[achtung]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20051017/tc_pcworld/123043

Dan Nystedt, IDG News Service Mon Oct 17, 9:00 AM ET

Good news just doesn't seem to stop for microprocessor maker Advanced Micro Devices these days. Shortly after the company reported a banner third quarter earnings, the company is now being lauded for outgunning mighty Intel and capturing more than half of the processor market for desktop PCs in the U.S. during the month of September. AMD captured a 52 percent share of the U.S. retail desktop market in September, topping Intel's 46 percent share, according to market research firm Current Analysis.

"Despite its past successes in surpassing Intel desktop sales in select retail sales weeks, September 2005 marked the first time AMD was able to outperform Intel for an entire month," Current Analysis said in a report released late last week.
Other Successes

The win couldn't come at a better time for AMD. On Friday, the company hosted a grand opening ceremony for its most advanced chip-making factory ever, and probably its most expensive. It's a billion-dollar gamble that the company can keep production lines full as it gains market share on rival Intel, which it has been doing, according to Current Analysis.

AMD benefited from increased sales of Media Center PCs, according Current Analysis, which are meant to be used for home entertainment purposes. In September, Media Center PCs accounted for 46 percent of all U.S. retail desktop sales, the market researcher's report says. What's more, 55 percent of those machines went out with AMD processors inside.

The star Media Center system was Hewlett-Packard's HP Pavilion a1130n, running on a 64-bit AMD Athlon 64 processor, Microsoft Media Center operating system and 1GB of RAM at a post-rebate price of $679, the Current Analysis report says.

The market researcher says the HP model is the most popular Media Center PC in retail to date, and credits AMD for being in the right system at the right time.

"There is fantastic momentum surrounding the adoption of Media Centers and subsequently, AMD, in the forthcoming holiday season," says the Current Analysis report.

Yay!:D

Although it just may just be a one month assesement I'd say the trend will continue and I hope we get some awesome chips from both out of the eventual competition.

[phatosealpha]

Wow.  That's good news for AMD, and to be honest, I'm not sure I believe it.  Maybe Dell didn't buy any chips that month?

[StratComm]

The count didn't include chips sold to/through companies like Dell.  It's just the direct-to-consumer market that AMD took the lead in, which is hardly a majority of all processor sales.

[Setekh]

Good point, Strat. Still, it's a big distance from the days when AMD was just struggling along with its K6 and K6-2... now, AMD commands respect. All power to them, I say - competition really benefits us here.

[IceFire]

I'm buying AMD for my next purchase almost certainly.  My current Athlon XP 2700+ has been the best CPU I've had (*touch wood*).

[Grey Wolf]

Originally posted by StratComm
The count didn't include chips sold to/through companies like Dell.  It's just the direct-to-consumer market that AMD took the lead in, which is hardly a majority of all processor sales.

Not quite. Notice the fact that it mentions a cause of this to be the HP Media Center PCs? Unless you were pointing out that it neglects sales to commercial other enterprise customers.

[Dark RevenantX]

When a next gen Athlon comes out, its mine!

Then I wont have to worry for another 3 or 4 years.

[phatosealpha]

Allright, that explains it.  Well, it's good news for the enthusiasts, and good news for AMD as long as they hold the performance title.  In the big picture though, doesn't mean all that much.  And I doubt it's a suprise to anybody that the do-it-yourselfers favor AMD right now.

[Grey Wolf]

Intel will not be able to compete in the desktop market until Conroe comes out next Winter, as far as I can tell. They'll most likely hold onto their dominance of laptops though.

Dark RevenantX: Some of the things I've seen about the K10 make me question it. Specifically, the intelligence of integrating PCI Express on die.

[MatthewPapa]

My AMD X2 4400+ is undoubtably the best CPU ive ever owned; followed closely only to my AMD XP 3200+ . With products as solid as these, sooner or later the some (if not most) commercial market is bound to switch.

[mikhael]

Since my next upgrade requires me to change sockets anyway, I found myself looking at Intel and AMD both. In the end I had to stay AMD though. I get more bang for the buck--and more importantly these days more bang per degree celsius! Intel's running to hot for my tastes. Adelaide is a powerful hot village.

[CP5670]

This is rather misleading as it fails to take account the corporate, mail order and laptop markets, which are all dominated by Dell and by extension Intel.

Anyway, I would prefer that AMD has a lower marketshare, so they compete harder on price. I miss the old days where you could get the fastest processors for really low prices from AMD.

[Grey Wolf]

That's actually bad, as that lowers the market perception of the company, driving them out of business.

[redmenace]

More economic proof that one company cannot dominate forever as a monopoly.

[Descenterace]

Originally posted by redmenace
More economic proof that one hardware company cannot dominate forever as a monopoly.

I don't see anyone toppling Microsoft yet.

[redmenace]

Its happening. Slowly.

[Dark RevenantX]

google might achieve the potential during our lives

[Mongoose]

But Google doesn't have an OS that's on over 90% of personal computers (yet ).  I really don't see OSX as much of a threat to Microsoft's dominance, and we've already had the Linux discussion elsewhere.  For better or worse, we're still going to see Windows on top for some time to come.

[Scuddie]

This will change once Apple bites the bullet, and finally decides to make OSX non-proprietary.  Until they lose their own corporate greed (which they are no better than MS on that front), MS will hold the reigns.

[Osiri]

No offense but why does everyone want AMD to win over Intel.  They are both major corporations.  AMD is not a small company anymore.  They are just as much the souless bastards as Intel.