Some of the reasons:
1. Can sell more chips (most obvious) -> new CPU + new NB + new SB
There's a lot of resistance in moving from a 3-chip solution to 2-chip as you make a lot less.

2. Lowers cost
Designing just to meet current needs to lower cost.

3. Screw-ups in design/planning
Short-sightedness in planning, poor execution etc...

The main reason for S939 owners to complain was the switch from this to the AM2 was too quick.Not many people could afford a sudden change. I had just barely use my S939 stuff and they change it to AM2.

I know the change is inevitable considering the fact that Intel launched their CD and DDR2. By that time, people would think "lets buy Intel since they have DDR2 which should be faster" and AMD would be left behind..

Well, even its almost obsolete already, my S939 still serves me fine until the day i will need a replacement.. This is my own opinion...

Pretty sure point 2 doesn't lower cost overall. You have to get your ASIC guys to design a new chipset (or more likely modify the older one), make new masks, tape out a new chipset, do more testing to make sure nothing is broken etc, etc. That is definitely cannot be cheaper than just making one that lasts you a while, and really from the way intel has been doing it, this should be trivial (since they just add incremental features). Seems like it's either point 1 or 3, or maybe even a bit of both.

Point #2 is more applicable to substrate design than silicon design.

Not sure what you're saying here, care to elaborate?

TS: Aiyo, what is there to complain. When you bought 939, i bet you're clapping ur hands becoz u saved $$$ from buying DDR2 and can re-use ur existing DDR RAM. Now obsolete already wanna complain??

I've no complaints against AMD...i jumped straight from VGA/AGP/DDR Socket A platform to PCIE/DDR2 AM2 platform.

It's all about timing and buying decision. You can't complain your 2 year old car is outdated when a new model is released tomorrow because you've already benefitted from driving a nice new car for 2 years!!!

This post has been edited by Matrix: Apr 17 2007, 09:54 AM

Silicon technology has evolved at a lightning pace (180, 130, 90, 65, 45 in ~ 5 years). With increase transistor shrinkage + larger wafer sizes the cost of manufacturing silicon has gone down if you don't factor in the large initial investment in fabs and equipment.

But IC packaging substrate technology hasn't kept up and it's becoming a larger cost constributor vs silicon. So the substrate is designed just to meet current needs to reduce costs. Intel could have created a socket with 1000+ pins instead of 775 and support it over multiple processor generations but it doesn't make sense from a cost standpoint.

A car is a terrible analogy. If the car industry evolved as fast as the tech industry we all be driving last year's Ferrari right now for the low low price of a Kancil.

No, you got me all wrong. I was just saying that they could have made their chipsets/mainboards work with all (or at least most) of the 775 chips instead of requiring a new chipset for every new 775 processor released, since the changes in the chipsets appear to be rather trivial. 775 has lasted a long time, but it's not exactly useful to the end user because there are so many limitations in terms of what chipsets work with what. They should take a page out of AMD's book regarding chipset/CPU compatibility.

Why are people harping on socket 939? Was it so good that AM2 was a mistake? In anycase AM3 is slated to be released 2008, so I'd say for 939 users, get a new rig next year, keep the 939 as a backup system or file server or give it to family, but why whine about no option to upgrade? I would also guessed that we are all used to buying un-upgradable tech by now (just look around your desk or home) or am i completely missing the point here? Companies make mistakes sure, but AMD sure isn't dying because of the short lifespan of Socket 939.

As a matter of fact, they did! Look at the Gainward Bliss 7800 GS+ 512mb AGP. It is a G71 graphics core (7900 core with a full 24-pixel pipelines!!!). Maybe you've never heard of it but it is in some reviews (only available in Europe). For your information, the G71 core is used to power the Geforce 7900GT and GTX!!!

This card is essentially a 7900 GT but labelled as above.

Why don't you google this card and read some reviews.

I would like to refer you to another review regarding ATI 1950pro:

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/powerc...iew/default.asp

In that review, although the AGP is a dying breed, it could more or less keep up with its PCI-E version. In some cases, there were negligible differences!!!

So, the question arises as to why they did not make "higher-end" AGP cards. Well, maybe it is because of their marketing strategy, to push users to using PCI-E. Maybe it is because they thought people would jump on the PCI-E bandwagon ASAP, since it is supposed to be faster. Maybe it is because AGP can't handle current graphics requirement (although reviews seem to say otherwise). Whatever the reason is, one thing is sure, there are still a lot of AGP users out there!

Previously, people say that there won't be any AGP version for the Nvidia 7 series. But it came out anyway.

Then, people say that there won't be anything higher that the 7800 GS. But Gainward made them eat their words.

Then, people say Gainward is the last high-end AGP. But out came the ATI 1950pro!

So, are you so sure that an AGP DX10 won't come out? I think it will!!! Because the market is too large for companies not to tap into. However, as you said, I don't think the card will be for the enthusiast group, probably more for the low-end group, you know, for them to run vista and new less-GPU-demanding games.

That's my 2 cents.......

[COLOR=red]Addition : Look at Valve survey summary:

http://www.steampowered.com/status/survey.html

(As of 1st March 2007)

AGP users (4x-8x) : 46.89% (257342 users)
PCI-E users : 45.67% (250645 users)

I rest my case.

---

Added on April 19, 2007, 12:28 pmUpdate
--------

Found out that there is a X1950XT X series!!!! Check out Gecube ATI X1950XTX. It uses ATI Radeon R580+ GPU with GDDR3 256mb.

What is more important is the x-turbo fan with built-in TEC chip!!! (Thermo electric chip). With overclocking, the GPU temperature is maintained at 70-80 degrees only!!!

Another review that is relevant to the main topic:

http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/31666/118/

Basically stating that AMD is losing its market share.....

In addition, remember that new graphics card series e.g. Geforce 7 series and ATI 1000 series are built PCI-E native. Meaning that for AGP cards, they have to have a bridge (Realto brigde, I think) to convert PCI-E to AGP. That is one of the reasons (among many) of why AGP can sometimes be slower (but now always).

This post has been edited by kmarc: Apr 19 2007, 12:28 PM