Date:
Monday , November 19, 2007
Author:
Kyle Bennett
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AMD Phenom & Spider vs Intel QX9770

AMD's native quad core Phenom desktop processor is finally here accompanied by the 790FX chipset that makes up the AMD “Spider” platform when used alongside the Radeon 3800 series video cards.

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Platform Overview

When the hell did having a platform become so important? The “platform” has been pounded into us for a good year now as it seems to be of ever increasing importance. But really why do we need one and of what importance is it? There are more than a few answers to that question and they would all be correct.

AMD was of course the first big mover in this area with the purchase of ATI. It swallowed up ATI and immediately gained solid GPU and motherboard chipset divisions. Along with GPU, motherboard chipset, and AMD processors, you do have what I define as a platform. With these three parts, AMD is able to lay down product lines that will generate a lot of revenue for them. Intel’s Centrino platform was and still is the most successful platform we have ever seen. To get the Centrino platform branding on your unit and all the marketing associated with it, an integrator was looking at having Intel’s chipset, processors, and WiFi chip inside their product, most likely a notebook. AMD has recognized this success and seen it as the new way business is to be done. Intel has seen this as well as experienced it and that good fortune is the energizing impetus behind Intel’s Larrabee GPU project. That and maybe the wish to see NVIDIA wiped from the planet. And speaking of NVIDIA, you will hear the word “platform” spinning from its lips as well, but without a GPU and two “partner” companies that are caring less and less about NVIDIA motherboard chipset technology for its own CPUs, there seems to less and less “platform” at NVIDIA all the time. Looking forward, the only thing I see saving NVIDIA from being crushed or absorbed is the full financial failure of AMD, which of course is fodder for another story one day. Back to the Spider platform.

So now that we know a bit more of why we are seeing the platform become so important, you can obviously figure out it is all about control in the market place. AMD and Intel want its own video cards working well on its “own” motherboards that surely will showcase its own CPUs.

Spider Slides

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The slides above outline the AMD Spider platform. And as talked about above, it is really a “simple” idea consisting of AMD’s core components. Overall, the platform looks to be a good thing, but as we move forward in time, we can be certain that at some point it will limit our choices. On the upside, there is no doubt to be fierce competition that will keep products fresh, but if we see one company get out very far ahead of the other we will of course see a lull…as we are now, both in the processor arena as well as the graphics arena. I think that both NVIIDA and Intel are sandbagging it right now due to AMD’s lackluster performance in the last 18 months.