
Originally Posted by
-Boris-
We're not being lied to. AMD said that it is possible to make an BD for AM3, but it would be different from those made for AM3+. So they would need two different designs. Which would cost more for AMD than it would be worth. Since enthusiast probably stand for a single digit percentage of overall sales, and many (including me) is upgrading from AM2 and need a new motherboard anyway. While others would go for AM3+ even if they have AM3 because of the performance advantage. The AM3 version would have a very small marketshare if you count OEM, AM2 users and AM3+ upgraders.
If they would go for the fully AM3 compatible design only they would suffer a signigicant performance loss on all models, even if you put them in AM3+ -boards.. And since we not only have much more agressive power saving features, but also a new kind of turbo which uses this new headroom efficiently I think it's a safe bet that we would loose much of the turbo functions, including the boost on all cores. And it seems like the whole turbo business will play a major role in BDs final performance.
Basically AMD has 3 choices.
1: AM3-design only. Suffer a heavy performance loss on all processors, no matter which socket you put them in.
2: Two different designs, much more expensive, and the enthusiasts that upgrade from AM3 would be to few for this to be economically viable.
3 AM3+ only. More performance on all models, cheaper. Probably add some badly needed extra cash from increased motherboard sales too.
Bookmarks