Alienware gets exclusive rights to AMD's Threadripper on pre-built systems

[Jos]

Earlier this month Dell announced that the Alienware Area 51 gaming desktop was being refreshed to include AMD’s Threadripper CPUs. The Area 51 Threadripper Edition will feature an AMD X399 chipset-based motherboard and is available with either 12- or 16-core processors, delivering a total of 24 or 32 threads respectively, and they’ll come unlocked and overclocked from the factory.

According to new information AMD is not only giving the first dibs on Threadripper, however. The company’s PC gaming arm will have the exclusive rights to its new enthusiast chip until the end of 2017.

"Through 2017, Dell will be the exclusive OEM partner to deliver AMD Ryzen Threadripper pre-built systems to the market. The Area-51 Threadripper Edition is ideal for customers who explore the world of mega-tasking, doing many system demanding tasks at the same time, and are looking for a complete, reliable solution from a trusted brand," Dell said in a press announcement.

It’s important to note that the exclusivity only applies to major PC vendors such as HP and Lenovo. Boutique PC builders as well as anyone building their own system will still be able to pick one up.

AMD’s Threadripper promises to bring some much needed competition to Intel’s high-end desktop CPUs, as Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 5 chips did for the Core i5 and Core i7.

Alienware’s exclusive is significant for the company, which has struggled to make its way onto pre-built systems by major OEMs, especially in high-end segments. That said, Alienware will still be selling versions of the Area 51 with Intel processors, and it remains to be seen if the deal pays off from a marketing and financial standpoint versus just making Threadripper available through as many OEMs as possible.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/69768-alienware-gets-exclusive-rights-amd-threadripper-pre-built.html

 

[Squid Surprise]

I think this is actually a good move - but I suspect the reason behind it is simply that AMD cannot manufacture enough Threadripper CPUs to fill every company's orders... By selling Dell/Alienware exclusive rights until 2018, they have a few months breathing space to manufacture more in bulk - and also get some extra cash from Dell

 

[Puiu]

At least smaller vendors are still able to build them.

 

[Evernessince]

I think this is actually a good move - but I suspect the reason behind it is simply that AMD cannot manufacture enough Threadripper CPUs to fill every company's orders... By selling Dell/Alienware exclusive rights until 2018, they have a few months breathing space to manufacture more in bulk - and also get some extra cash from Dell

That suspicion is wrong. Threadripper is just two Ryzen cores stitched together with infinity fabric. From what we know of the die size and how many they have already provided to the market, yields are excellent. Much better than Intel's bigger chips. Smaller die = better yields.

 

[hay fizzy]

I think this is actually a good move - but I suspect the reason behind it is simply that AMD cannot manufacture enough Threadripper CPUs to fill every company's orders... By selling Dell/Alienware exclusive rights until 2018, they have a few months breathing space to manufacture more in bulk - and also get some extra cash from Dell

That suspicion is wrong. Threadripper is just two Ryzen cores stitched together with infinity fabric. From what we know of the die size and how many they have already provided to the market, yields are excellent. Much better than Intel's bigger chips. Smaller die = better yields.

That assumes that they have capacity after vega to make make more mcu. Which we do not know they should have allowed none exclusivity for 10 core varriants as intel has a 10 core variant on sale also it allows more vender to get experience of working with the new chipset.

 

[Squid Surprise]

That suspicion is wrong. Threadripper is just two Ryzen cores stitched together with infinity fabric. From what we know of the die size and how many they have already provided to the market, yields are excellent. Much better than Intel's bigger chips. Smaller die = better yields.

With AMD, NEVER assume that things will roll out of the factory smoothly.... just because it SEEMS like they should be able to get lots of chips to market easily doesn't mean that they will... Until we see otherwise, it would be safer to assume there will be issues with distribution.... remember, this is AMD we are talking about.... anyone want to buy a 480?

 

[mbrowne5061]

remember, this is AMD we are talking about.... anyone want to buy a 480?

Tell me about it. I was in Microcenter a few weeks ago and noticed a whole glass case of 480s, and was "oh. 480s in stock. Neat". When I got home, I was "WAIT. 480s in stock and I've needed a new GPU for ages". Wet back to the store the next day and the case was a fancy display of some plain old air. Like they never even had them in stock.

 

[Jroc187]

remember, this is AMD we are talking about.... anyone want to buy a 480?

