Root Access

Journeyman Geek

00:00

we still have 2008 or older era workstations in production

DragonLord

vanshardware.com/reviews/2002/08/020822_AthlonXP2600/…

This is from 2002

ir.amd.com/…

This is from 2012

It turns out SYSmark has always been biased towards Intel

No wonder AMD is so weak today. Intel has been playing dirty all along.

AMD was getting crippled during the Athlon XP days and now lacks the resources to develop a decent x86 processor.

Journeyman Geek

intel has been playing dirty in other ways ;p

oops

whoa...

DragonLord

If Intel didn't run this "destroy AMD" campaign nearly 15 years ago, we'd probably see far more and better hardware from AMD today.

Journeyman Geek

I tend to disagree

DragonLord

I was a bit skeptical about AMD's claims about SYSmark being biased when I first read them. Further research confirmed these claims.

My personal laptop has an Intel processor, the first Intel machine in more than a decade, and now I might have to reconsider.

Journeyman Geek

00:08

If you want to get a worse processor, go ahead.

DragonLord

Yes, Intel's processors may be better overall, but it's my hope that AMD can catch up and recover from this unfair play that nearly destroyed them.

Journeyman Geek

Don't forget, that had nothing to do with process improvements (AMD did try to set up their own fabs, and messed that up business wise) and intel's own post PIV architecture improvements.

DragonLord

Clock for clock, the Athlon XP processor was vastly superior to the Pentium 4.

AMD had a serious chance to bridge the sales gap with Intel, but was prevented from doing so.

Intel had manipulated an industry-standard benchmark to discredit AMD.

Intel wrote its compiler to seriously disadvantage AMD.

Intel pushed for maximum clock rate, not real performance.

Intel used coercive tactics to compel computer manufacturers to select them over AMD.

forbes.com/2005/06/28/amd-intel-lawsuit-cx_ah_0628amd.html

In the absence of this foul play, AMD would be much stronger today.

I know much of this is no longer current, and Intel no longer plays dirty to this extent, the impact of Intel's foul play lingers to this day.

Journeyman Geek

00:31

actually, they still do ;p

(hell, that's probably one of the reasons the x86 netbook made a comeback, and x86 phones are so damned cheap)

as a consumer, and an enthusiast tho, I'd rather get gear on the basis of what works for me.

Journeyman Geek

00:44

blah, java

Journeyman Geek

01:28

So. I have a webcam in my room that's supposed to be connectable over the cloud.app isn't working, so.... I remote into my laptop to check on him :p

Bob

02:42

@DragonLord Keep in mind that they have more knowledge of how to optimise for their architecture. What's optimal for an Intel proc is not necessarily optimal for an AMD proc. It's really up to them if their niche HPC compiler makes these optimisations that provide a minor performance boost on an Intel proc (and even a minor boost really matters in HPC) but ends up being a penalty on an AMD proc.

Heck, if it's optimised for a specific architecture I would not be surprised to see it doing worse on other Intel architectures.

DragonLord

agner.org/optimize/blog/read.php?i=49

Bob

03:00

@JourneymanGeek Both the BEBs and Pistons arrived today.

Trying the Pistons now.

That chocolate smell :)

They sound great

Journeyman Geek

0_0

Chocolate... smell?

nice ;p

Also, we can't blame Intel for architectural misteps

Bob

@JourneymanGeek Smell from the cable - the gold/brown ones have a chocolate smell :D

Journeyman Geek

Ahh 0_0

Bob

03:16

Hm. Was abit annoying to get the tiny QR to scan, but passed the genuine test :P

Apparently fakes don't have the chocolate smell anyway.

Journeyman Geek

I was thinking of getting the silvers ;p

Bob

@JourneymanGeek Got a pair of 'em too

Not as much of a smell...

is that... vanilla?

Journeyman Geek

lol

Bob

Nah, just my imagination :P

@JourneymanGeek Also picked up one of the Paperback ones... it sounds decent :P

The fit isn't quite as good as the normal one, but it's good enough to use, and the sound quality is obviously miles ahead of random $2 cheapies.

@JourneymanGeek I've apparently forgotten how to wear normal earbuds O_O

Either that or the BEBs are particularly massive

Journeyman Geek

lol

paperback?

the BEBs look massive

Bob

03:31

@JourneymanGeek head-fi.org/t/735775/the-xiaomi-pistons-thread-2-0

@JourneymanGeek They are!

Doesn't help that I apparently have tiny ears.

Paperback is basically the small/cheap version.

Journeyman Geek

ahh

eh, I can't get most earbuds to fit ;p

Bob

@JourneymanGeek Same :P

I'm lucky my old Samsung ones fit. But it's something like $40 for a new pair, and they don't even sound as good as the $20 Pistons

Journeyman Geek

(I have a small pile of headphones from various android devices... HTC, Samsung and Moto ><)

Bob

@JourneymanGeek I'm a bit annoyed with the mic on the Pistons, though

For some reason, it's at the point where the left and right lines merge.

So it sits under my chin rather than next to my mouth.

Journeyman Geek

03:46

cheaper to produce? Good for left and right handers?

Bob

@JourneymanGeek I don't think mic side really matters too much for different dominant hands.

The BEBs are on the left.

Almost all others are on the right.

In the middle is just awkward.

Bob