The Inquirer: AMD's Opteron: Does it measure up?

Is the mainstream IT media in Intel's pocket?

By Mario Rodrigues: Thursday 19 June 2003, 12:17

WITH ALL OF the delays, Hammer (AMD64) has been a long time coming. Since its formal announcement some four years ago, Hammer has generated a truck load of hype, but has the wait been worth it? If allegations of Intel strong- arming are true, then the chip giant takes Hammer to be a very serious threat indeed.

When AMD launched Opteron, it was pretty much a server product launch, as there were no workstation boards available. Of course, this will soon change.

Is the mainstream IT media in Intel's pocket?
It has been almost two months since Opteron's launch, and what's really surprised me has been the poor response from the mainstream IT media, especially when one sees how Opteron performs in independent benchmarks. Hardware web sites have justly reported on Opteron's outstanding performance, but this news event hasn't transferred to the IT mainstream as headline grabbing reports. Don't get me wrong, there has been reporting on Opteron's performance, but nothing that really nails the sail to the mast. It's worse than the dumbing down that Tyan meted out to its own Opteron motherboard. It smells of leveraged censorship.


Omega65: A long editorial - go read it!