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Hardware Dell Analyst Denies AMD System Forecasts, Rahul Sood's Reaction
Brandon Hill (Blog) - January 13, 2006 4:27 PM

15 comment(s) - last by Viditor.. on Jan 15 at 7:43 AM

On the heels of yet another analyst's announcement that there are no plans for AMD-based Dell systems in the works, AMD's stock price hiccups

Unfortunately, for as much press as Mr. Santiago received concerning Dell's grand AMD plans, it takes more than just an educated guess to call yourself an analyst. We've seen this before; relatively obscure analyst predicts Dell will embrace AMD, AMD's stock rises, Dell denies rumor, rinse and repeat.

VoodooPC's President and CTO, Rahul Sood, has a few tidbits to add to this latest batch of Dell-AMD, including a look at some of the specific analyst assumptions. Read on here.

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Dell can't just use an AMD CPU without a board...

By CZroe on 1/14/2006 12:22:14 AM , Rating: 2

It's not just about Dell adopting AMD CPUs. Dell doesn't just go out and source new boards for each new Intel CPU. They have a method and they stick fast to it. The simple fact is that it would nearly double the load and exponentially increase their manufacturing workload if they had to build an entire line of AMD boards too and you know good and well that it's not "A Dell" if they just get MSI or Asus to make the boards like HP/Compaq.

Unless there is some significant market force in the future that makes it worth it then yeah, it could happen but at the moment it looks like a far distant possibility at best.

RE: Dell can't just use an AMD CPU without a board...

By Lifted on 1/14/2006 8:05:35 AM , Rating: 2

Since when does Dell make ANYTHING? They assemble parts, period.

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RE: Dell can't just use an AMD CPU without a board...

By codeThug on 1/15/2006 12:58:49 AM , Rating: 2

That's a complete lie.

Dell makes really crappy bioses for their wonderful machines...

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RE: Dell can't just use an AMD CPU without a board...

By dhanson865 on 1/14/2006 9:47:01 AM , Rating: 3

Surprise:

Most of dells laptops are are designed and manufactured by the same company, Sometimes it is Compal Electronics sometimes it is Quanta. Maybe there are more laptop ODMs Dell uses but I'm too lazy to look it up.

Now lets look at a recent peice of news:

"Some well informed Taiwanese sources are telling us that Dell has asked some well-known ODM manufacturers to design AMD-based products and to be prepared for massive production as soon as Dell will request it. The concerned ODMs are Honhai (Foxconn) for server products, Quanta for notebooks and Asus for plain vanilla motherboards."

Of course I don't expect AMD products on the Dell home page anytime soon. These products will be sold white box or maybe with the Dell logo but on request only as if they didn't exist.

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RE: Dell can't just use an AMD CPU without a board...

By Viditor on 1/14/2006 9:28:20 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
The concerned ODMs are Honhai (Foxconn) for server products, Quanta for notebooks and Asus for plain vanilla motherboards."

Remember that Foxconn is the largest manufacturer of Intel motherboards, and that Quanta, Asus, and Foxconn represent together about 98% of all of Dell's motherboards...

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Wow, one whole guy

By mindless1 on 1/14/2006 10:20:13 PM , Rating: 4

Well this go-round we see a source is "Les Santiago, an analyst from Piper Jaffray".

Ok, one guy says so. I say Dell will begin putting conveyor belts inside every system case to leverage the /power/ of a P4 to produce the first PC EZ-bake-Ovens.

Now all of you go out and spread the word. ;-)

AMD for Teen Gamers

By porkster on 1/15/2006 5:51:14 AM , Rating: 1

Why would Dell want AMD? Currently, Dell would need to create a mass of new supply links and store older technology like DDR1. Then you have the small amount of BTX AMD mobo's.

AMD positives have only been due to the on board memory controller in the CPU, making single tasked gaming faster. Also AMD appeal to the k-mart style budget buyer since they have a tacky image and features.

The future is multitasking and with Intel's investment into this area since Hyper threading and not having an onboard control circuits, they’re in the best position for product makers like Dell.

