Zen will be 8 core 16 threads with SMT, how convenient how some mentioned the 6-core, 12 - thread but skipped that detail.
It does not matter. Most of those who buy anything above 4 cores know what they are doing. They'll just choose the core that fits their needs, be it from AMD or Intel. If Intel's hexcore has better value than AMD's octacore, they'll go for the hexcore. If AMD has better value, they'll go for AMD.
That's something that there is no need to be mentioned. It is just a name without any real weight on the silicon's quality itself. That is just a 5-letter word with no value.
No value to us.
It has value to the average consumer who knows that
Intel just works™
We need competition and I would be happy if you help and not go against it by all means.
Most people don't go against it. Most people choose whatever has the most value per dollar. Value may include performance, reliability, perception, features...
I have often bought AMD. Once because I just needed the absolutely cheapest option, once because I wanted 8 native SATA ports and did not care about performance, once because I needed more than an Intel iGPU but did not require a discrete one, once because I expected AM3+ would not be abandoned... problem is, right now, most peoples' needs (value determinants) favor Intel, not AMD.
No. The demand is already there (I know because I am part of it). And $1000 dollars for an 8 core is just greed; they do it because they can.
The demand has to be high enough to justify all of the nonrecurring expenses of creating a consumer hex/octa core part.
In other words, the demand in the gap between a quad core and a hex core on a consumerized 1S server platform has to be large. IMHO, it cannot possibly be.
Besides, $1000 for an octacore is not greed. It's a way of earning high margins from those consumers who can afford to pay for top performance. If one needs an octacore or RAS, one is a pro, and should pay for it. Be happy, this subsidizes R&D for the dual and quad cores too.
What I do expect is that at some point the server platform might get at least a GT1 GPU on the die.
What I expect from Zen showing up is prices compressing. I do not expect Intel to release a consumer octacore. However, the 4790k equivalent might drop to $200-$250.
