Ah, price wars are great, aren't they? I personally love the smell of dollar-laced napalm in the morning. It seems like AMD and Intel are at it again, what with the new cuts by Big Blue on July 22nd. You can go get a quad-core for just £160!
Of course, if we're honest, Intel needed those cuts to compete with AMD's now nearly ridiculous prices. Prices which, according to the company, won't be going any lower anytime soon.
Gary Bixler, AMD's Director of Marketing for North America, dropped the bomb on Monday. "We've tried to be very transparent on price actions. Things got crazy last year, but this year we made it a point to provide the channel with what it wants, which is a predictable business, a stable business," Bixler said. "We communicated that price move well in advance to our channel partners. We haven't announced our next price move yet, so take that at face-value -- another one is not imminent."
He also went on to explain that the price cuts, which only took place a bit over a week ago, are not a reaction to the expected Intel cuts. Instead, he asserted them as simply bringing more value to the marketplace now that the AM2 chip line is starting to mature, and Barcelona is on the horizon. System builders seem to collaborate AMD's statement, saying that they were given several months' notice before the sharp drops on July 9th.
Bixler also dropped some hints on a change in the way AMD handles its third-party north- and south-bridge chipsets, which have been made in the past by companies like NVIDIA, ULI (now part of NVIDIA) and ATI (now a subsidiary of AMD). These chipsets gave the AMD platform a lot more variety and proved to be widely favoured by enthusiasts, but also lacked much of the stability needed for the mass market.
AMD's Validation Service, or AVS, is slated to get a re-tooling come August, most likely thanks to AMD's ownership of ATI - one of its best chipset partners. The service started last year to help provide support for flakier chipsets to system builders, but the damage had already caused many to shy away from using AMD setups. Whether this change will bring more builders back to the green camp is unknown, but it certainly couldn't hurt.
Do you have a thought on AMD's statement? Share it with the rest of our community.
Of course, if we're honest, Intel needed those cuts to compete with AMD's now nearly ridiculous prices. Prices which, according to the company, won't be going any lower anytime soon.
Gary Bixler, AMD's Director of Marketing for North America, dropped the bomb on Monday. "We've tried to be very transparent on price actions. Things got crazy last year, but this year we made it a point to provide the channel with what it wants, which is a predictable business, a stable business," Bixler said. "We communicated that price move well in advance to our channel partners. We haven't announced our next price move yet, so take that at face-value -- another one is not imminent."
He also went on to explain that the price cuts, which only took place a bit over a week ago, are not a reaction to the expected Intel cuts. Instead, he asserted them as simply bringing more value to the marketplace now that the AM2 chip line is starting to mature, and Barcelona is on the horizon. System builders seem to collaborate AMD's statement, saying that they were given several months' notice before the sharp drops on July 9th.
Bixler also dropped some hints on a change in the way AMD handles its third-party north- and south-bridge chipsets, which have been made in the past by companies like NVIDIA, ULI (now part of NVIDIA) and ATI (now a subsidiary of AMD). These chipsets gave the AMD platform a lot more variety and proved to be widely favoured by enthusiasts, but also lacked much of the stability needed for the mass market.
AMD's Validation Service, or AVS, is slated to get a re-tooling come August, most likely thanks to AMD's ownership of ATI - one of its best chipset partners. The service started last year to help provide support for flakier chipsets to system builders, but the damage had already caused many to shy away from using AMD setups. Whether this change will bring more builders back to the green camp is unknown, but it certainly couldn't hurt.
Do you have a thought on AMD's statement? Share it with the rest of our community.
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