Déllà vu all over again
AMD clearly has an unhealthy obsession with luring Dell away from Intel. Nothing else can explain why, having damaged its reputation with the channel so badly in 2007 when a shortage of desktop CPUs coincided with the launch of a new AMD based desktop range from Dell, it looks set to repeat the debacle with the launch of its ATI Radeon HD 5800 series graphics cards.
Sauces have revealed that AMD has committed a large proportion of these cards to Dell, so that the PC maker can launch a new range of DirectX 11 (DX11) compatible gaming desktops to coincide with the launch of Microsoft's new Windows 7 operating system.
DX11 is the next generation of Microsoft's API, which promises improved graphics performance. For games to exploit this, they not only have to be written using DX11, but need to be run on a Windows 7 PC with a DX11 supporting graphics card. The Radeon HD 5800 series will be the only DX11 cards available at the time of the Windows 7 launch on 22 October.
Dell must have made AMD an offer it couldn't refuse to persuade it to once again starve other OEMs and its channel of a popular component. AMD initially strongly denied that the shortage of its Athlon 64 CPUs was related to the Dell deal, but we have yet to hear a satisfactory alternative explanation.
It could be that these Dell systems are going to offer the Full Monty AMD platform experience - CPU, graphics and chipset - and that AMD considers this the perfect showcase for its platform message.