Tell me about it. I was in Microcenter a few weeks ago and noticed a whole glass case of 480s, and was "oh. 480s in stock. Neat". When I got home, I was "WAIT. 480s in stock and I've needed a new GPU for ages". Wet back to the store the next day and the case was a fancy display of some plain old air. Like they never even had them in stock.

you can thank cryptocurrency mining for that. no one is buying 480,s to game on

 

[mbrowne5061]

you can thank cryptocurrency mining for that. no one is buying 480,s to game on

Doesn't ASIC hardware make it unprofitable to even bother mining on any GPU?

 

[Jroc187]

Ethereum is all the rage now for mining. PC gamer news articles about it

Cryptocurrency participants can use graphics cards to "mine" various coins, which can be traded for Bitcoin, which can then be sold for actual cash. The result is that with the right GPU, you could potentially earn enough to pay for the hardware in a matter of months. Apparently this caught AMD off guard, though it is not the first time something like this has happened. Toward the end of 2013, Bitcoin and Litecoin miners caused a similar shortage by snagging every Radeon graphics card they could collectively get their hands on.

Over the past few years, ASIC hardware built specifically for mining has become the next big thing, but newer hashing algorithms, like Ethereum's DaggerHashimoto or ZCash's Equihash, have made GPU mining profitable again. These newer hashing algorithms are somewhat resistant to ASIC hardware, plus it takes time to build an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) that will work well. Hence why cryptocurrency miners are once again turning to graphics cards. And the recent jump in Ethereum and Bitcoin prices has only fueled the flames.

AMD's hardware partners are not thrilled with the situation. While they appreciate the initial flurry of sales, companies such as Sapphire and PowerColor that only sell GPUs from AMD fear that ongoing delays could lead customers to look for alternative cards from other manufacturers. There's also the fear that cryptocurrency miners aren't gamers, so long-term this hurts AMD's position in the gaming world.

One final note is that while in the past Nvidia hardware was generally worse for mining, to the point where it was largely ignored, that's no longer the case. In the modern cryptocurrency environment there are enough hashing algorithms that Nvidia cards can nearly equal AMD in terms of profitability. Ethereum has been the main reason for increasing AMD graphics card prices, but ZCash and LBRY could do the same to Nvidia. A 1060 can do about 21MH/s on Ethereum compared to 26MH/s on a 570, but it uses less power and currently costs less, so....

 

[mbrowne5061]

Ethereum is all the rage now for mining. PC gamer news articles about it

Cryptocurrency participants can use graphics cards to "mine" various coins, which can be traded for Bitcoin, which can then be sold for actual cash. The result is that with the right GPU, you could potentially earn enough to pay for the hardware in a matter of months. Apparently this caught AMD off guard, though it is not the first time something like this has happened. Toward the end of 2013, Bitcoin and Litecoin miners caused a similar shortage by snagging every Radeon graphics card they could collectively get their hands on.

Over the past few years, ASIC hardware built specifically for mining has become the next big thing, but newer hashing algorithms, like Ethereum's DaggerHashimoto or ZCash's Equihash, have made GPU mining profitable again. These newer hashing algorithms are somewhat resistant to ASIC hardware, plus it takes time to build an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) that will work well. Hence why cryptocurrency miners are once again turning to graphics cards. And the recent jump in Ethereum and Bitcoin prices has only fueled the flames.

AMD's hardware partners are not thrilled with the situation. While they appreciate the initial flurry of sales, companies such as Sapphire and PowerColor that only sell GPUs from AMD fear that ongoing delays could lead customers to look for alternative cards from other manufacturers. There's also the fear that cryptocurrency miners aren't gamers, so long-term this hurts AMD's position in the gaming world.

One final note is that while in the past Nvidia hardware was generally worse for mining, to the point where it was largely ignored, that's no longer the case. In the modern cryptocurrency environment there are enough hashing algorithms that Nvidia cards can nearly equal AMD in terms of profitability. Ethereum has been the main reason for increasing AMD graphics card prices, but ZCash and LBRY could do the same to Nvidia. A 1060 can do about 21MH/s on Ethereum compared to 26MH/s on a 570, but it uses less power and currently costs less, so....

Thank you for the very informative and illuminating response. Playing different crypto exchange rates against one another never occurred to me as a viable strategy for making money with GPU mining - which is probably why its the smart move for me to not get involved in mining.