Where are the Opteron workstation motherboards?

COME THE 22nd of this month, Opteron will have been with us for three months. Even though Opteron's launch was essentially a server product launch, one would have expected workstation motherboards to have followed fast on the heels of its server siblings. Tyan, RioWorks, MSI, Iwill, Newisys, and AMD via Celestica have successfully launched their Opteron server board and system-based products, but there is still a dearth of workstation motherboards.

RioWorks was first out of the blocks with the first dual Opteron workstation motherboard. Asus was close behind with the first uni-processor design, which supports Nvidia's nForce3 platform processors. Akiba PC Hotline in Japan was first off the press to show MSI's VIA-based dual Opteron workstation board. So these boards are trickling out slowly, but why the big delay?

The trend of heavy-handedness continues
It's probably advisable at this point to relate some history about the board manufacturers that have supported AMD-based motherboards in the face of Intel's ire. I'll repeat what I said about the fear that motherboard manufacturers had at the time of the original Athlon launch:

"Motherboard manufacturers were fearful of reprisals, so many of them shipped their products in white boxes to conceal the vendor's identity. I actually purchased one of those boards. The box, manual, and CDROM gave no clue to the name of the manufacturer. The ECS emblem was noted on the heat sink of the motherboard's northbridge. The manual was titled: K7AML-A+ Mainboard. A Google search indicated an ECS link. It was confirmed at ECS's US web site. My ECS board's "official" name is K7ASA. The picture and spec are an exact match to my board. Is all of this really cricket? Talk about kicking the underdog when he's already lying down."

That was back in 1999, but unfortunately for AMD, history has a habit of repeating itself. Going back to the same article, I discussed in detail the pressure that Tyan was clearly under when it had to position AMD64 products against Intel-based solutions. Tyan listened up real fast and has since put its house in order. Solectron appears to be one victim that has succumbed to alleged Intel pressure - Solectron did not launch an Opteron motherboard. Then at the Opteron launch itself, the INQUIRER reported vendor claims of Intel strong-arm tactics. So I've just given you a taster of the past, but what about all those happenings that never saw the light of day?

Where are the eight DIMM workstation boards?
In a thread that was started on Slashdot, Tim Sweeney, founder and president of Epic games, gave his opinion about the need for 64-bit addressing:

"Intel's claims are wholly out of touch with reality. On a daily basis we're running into the Windows® 2GB barrier with our next-generation content development and preprocessing tools.

"If cost-effective, backwards-compatible 64-bit CPU's were available today, we'd buy them today. We need them today. It looks like we'll get them in April.

"Any claim that "4GB is enough" or that address windowing extensions are a viable solution are just plain nuts. Do people really think programmers will re-adopt early 1990's bank-swapping technology?

"Many of these upcoming [AMD] Opteron™ [processor-based] motherboards have 16 DIMM slots; you can fill them with 8GB of RAM for $800 at today's pricewatch.com prices. This platform is going to be a godsend for anybody running serious workstation apps. It will beat other 64-bit workstation platforms (SPARC/PA-RISC/Itanium) in price/performance by a factor of 4X or more. The days of $4000 workstation and server CPU's are over, and those of $1000 CPU's are numbered."

Is Tim Sweeney the lone voice in the wilderness that no one is listening to? You would have thought so with the dual Opteron workstation board choice that is available today. If Tim Sweeney is typical of the developer that requires a "clean" beyond 4 GB addressability, why haven't the board manufactures responded with a workstation board that has eight or more DIMM slots? The boards mentioned above support up to 8 GB of RAM, but who really wants to pay the price for 2 GB modules? It's far cheaper to use 1 GB devices in an eight DIMM set up, which would also leave open an upgrade path when 2 GB modules become more affordable.

More questions, but no answers
1. When will the first eight DIMM workstation board debut? When Intel gives its blessing?

2. Are motherboard vendors treading carefully to avoid those unmarked "i" mines?

3. Has Intel read the riot act? Meaning, co-operation with AMD will be seriously frowned upon.

4. Does Intel's "design guidance" for Opteron not approve an eight DIMM workstation motherboard?

See Also
Is Tyan hamstrung by Intel pressure?
AMD announces validated server program
Tyan puts its house in order
Intel rumoured to use strongarm tactics
Intel strong armed vendors at AMD launch
Intel's art of gentle AMD persuasion misfires
AMD pursues Intel antitrust case to Europe
Agreement between Intel and FTC ends antitrust trial before it begins External L'INQ