal in waiting one more day. At the very least, Bulldozer looks as though it will compete with the 2500K in terms of gaming. I say let things shake out for a month or so and then buy. Let the prices settle. Intel will probably have to respond with a new SKU or a price cut.

Ehhh gaming looks like the last thing that BD would be good at. Encoding and such maybe (may need sw patch/update), but gaming? Is this a joke post?

 

[SickBeast]

Link please?

It was one of the leaked articles. It showed Bulldozer beating an i7 in Dirt 3 and being quite competitive in some other games.

We'll all find out soon enough anyhow.

 

[cebalrai]

Ehhh gaming looks like the last thing that BD would be good at. Encoding and such maybe (may need sw patch/update), but gaming? Is this a joke post?

Would BD keep me from making 60 fps in games for the next few years?

 

[Arkaign]

Would BD keep me from making 60 fps in games for the next few years?

Who knows? It really depends on the game(s) you like to play, what resolution and/or multiple monitor kind of setup you want to do, etc, along with whether or not you're overclocking, what GPU/memory you want to match it up with, etc.

We'll know the whole story when we see the big testing go down.

As far as past performance, when the Athlon X2 faced off against Pentium D, the PD could definitely handle most games of the era just fine, it was just that the X2 was even quicker still. That meant the X2 had a longer relevant lifespan than Pentium D did. Ditto the C2D vs. Athlon X2, history repeated itself (overclocked C2D's STILL can play many new games just fine).

So getting a notably higher % of performance generally means you'll be able to use something for a longer period of time before it starts to fall behind so much that it needs replacement for your uses.

 

[iXombie]

Would BD keep me from making 60 fps in games for the next few years?

Why is that point always made? Do people buy cars based on the current speed limit? I doubt it. Not even a meager 100 hp compact has limitations like that so why buy a CPU based on that criteria?

I’ll answer your question as a software engineer for the last 15 years. Who cares, spend the money now or spend it later. There are too many factors involved. If you’re satisfied with the BD; buy it. If you’re not, look for an alternative that will satisfy you. The last time I looked at AMD’s CPU products seriously was when building a database server. Before that it was a 4400+ but passed it up for Conroe on my rendering station. I will say that running multiple operating systems doing a variety of tasks having to rely on a CPU driver is a bad idea. Being brand loyal is a horrible idea because generally speaking no company is going to be loyal to you.

 

[Mem]

From what we've seen so far, it's NOT comparable with the x6. That's the scary part.

I win regardless,got to be better then my socket 939 CPU ,I will decide between BD and SB in a few days time,anyway I've nothing to lose :biggrin: .

 

[Mem]

Ehhh gaming looks like the last thing that BD would be good at. Encoding and such maybe (may need sw patch/update), but gaming? Is this a joke post?

One of the leaked articles said it was good for gaming ,however been so much FUD and leaked stuff with conflicting info..... I'll wait for Anandtech to do a proper official review,only way we will know the truth for sure.

 

[Joseph F]

@OP: Good choice. Too bad that BD's a failure. :\

 

[Dadofamunky]

I think that thread title echoes the feelings of many of us FORMER amd fans. My only consolation is that hector was still at the helm while BD was being developed, so we can at least shower a bit of the blame on him as well.

I wonder if AMD might not have been better off just trying to build better cpus instead of buying a gpu company for $5 billion?

I'm sure others have pointed this out, but that GPU company has basically kept them alive. Was the value worth the $5B purchase price? Tough to say. But at least they're still around. For now.

 

[Dadofamunky]

I win regardless,got to be better then my socket 939 CPU ,I will decide between BD and SB in a few days time,anyway I've nothing to lose :biggrin: .

Dude. Based on the numbers and the thermals I've seen, there is no decision to be made.

Why is that point always made? Do people buy cars based on the current speed limit? I doubt it. Not even a meager 100 hp compact has limitations like that so why buy a CPU based on that criteria?

I’ll answer your question as a software engineer for the last 15 years. Who cares, spend the money now or spend it later. There are too many factors involved. If you’re satisfied with the BD; buy it. If you’re not, look for an alternative that will satisfy you. The last time I looked at AMD’s CPU products seriously was when building a database server. Before that it was a 4400+ but passed it up for Conroe on my rendering station. I will say that running multiple operating systems doing a variety of tasks having to rely on a CPU driver is a bad idea. Being brand loyal is a horrible idea because generally speaking no company is going to be loyal to you.

Just goes to show that even software engineers can be wrong. The cost of BD over time is far worse than SB simply based on the thermals. Right now, it's a stupid purchase. An S939 guy is going to have to throw out everything and start over anyway - why buy something that will cost you more money down the road and deliver far less performance per watt and performance per core? You are correct about brand loyalty; what I buy is strictly based on the marginal utility of the product. AMD hasn't had that edge since the X2 days.

 

[Vdubchaos]

Well, Bulldozer is out and I have 0 regrets about getting 2500k few days before release.

Finally, luck works in my favor.hehe

 

[Kaekae]

Congrats on your 2500K - enjoy your insane overclock

 

[Vdubchaos]

Congrats on your 2500K - enjoy your insane overclock

Honestly, I haven't even tried overclocking....and I probably won't for a while.

There is simply no need.

I mostly play RO2 and BC2....probably BF3 in near future, if 2500k doesn't bottleneck it (which I don't believe it will) there is just no need for me to overclock.

Not big on benchmarks either.

BUT, its nice to know that a) there is that option to get LOT more speed and b) future Intel gens will support 1155 socket.



I'm looking forward to putting in a 2nd 460GTX (today)....

 

[Vdubchaos]

OOps double post

 

[videopho]

You must have followed my footsteps, LOL.
A month ago, I upgraded to 2500k, almost the same mobo minus the H (Z68XP-UD3) also bought both at MC at a great discount.
I then added a 2nd 460 to complete the SLI quest and to prepare for BF3.
Very happy with what I've done..my 3d gaming is better than ever!
You will be happy too, to say the least.
Congrats!

 

[ummduh]

And im taking the hundred mile trek on saturday to microcenter to buy aa 2500k/mobo
Waited for the results and it blows chunks.in everything that concerns me. Kinda pissed I waited this long.

 

[Vdubchaos]

You must have followed my footsteps, LOL.
A month ago, I upgraded to 2500k, almost the same mobo minus the H (Z68XP-UD3) also bought both at MC at a great discount.
I then added a 2nd 460 to complete the SLI quest and to prepare for BF3.
Very happy with what I've done..my 3d gaming is better than ever!
You will be happy too, to say the least.
Congrats!

Thanks, I guess I am. Didnt bother OCing 2500k yet.....I dont think there is any need to be honest.

Yesterday was nice. Both BC2 and RO2 maxed out at 1920x1200 didn't dip below 60FPS!!!

WOW

Went from 4200 3dmark 2011 score to 6500 in SLI, then I Oced the Video cards and went up to 6900 or so

Not bad Not bad