Originally posted by: Ardrid
I registered just to address Nemisis' post. You need to do some serious research before you start spouting off comments. First off, HT (HyperTransport) is used for more than just SMP setups. HT is effectively the I/O link of the entire system. It's what the processor uses to talk to the chipset, buses, etc. However, it truly shines when it's talking to another processor because each processor has its own bandwidth. That means total system bandwidth increases as you add more processors, unlike the Xeon and Itanium. I encourage you to read up.
Secondly, Intel did not, I repeat, did not invent HT (Hyper-Threading). SMT, as it's rightfully called, has been in existence and used long before Intel decided to "create" it. You might also be surprised to know that 3DNow was in existence before SSE. That being said, it was Intel who stole AMD's idea, much like they're doing with AMD64. And in case you didn't know, 3DNow was expanded to include SSE2 with SSE3 to follow. Including separate instruction sets would be pointless because there's little chance of them being adopted. And the business world could care less about the marketing names AMD/Intel give their technology. You think ppl are complaining about how ridiculous NetBurst is?
Expansion is innovation in this case. AMD took an old architecture and extended it, while maintaining complete compatibility. They didn't try to revolutionize the entire ISA and shove it down the industry's throat (*cough* IA-64 *cough*). Rather than being foolish, they did what was logical. Let's not forget the on-die memory controller as well, arguably one of the greatest features brought to the desktop arena. I've already touched on the multimedia instructions, so I won't do that again. Moreover, if you've been paying attention to the video card scene recently, you'd realize that both NVIDIA and ATI are developing methods to completely take the stress of encoding/decoding off the CPU and place it on the GPU. That being said, such instructions are unnecessary. As to the Opteron 939, it doesn't exist. Extra features will come when AMD debuts their 90nm processors.
And finally, AMD "missing the boat". Not happening because Intel already missed it. Look how long it took for them to swallow their pride. Now, add to that the fact that ppl in the industry are saying Nocona's 64-bit performance sucks. It's not too hard to see why AMD is the leader right now. Every Tier 1 OEM is behind AMD save Dell, and you can count on them joining sooner as opposed to later. And vid card manufacturers aren't doing anything like what you suggested. Almost every feature they create is an open standard (3Dc, MXM, Axiom, etc.). The only thing that's manufacturer specific is the architecture.
I'll end with this. AMD has been the undisputed leader for the past year and they look to continue that trend for the next 18 months or so. They've forced Intel to adopt AMD64, a model number system, and completely revamp their roadmap, effectively killing the P4 and NetBurst. Goliath may not be down but he's damn sure reeling.