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This is a big win for AMD and for me it reconfirms that their strategy of pushing into the mainstream features that Intel is trying to hold hostage for the "hig

This is a big win for AMD and for me it reconfirms that their strategy of pushing into the mainstream features that Intel is trying to hold hostage for the "high end" is a good one. Back when AMD first introduced the 64 bit extensions to the x86 architecture and directly challenged Intel who was selling 64 bits as a "high end" feature in their Itanium line, it was a place where Intel was unwilling to go (commoditizing 64 bit processors) That proved pretty successful for them. Now they have done it again by commoditizing "high core count" processors. Each time they do this I wonder if Intel will ever learn that you can't "get away" with selling something for a lot of money that can be made more cheaply forever. Processors are not a veblen good.

gtirloni 7y ago
> Each time they do this I wonder if Intel will ever learn that you can't "get away" with selling something for a lot of money that can be made more cheaply forever I think the keyword is "forever". They know they can get away with that for a long time though. Because they historically have.
Tuna-Fish 7y ago
> That proved pretty successful for them. Now they have done it again by commoditizing "high core count" processors. They've done much more than that. Intel's current server CPU lineup is tightly siloed into different segments to limit every feature that some customers would pay more for into it's own line priced to match. That's why they currently have Xeon Scalable {Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum}, Xeon {D, W, E} lines, with 402 different Xeon CPUs actively being sold. In contrast, AMD has two EPYC lines, P and non-P, only differing in that P is for 1-socket servers. The models in these lines differ in that they have more/less cores and different clocks, all those features that Intel gates and segments by, are found in every AMD CPU.
AceJohnny2 7y ago
> Processors are not a veblen good Huh, TIL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good "Veblen goods are types of luxury goods for which the quantity demanded increases as the price increases"

gtirloni 7y ago

> Each time they do this I wonder if Intel will ever learn that you can't "get away" with selling something for a lot of money that can be made more cheaply forever I think the keyword is "forever". They know they can get away with that for a long time though. Because they historically have.

Tuna-Fish 7y ago

> That proved pretty successful for them. Now they have done it again by commoditizing "high core count" processors. They've done much more than that. Intel's current server CPU lineup is tightly siloed into different segments to limit every feature that some customers would pay more for into it's own line priced to match. That's why they currently have Xeon Scalable {Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum}, Xeon {D, W, E} lines, with 402 different Xeon CPUs actively being sold. In contrast, AMD has two EPYC lines, P and non-P, only differing in that P is for 1-socket servers. The models in these lines differ in that they have more/less cores and different clocks, all those features that Intel gates and segments by, are found in every AMD CPU.

AceJohnny2 7y ago

> Processors are not a veblen good Huh, TIL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good "Veblen goods are types of luxury goods for which the quantity demanded increases as the price increases"