eWeek reports that HP is fielding an Opteron workstation with Istanbul 6 core Opterons. Their Proliant G6 line up can handle up to two Istanbul processors for 12 cores of action.

The HP xw9400 workstation, announced July 1, is aimed at such high-end applications as engineering, 3-D digital content creation, oil and gas, and science, according to company officials. AMD’s Istanbul Opterons are designed to drive up performance while reducing power, cooling and management costs. The HP xw9400 workstation can hold up to two of the chips—for 12 cores in all—and each chip offers up to 34 percent more performance per watt over AMD’s previous quad-core processors.

The New York Times reports that Acer is poised to knock Dell out of the number 2 spot in computer sales. Hehehe.

This year, Acer appears poised to overtake Dell as the world’s second-largest seller of personal computers, which would put a real dent into one of America’s favorite dorm-to-empire business stories. And if this comes to pass, Acer would trail only Hewlett-Packard; no computer company based outside the United States has ever climbed so high.

“That is a big achievement, and they have beaten the odds,” says Roger L. Kay, a PC industry analyst and president of Endpoint Technologies Associates, a consultancy. “Acer is a real comer.”

Rugged PC Review has tested out the AMD Geode powered Advantech PPC-L61T.

The PPC-L61T can be configured either as an embedded device running Windows XP Embedded or Windows CE 6.0 on Compact Flash, or as a full Windows XP machine using an optionally available SATA hard disk kit that mounts onto the backside of the computer. The unit is powered by an AMD Geode LX800 processor and comes with up to a gigabyte of RAM. The low-power processor provides adequate performance and does not need a fan. When mounted in a panel, the PPC-L61T's front bezel is sealed to IP65 specifications. The unit is designed to handle the abuse (shock, temperature, vibration, etc.) likely encountered in a manufacturing environment.

Fudo reports that HP has a quad core Phenom desktop available for about $400. You can find this deal for sale here.

Phenom 9150e might not be the fiercest cat around, but since we've found it at geizhals.at priced at €189,21, it doesn't take long to catch up why this is a great deal. The CPU is energy efficient 1.8GHz clocked with 65W TDp.

I almost fell out of my chair when I read this one.

While we follow customer demand in general, there are also times where system builders use their expertise to sell what is best for the consumer, even when that bucks the general trend. My views on RAID are a good example. If AMD had a CPU that was compelling enough, you bet that we'd be pushing it in front of our customers. But I have to admit that I know very little about AMD's current processor performance.

Yes, this is a system builder, that does not pay attention to processor performance. Now, techically we build systems here at Tek Republik, but since we are so busy with game console repair, I don't even advertise it. In this story at Tom's Hardware Chris "mindfreak" Angelini sets up story from a system builder who does not pay attention to processor performance. I find that hard to believe. Sorry, but if you don't pay attention, I don't know how you know what to build. I guess that was Dell's excuse for all those years wasn't it?

The story is some setup on the EU ruling against Intel it appears. Apparently because AMD does not march a rep up to this system builder face to face, they don't know anything about AMD CPU performance. Funny, but it was almost a year since I talked to someone at AMD, actually at AMD this past Thursday, but I never didn't know what performance looked like becuase of that. Oh, and I know what Intel performance is, and they have never, ever briefed us in 11 plus years. I find this excuse incredibly lame. Sorry. That's how I roll.

Then I read this.

The bottom line is that AMD CPUs are far more likely to be unseated during shipping. When the package in transit hits a large bump, the mounts of the heatsink can flex, and the heatsink pulls away from the motherboard. The thermal paste acts to provide suction, so the heatink pulls the processor with it. What's worse, if the bump is large enough, the CPU can pull completely out of socket. When the heatsink retention pulls everything back together, it mashes the CPU pins, effectively destroying the CPU in most cases. The solution is to use a smaller, more sturdy heatsink, which limits the product we can offer.

I seem to remember, over 3 years ago, building 20 computers for a TXGF lan with AMD CPUs. I seem to remember using Coolermaster coolers, that used the mounting holes to attach to the other side of the board. Moving to and from the lan party none of them fell off. In 3 years plus of use none of them fell off here at Tek Republik. In fact none of the CPUs, or the boards have failed, or overheated. I'm typeless.