RE: AMD for Teen Gamers

By Viditor on 1/15/2006 7:43:42 AM , Rating: 3

Porkster the Troll! It's been AGES since I've seen your posts! Welcome back...
To answer your questions:

quote:
Why would Dell want AMD?

Because they have been losing significant sales in the server sector and desktop sector to HP. In fact, they've been coming in below expectations the last 2 quarters and may do so again this quarter past.

quote:
Dell would need to create a mass of new supply links and store older technology like DDR1

AMD is going DDR2 as of Q2 this year, which is before the date they are considering.

quote:
AMD positives have only been due to the on board memory controller in the CPU, making single tasked gaming faster

I don't think that's really a consideration for the Opteron line under discussion...and I assume you haven't read much on CPUs for the past year, or you'd know that AMD sells a significant number of dual cores that are significantly faster than anything Intel has available. But more to the point, they achieve this at half the power usage and heat that Intel generates. This is especially crucial in the server sector!

quote:
The future is multitasking and with Intel's investment into this area since Hyper threading and not having an onboard control circuits

Obviously you haven't learned about interchip communication yet either...you see, servers actually use more than 1 chip quite often. Since AMD uses HT links and MOESI protocol, multi-processor (and multitasking) on Opteron is light years ahead.

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Next time maybe

By android1st on 1/13/2006 8:36:31 PM , Rating: 2

I'm still holding fast to the belief that one day this story will go around and pretty quick we'll see Dell using AMD's processors. I think Intel will finally wake up and see the profits it has lost by giving Dell incentives...

A lot of time is spent on an inferior product

By AlexWade on 1/13/06, Rating: 0

RE: A lot of time is spent on an inferior product

By killerroach on 1/13/2006 10:07:03 PM , Rating: 2

The deal is that Dell is the 800-pound gorilla in the computer industry, and they have inexplicably been joined at the hip with Intel for quite some time. In fact, some people have referred to Dell as the PC manufacturing division of Intel. For them to even be considering AMD would be a huge change in how AMD is seen in the eyes of the typical consumer, although I doubt that Dell, who relies on the segment of the market that I call the "disposable PC" market for its dominance, is willing to risk losing those incredible discounts they get from Intel (even if the legality of such paybacks are questioned).

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It's prob that time again for Dell to renegotiate with Intel...

By Pneumothorax on 1/14/2006 1:47:41 AM , Rating: 2

These supposed "leaks" are getting OLD. The only reason Dell leaks these rumors out is to get Intel to lower their CPU prices. Rinse-wash-repeat. Probably Intel is asking Dell too much for their Core Duo's

Yet Again

By nowayout99 on 1/14/2006 5:07:54 AM , Rating: 2

The "Dell wants cheaper Intel supply" excuse is just as cliche as the Dell-AMD rumors themselves.

If that were the case every single time the story was brought up in the last year, then the real problem is that they have supply contracts that last about 4 weeks at a time.

Good way to make money

By defter on 1/14/2006 11:04:07 AM , Rating: 2

1. Buy AMD stock
2. Spread a rumour that Dell will be using AMD's CPUs
3. Wait a few days and then sell AMD stock with a nice profit
4. Short AMD stock
5. Wait until rumour is officially denied and buy AMD stock back again with a nice profit
6. sleep(3-6 months)
7. goto 1

1+1=2

By BaronMatrix on 1/14/2006 8:04:04 PM , Rating: 2

For all those people who say that if Dell picka up AMD then the channel will suffer or Dell's expeses will increase, look at it this way, if Dell sells 20 million PC per quarter they don't have to get all 20 million from AMD or Intel, so they can take say 12 million from Intel and 8 millio from AMD. They will still sell the same, but won't have the slowest solutions anymore. I mean at this point I couldn't sell Dell Xeon servers over HP 385s (dual Opteron) or Hp 585s (quad Opteron). Maybe that's why the latest shout for AMD came from Dell salesmen.