Rumour: AMD brings back FX brand with Bulldozer

[grimpr]

http://vr-zone.com/articles/rumour-amd-to-revive-fx-branding-with-bulldozer/10575.html

AMD's Bulldozer is set to receive the "FX" branding, which has been absent since the Athlon 64 FX-70 back in 2006, according to DonanimHaber. The flagship 4-module, 8-core CPU Zambezi will be branded as Vision Black FX. 4-core and 6-core Bulldozer CPUs will be branded as Ultimate Vision FX.

In the past, AMD's "FX" branding was an equivalent to Intel's "Extreme Edition" moniker. The resulting products are flagships with unlocked multipliers and exorbitant ~$1000 price tags. However, since the onslaught of Intel's "Core" CPUs, AMD has been restricted to the <$300 market, with no FX CPUs. Bulldozer is AMD's most major architectural change since K8 in 2003, and arguably since K7 in 1999. Judging by the rumoured branding, it is entirely possible that the branding will be radically altered as well, with "FX" not signifying the high-end, extreme performance (and price tag) as it did in AMD's glory days. However, DonanimHaber does indicate that AMD are confident of Bulldozer's performance. Whether it will be a match for Intel's Gulftown (let alone the 8-core Sandy Bridge CPU) remains to be seen.

Bulldozer is set to release with a new platform based around AMD's upcoming 900 series chipset. While previously expected to be AM3 compatible, Bulldozer is now based on an pin-compatible AM3+ platform. Current AM3 Athlon/Phenom CPUs will be compatible with the 900 series, although there is no solid information of the level of compatibility of Bulldozer with previous AM3 motherboards. Certainly, some features will be disabled, at least.

AMD is expected to release Bulldozer in Q2 2011.

 

[Rifter]

lets hope they are as good as the FX chips from back in the day

 

[OBLAMA2009]

good luck to them theyre gonna need it...

 

[RyanGreener]

I was hoping it would come out sooner, cause IMO, at that point, it'll be too little, too late.

 

[aigomorla]

FX was replaced to BE... Black Edition if im not mistaken.

Now they want to pull BE and bring back FX?

Or do they think they can charge 3x a BE price by calling it a FX?

Im lost in AMD's route...


They killing the BE? or they bringing another level FX along with BE?

 

[extra]

FX was replaced to BE... Black Edition if im not mistaken.

Now they want to pull BE and bring back FX?

Or do they think they can charge 3x a BE price by calling it a FX?

Im lost in AMD's route...


They killing the BE? or they bringing another level FX along with BE?

Yeah, that will be the annoying thing. If bulldozer actually does beat SB, you can be sure we'll be back to the days when AMD charged ridiculous prices for the top chips, very annoying. Hopefully they are just ever so slightly worse or better so we can keep sweet pricing. And getting rid of Black Edition doesn't seem smart, just when it was getting some recognition--hope they keep it. No reason to resurrect FX branding--I can see them being like "lol, it's an FX chip so we can charge $999 for it, lol!" though :\

 

[s44]

If bulldozer actually does beat SB, you can be sure we'll be back to the days when AMD charged ridiculous prices for the top chips, very annoying.

You mean the way Intel now charges ridiculous prices for the top chips?

It's just what happens.

 

[Rifter]

You mean the way Intel now charges ridiculous prices for the top chips?

It's just what happens.

you beat me to it, intel is just as bad if not worse than AMD for pricing. At least AMD lowers prices of old chips, intel raises prices on old chips to force you to upgrade the whole system. Look at the price of 775 quads now vs 2-3 years ago.

 

[Nintendesert]

Only thing that sucks is that SB is releasing here shortly and I'm in the market to upgrade my system. BD is just coming out too late and I'm going to be buying SB. I hope they do perform well though, I miss the days of the Athlon and all the competition we used to have.

 

[Phynaz]

you beat me to it, intel is just as bad if not worse than AMD for pricing. At least AMD lowers prices of old chips, intel raises prices on old chips to force you to upgrade the whole system. Look at the price of 775 quads now vs 2-3 years ago.

Does Intel still produce and sell 775 quads? Has Intel changed their pricing or is the retailers?

 

[Rifter]

Does Intel still produce and sell 775 quads? Has Intel changed their pricing or is the retailers?

I believe they are still in production, i have been watching Q9650's going in and out of stock consistently with some local stores.

