Black Editions - A Clear and Present Danger

[pattobw]

I have been thinking about the unlocked multiplier Black edition versions -

AM2 5000+ and soon to be released Phenom version....

 

It seems to me that no one in their right mind is going to pay 250-350$ for high end motherboards (DFI, ASUS are you listening?) and 150-200$ for overclockable memory (OCZ, GSkill, others) when all you have to do is spend an extra 50$ or so for the unlocked cpu version. The elitist overclocking community is suddenly going to be no longer the domain of those with deep pockets.

 

If I were a memory manufacturer I would be concentrating on low latency ram at 800MHz DDR2 for the AMD market. If I were a motherboard manufacturer I would concentrate my AMD efforts on more affordable motherboards with good performance/price ratios (like the DFI P-35 DK series).

 

When put in this light, the price / performance ratio of those highly overclockable Core-2 cpus gets a lot worse.

 

If the unlocked versions become too popular, Intel may have to follow AMD's lead in this area.

 

Am I missing something in my analysis? :confused:

[Angry_Games]

The real issue here is that all of these companies (except for DFI it seems) have moved away from the enthusiast/overclocking nonsense that we've all been addicted to for the last couple of years and came to their senses and moved back to the majority/mainstream.

 

AMD on top of this...is in a pretty ugly position right now. Nothing they have can compete with the Intel chips for price-performance. Nothing. Why buy an AMD cpu when for about the same price or slightly more you can get a better Core2 or even a Quad Intel, and it's more reliable, better performing, more overclockable, etc...?

 

Unlocked vs locked = moot point completely because the price-performance ratio on AMD is waaaay too high compared to Intel, and unlocked multipliers will not be a factor in this EVER.

 

AMD needs to come down off their high prices if they want any customers to continue buying (like they have with the new ATI cards compared to Nvidia cards which are better than the ATI's but more expensive)

[dr_bowtie]

I dont think the Black Edition CPU is a bad choice for AMD...

 

I tend to think it's a rather good Idea to help them keep what little they have...Some people just arent into overclocking so CPUs like 6400's appeal to them....while others know they can get the same speed or higher with a BE CPU for less then half the price...

 

I own one and I have to say I admire for doing this especially in the position they are in...Sure it aint as fast as a C2D but they do run pretty even with the E2160/E2180 series at the same clock speeds...especially around 3Gs and above....and 3.3ghz and 3.4ghz....are pretty easy to get...

[Angry_Games]

Some people just arent into overclocking

 

how about almost no one is into overclocking compared to the rest of the overwhelming majority?

 

out of us 1%'ers who are super-enthusiasts, I'd guesstimate maybe, MAYBE 20% of us 1% are into overclocking (and that number is falling rapidly)

[Imsochobo]

I do agree alot on the overclocking subject, but as ive seen the past time that have passed by too fast, ive sticked with parts too long due to just gaming and having a same oc which was max.

 

There was nothing better than the DFI boards at that time, all other boards sucked butt at overclocking, but now, ive seen Foxconn go really hard into overclocking, asus have done well, but are overpriced and overrated after my opinion, people in norway just, OMFG i do 400 mhz more oc on my conroe with the foxconn mars, brands like DFI ASUS GIGABYTE FOXCONN are really into OC, i aint sure about other manufactures, cause of personal experiences with their boards in past time, so i avoid them, til otherwise is proven, which isnt yet at all.

 

 

Im quite satisfied with my mobo for my amd platform,but well, there is a missing link, a cpu, and the PHENOM DOES deliver performance-price, but they are actually missing 2 things, they are on 95 watt which makes it less efficient than the intel ones actually, and they dont got anything near a high end gaming platform, for games we want HIGH clocks, not like, quadcore, it doesnt help in alot of games, so therefore, we need atleast a 2.8 ghz quadcore to compete again a dualcore, the support for quadcore isnt around too much yet, Ive looked on benchmarks on quad vs Dualcore's there is no worry with a intel, cause they got quad's on high clocks, which deliver really good performance.

 

While amd, just deliver a quadcore and expect all gamers throw themself over it, while it is slower than a dualcore in games at a equal price from amd.

 

a black edition phenom that clocks somewhere equally to the 5000+ BE would be nice, they go to nearly 3.6 ghz with little effort on my watercooled system. if a phenom BE would do that, my world would be saved.

[gadugger]

Then you got the people like me that likes to take the tried and true parts at rock bottom prices and overclock the snot out of em.

I mean c'mon $300.00 for a Motherboard...I don't think so..and I can afford it.

 

If not for this website I wouldn't be running the rig in my sig.

Thx Happy...um Angry.

[Praz]

Intel, Asus Gigabyte, MSI, Foxconn and Abit all have overclocking motherboards in excess of $200.00. Asus has more then anyone. Intel chose to launch the Yorkfield run under cascade because in their own words they wanted to reach the fastest growing segment in the build your own community. I realize most are unaware of this but there is hardly a board released now that doesn't go to an overclocker while still in alpha stage. The final version is built based on input from these users, both at the hardware level and BIOS.

[schoolslave]

I don't really overclock anymore. Sure, it used to be fun and such, but the results were never a big boost in real-world usage performance. I don't know, I prefer my system to be stable and perform well, which my system does for me. I bought this Opteron and this whole load of watercooling to overclock, but when the time finally came, I wondered....why? My system is stable, it does all I need it to do. Why take the risks of screwing something up?

[Repr]

i always thought that the black editions are a great idea. ofcourse they dont appeal to the majority of the pc-using crowd, but then, they are probebly lot less made then the standard CPU's. the price difference is minimal. my first check on the first hardware store in the netherlands i tried showed that the 6400 black edition is the same price as the normal one, and the 5000 black edition is 5 euro more expensive. the only extra cost is the cooler youll want with it, but pretty much everyone that knows what a black-edition is and wants it will buy a non-stock cooler anyway.

 

but does overclocking really do any good? hardly i guess. sure, i have my cpy overclocked about 1GB. does it really increase my performance? nah, not really. im sure it does a bit, but 2.4ghz or 3.4 ghz, its not like im in awe about the speed i gained. so what is the reason i do it?

 

its simple...i can. the majority of the pc's here have excellent gear. why buy corsair dominator ram sticks if GEIL offers the same stock speed at a much lower price? why buy a $200 worth motherboard while the cheaper mini-atx boards will do most that we want?

 

becouse we love hardware. we want the best, the fastest, and if possible, for a little less then everyone else. i can overclock and push my cpu above most peoples cpu's. and i think its great. everyone here as a far bigger knowledge of the systems we run the average user. so why not use it? maybe there isnt a reaosn to do so, but then....there isnt one to keep you from doing it either.

[miamisc2]

i like the unlocked multi idea too, but i also bought a 65 dollar intel chip coupled with a 99 dollar motherboard and turned a 1.6 into a 3.0 and many others have done 3.2-3.4... it's hard for amd to be in the game right now when things look like that in the low end and look a hell of a lot worse in the high end.

 

now if they had a good 65nm cpu that was 50-60 bucks and oc to 3.4 (which they do but not for 50 bucks), and had a reliable and overclockable board that would fully support the phenom (respins) for under 100, i'd maybe still think about it. saving a few bucks there and going with a 3800 series would make an appreciable difference i think, if you were going for a cheap and quiet setup and were a huge amd douche like me, although there is no way in hell even if that was the case, that i would recommend amd (3800, yes) for any build anymore.

 

i think amd screwed all types of up by hyping up the phenom and then having this happen. if they could at least show something promising by getting some re-spins out there and letting people benchmark them as soon as possible, things may start looking better, but for now, amd is out of the question for me.