OC'D FX70 vs. QX6700

[fps justin]

The FX 70s are overclocked to 3.1ghz but the QX6700 still beats them at stock.
Legit Reviews - AMD QuadFX FX-70 Platform Performance & Overclocking

[Mithosphere]

AMD's QuadFX is just way too expensive when the Core 2 Duo/Quadro can beat it overclocked

[Panda Man]

I'm still waiting on AMD's C2D killer, that's about all I ever heard about during the C2D development and shortly after launch.

[Capper]

talk is cheap, until theres an actual solution on the market I'd recommend sticking with a "simple" C2D. The Quad cores are over priced and poorly designed, and AMD's Quad FX is pretty ridiculous, and if its the best AMD can do in 2007, they are in real trouble.

[One4yu2c]

AMD needs to pull a serious Ace outta their sleeve, and Quad FX ain't it. Traditionally when two companies compete, there's a constant game of leapfrog between the two, but let's look at the timeline more closely:

AMD T-Bird/Barton
This marks the first time that AMD was able to truly compete and win enthusiasts' favor. Before this, Pentium processors ruled the roost, but AMD captured the gaming benches while also severely undercutting the pricing structure of the competition, both in terms of equivalent processing power and high end motherboard solutions. I remember being able to pick up a Barton 2500+ for sub-$100, and with a quick FSB boost, you had a 3200+, which was the top of the line available at the time.

AMD Athlon 64 / X2
Here again AMD maintained the enthusiast sector, despite ditching rock bottom prices. Socket 939 provided everything the enthusiast gamer wanted, and performance simply outshined Intel's P4 offering. Pricing sucked, particularly with the X2 line, and high end motherboards started creeping into the $250+ tier (I remember paying $275 for the Asus A8N32-SLI, and it would fly off of Newegg's virtual shelves just as fast as they could stock them), but enthusiasts proved they were willing to pay top dollar for the better solution.

Intel Core 2 Duo
Here's the leapfrog we've all been waiting for from Intel. Despite AM2 bringing DDR2 to the table and prices on X2 processors getting slashed, the C2D processors are priced low enough that AMD can't provide the undercut that the Barton's provided, and they've lost the performance crown too.

Tomorrow??
Despite the traditional leapfrog game mentioned above, there's a bit to be concerned about with AMD's future. A BIG part of why AMD enjoyed continued success in the enthusiast market beyond the Barton glory days is because Intel stubbornly held on to their P4 Netburst architecture with a grossly long stage pipeline, despite the dwindling interest in the DIY market. The technology was there to compete and/or trump AMD's offerings in the form of Dothan/Pentium-M, but Intel was hellbent on riding out the GHz war, and would even release a new formfactor (BTX) before ultimately changing direction. But change direction they finally have, and AMD has no answer to Intel flexing their engineering muscle in the form of Core 2 Duo. And the Quad FX is getting thumped by Intel's dual-core offering, let alone their own quad-core offering.

With Intel having shed the failed GHz/pipeline experiment while at the same time keeping prices affordable, where does AMD go from here? That's the big question, and from what we're seeing so far, there's not an answer to be found. Even if Intel stayed completely idle (which they won't), AMD's Quad solution isn't enough to compete with Intel's current dual solution. The saving grace here is that Dell finally sells AMD PCs, and perhaps there's something brewing behind the AMD/ATI merger that will shake up the industry.

[gvblake22]

Originally Posted by fps justin

The FX 70s are overclocked to 3.1ghz but the QX6700 still beats them at stock.
Legit Reviews - AMD QuadFX FX-70 Platform Performance & Overclocking

Although it is the top of the line from both companies, they aren't really the same type of products. Quad FX is really basically a tweaked server system that could theoretically provide massive processing power. But the fact of the matter is that typical users really can't usually ever take advantage of such power. I think it is established that Quad FX isn't really what enthusiast desktop users were hoping for, but I don't hear about many people clamoring for an Intel Core 2 Quadro either.

[One4yu2c]

Originally Posted by gvblake22

...but I don't hear about many people clamoring for an Intel Core 2 Quadro either.

That's true, and nor should they be at this point (we haven't even touched the potential of dual-core yet!). But if/when quad-core becomes a viable option, AMD will find themselves in trouble without a serious contender to both Intel's current solution, and whatever big Blue is conjuring up/tweaking for tomorrow. It's the roadmap that's a scary prospect for consumers, and the fact that Intel is again participating on the performance side of things while also keeping solutions affordable. Those are the two areas AMD was able to compete in for the past several years, and they've given us nothing to indicate that they're on the rebound.

Not to pick sides, but as a consumer, we really need AMD to pull a rabbit out of their hats for the sake of competition.

[gvblake22]

Originally Posted by One4yu2c

That's true, and nor should they be at this point (we haven't even touched the potential of dual-core yet!). But if/when quad-core becomes a viable option, AMD will find themselves in trouble without a serious contender to both Intel's current solution, and whatever big Blue is conjuring up/tweaking for tomorrow. It's the roadmap that's a scary prospect for consumers, and the fact that Intel is again participating on the performance side of things while also keeping solutions affordable. Those are the two areas AMD was able to compete in for the past several years, and they've given us nothing to indicate that they're on the rebound.

Not to pick sides, but as a consumer, we really need AMD to pull a rabbit out of their hats for the sake of competition.

I totally agree.

[fps justin]

Intel also has its own 4x4 too. Dubbed the V8. It features two nice QX6700s. Not only that, but if you can buy two cheap E6300s and put them in that mobo, it'll beat the crap out of a a pair of FX 74. Much better stratagey than AMD's new socket. LOL

[Mithosphere]

Originally Posted by gvblake22

I totally agree.

Yea this could become like Monopoly, with Intel having the entire blue/green and cyan/purple plots and then the consumer consecutively landing on the second cyan and then the third purple, then hitting two green in a row, followed by the Fatal blow of boardwalk.