 

[edplayer]

I was hoping it would come out sooner, cause IMO, at that point, it'll be too little, too late.

I was thinking the 2nd half of 2011. Q2 sound better. I'll assume its the last day of June...

Or do they think they can charge 3x a BE price by calling it a FX?

Im lost in AMD's route...

I think they will price according to how it compares with Intel cpus. Names will have nothing to do with it.

 

[khon]

4-core and 6-core Bulldozer CPUs will be branded as Ultimate Vision FX.

Worst. Name. Ever.

 

[bryanW1995]

http://vr-zone.com/articles/rumour-amd-to-revive-fx-branding-with-bulldozer/10575.html

wow, q2 is faster than I expected.

If they can at least beat gulftown then I'll be impressed.

 

[exar333]

Worthless unless BD spanks SB in performance. "Standard edition" for $100, "Black Edition" for $200 and "FX" for $300 would be ridiculous. The FX only makes sense if they can sell a $700+ part that is screaming fast.

 

[mrcmtl]

Isn't the fact that AMD is bringing back the FX name a good thing? It means that they have somewhat confidence in BD and that BD will be actually competitive. If BD is competitive with SB, then that's a good thing overall.

 

[eternalone]

Hmmm maybe BD does end up spanking SB seems like they are very confident.

 

[Arkaign]

you beat me to it, intel is just as bad if not worse than AMD for pricing. At least AMD lowers prices of old chips, intel raises prices on old chips to force you to upgrade the whole system. Look at the price of 775 quads now vs 2-3 years ago.

I dunno, I think they're about equally as bad. I remember wanting to build an X2 system from AMD, but the pricing was just insane. For 1/3 the price of the X2-3800+ I got a Pentium D 805 and overclocked it to 3.6ghz, beating the stock speed of the X2 3800+ by a fair margin, leaving me enough extra $ to grab an X1800

When Intel commands the performance spectrum, there are still bargains to be had on the lower end, even if I think AMD is a better value for most anything under $150. When AMD commands the performance spectrum, there's pretty much nothing to see under $250ish at all other than waaaaaay slower stuff (eg; single core stuff back when Pentium D and Athlon 64 X2 were where it was at).

Totally EOL/outdated stuff like 775 quads is irrelevant. The top chips for a given socket are always $$$ until nobody wants them anymore, the prime example of the top socket 939 chips is perfect here, people still pay over $200 for them even though they're slower than $50 Celeron dual cores. You can get Q9300 at MC for $100, which is pretty much in line with what it might be realistically worth in a world of $200 lynnfield quads and Phenom X6 of far superior caliber. The Q9550/etc are just flagship socket upgrades for people who want to pay a premium to stick with their 5 year old socket.

EDIT : Nobody forces you to do anything, people spend what they feel something is worth. That was true of the folks who spent $1k on the top FX chips back in the day, same is true of the folks who fork out silly cash for price-point-obsolete Q9550/9650.

 

[ElFenix]

FX was replaced to BE... Black Edition if im not mistaken.

Now they want to pull BE and bring back FX?

Or do they think they can charge 3x a BE price by calling it a FX?

Im lost in AMD's route...


They killing the BE? or they bringing another level FX along with BE?

eh? the article says they're keeping black. the top end stuff will be black, while the middle stuff will be ultimate vision (as if that isn't confusing). all BD products will go under amd FX.

i wonder if they're doing away with athlon and phenom?

the reasonable way to do it would be athlon FX and phenom FX to denote BD based products, but maybe not.

 

[Vic Vega]

I remember the FX60 for $1,000+ USD... AMD had a clear performance advantage at the time and could charge a premium. If Bulldozer turns out to be good I can see AMD doing it again and people will pay it, they did before and they'll do it again.

 

[BD231]

I was not aware AMD was willing to charge $1000 dollars for a CPU .... knowing this I really don't care that they're getting their ass kicked now. It's for the better.

 

[Arkaign]

I was not aware AMD was willing to charge $1000 dollars for a CPU .... knowing this I really don't care that they're getting their ass kicked now. It's for the better.

Both of them charge up to that figure for top tier desktop cpus. See the top 9xxX i7s for proof. But yeah AMD is only a value when they're not way on top like A64-X2 days.

 

[RyanGreener]

Now that I look back at my post, this might mean that they are very confident in their CPU's abilities. Maybe they'll make a comeback. We need competition again