Honest question: how much of a "win" will Barcelona really be compared to its direct competitor?

Yes, it could be a positive sign.

On the other hand, competitors will basically have a fixed target to pin on for the whole second half of the year.
A revolution can only happen once in a while.

If you mean Barcelona as the 4-core server variant, it would most likely not be a win at all for gaming.
That chip's going to lag top of the line FXs in single-threaded performance, and there aren't many PC games that can be demoed to show the quad core to good effect.

If AMD wants to trot out an engineering sample of the dual-core variant that's not scheduled to launch for another six months, things might be different.

I still don't see how launching R600 as originally intended would have precluded then from showing off Barcelona in May. Besides, game perfromace is not what Opteron customers are looking for.

Wrong, my Opteron 146 is a good gamer :cool:

Now the difference between an Opteron and an Athlon FX is even thinner, since they will share the same socket infrastructure (LGA 1207), just like what happened with the early FX-51 desktop part.
The "civilized" desktop variants will use AM2, AM2+ and AM3 sockets.

So, using a "Barcelona"/"Agena" with R600 on a QuadFX board is not unreasonable.

yes but what does it really give them, reviewers are going to be using identical systems to benchmark both graphics cards regardless of barcelona. What is a positive is less marketing dollars when doing a joint launch is the only real reason I can see. And AMD is tight on cash.

Wow, just wow.............

Wrong on what account? I didn't say Opteron does not perform in games - but gaming benchmarks are not going to sell servers.

But there is no reason why they could not demonstrate R600+K10 had R600 been out for a while.

Say what ??

Do you have any more info than Kyle ? :wink:
Sad news if it is the new 5800 .........

No, but I'd like a link to that info, that's all.
It would be very disturbing if true...


edit
Nevermind, i've found it. :S

Except... this is NOT the offical Barcelona launch, is it?

I agree. With the advent of AMD added to the equation, the priorities are different now.

Demonstrating a GPU product now can potentially showcase their prime area of focus, CPU sales and production. If they had to demostrate the R600 on their current product, it may highlight AMD's current CPU dilemma versus Intel even if its really about announcing a new GPU product. But a combo of Barcelona highlites both areas and as as Over-clocked said, the CPU is the key are for then at this time.

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread....1176666&page=3

For those that care to have a link instead of guessing ;^/

-Dave

Somehow over the years I've grown to ignore everything Kyle says at HardOCP unless it's echoed by someone with a lot better reputation

I didn't want to post a link to an outside forum out of respect for the intellectual capacity of B3D's forum members, but since you've provided it... :D

Now, the question is, what was Kyle's stance before 5800 became freely benchmarkable? (I would put a smiley here, but I don't know which one!)

Jawed

Yeah, I guess the whole "Kyle has it in for ATI" thing is pretty much confirmed now huh? That's a pretty bold and very stupid comment to make for someone in his position IMO. Unless Jen Hsun finally made use of Kyle's forum password :lol:

I'm still a bit confused by this Barcelona factor that people are pushing. How exactly is Barcelona going to sell more GPU's and how is R600 going to sell more CPU's? It would be just as fast in May had it launched months ago. Please don't say it's the "impact" of a combined launch :roll: :lol:

Ghod. :roll:

Everyone who expects R600 to get ass-handed like the below, please raise your hand so we can laugh at you. I'm comparing "Application" to "Quality".

http://www.xbitlabs.com/images/video...ce-fx/ut-3.gif

3DMk07, with yet more, heavier-duty, CPU tests integrated into the score for the win :roll:

Jawed

Hmm, well, I hope I haven't tripped over a forum no-no. :(

That seems safer, frankly. I'm not sure what information he is privy to (prior to whatever meeting might happen on whatever continent it winds up happening on), but I'm not sure how the one (R600 == 5800) is related to the other (pricing). R600 is (apparently) hot and (definitely) late. The missing piece would apparently be performance, and nothing has surfaced that would indicate it was *bad*. (At least in comparison to the 8800GTX. Hmm)

I just don't see it either....

Uh yeah and how would launching earlier have precluded that exactly? If Barcelona is going to be used to make R600 look good then that's silly because R600 will be benched against the competition on the same CPU. If R600 is going to be used to make Barcelona look good what was the purpose of delaying R600? So from a performance perspective what exactly is the point? Your heavier-duty, CPU tests would matter for nought just like they matter for nought in the current 3dmark since the score is identical for all graphics cards tested.

I guess "impact" is what we're left with? Please show me how launching R600 earlier would change the performance standing of AMD hardware?

Why do everyone compare it to the 8800GTX when it`s going to be 6 months later ? Guess we all know that NV is ready when the R600 is out ....