BAD HARDWARE WEEK

Intel in troubles with Conroe, mobo manufacturers with its chipsets.
But, AMD is not in any better performance position with AM2. More on AM2 and Intel's
new processors look at badhardware archives.

Intel’s move to push its 65nm dual-core Woodcrest, Conroe and Merom processors (all three utilize the new Intel Core microarchitecture, but target different applications) ahead of previous schedules has not much impressed industry players in Taiwan, according to industry sources. However, since AMD is considered by the industry as being a step behind in the performance race, Intel still has a good chance to regain market share recently lost to its main competitor.

On Thursday, Intel announced that Woodcrest shipments will start in June, followed by Conroe in July and Merom in August – about a couple of months ahead of previous schedules. This will definitely put additional pressure to motherboard makers, the sources indicated, even though a lot of players are expected to come to Computex showcasing new desktop models based on Intel’s new P965 chipset (which supports Conroe).

The sources expect the chipset, which is known as a part of this year’s Intel entertainment PC platforms for the digital home, to be formally launched on June 7, the second day of Computex, or even earlier.

In an attempt to catch up with the competition, AMD will probably try to move the launch of its AM2 dual-core CPUs from June 6, as previously planned, to about May 23, according to the sources. So far, these processors appear to have only minor chances to take a lead over Conroe, and this raises concerns within the industry about AMD’s competitive power, at least, in the second half of this year.

On the other hand, AMD may benefit from claims that Intel may be experiencing difficulties with the Conroe platform, with the sources mentioning possible compatibility issues with the current Intel 975X Express chipset and the unclear situation with the DDR2-800 memory standard, which is still not approved by JEDEC.

The AM2 platform seems more stable at the moment, but the lack of performance should prevent AMD from looking forward with optimism.

Motherboard makers do not believe that the new Intel schedules for Woodcrest, Conroe and Merom will heavily boost shipments. Even before the update, Intel was in a good position, targeting the new CPUs to hit the market in a hot season, the sources indicated. This quarter, according to Intel, motherboard supply will again exceed actual demand, so the sources expressed some worries about how the inventory pile-up will play out.

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