Things are changing quite a bit. First, we have to say that the AM2 platform we received for this quick preview was as stable as a production system - this probably would not have been the case few years ago. Second, it is interesting to see that AMD is ready to launch AM2, and yet it is still waiting for the right moment. DDR2-800 and higher chip densities are a good justification for delaying the launch to late Q2.
Three years ago, AMD could never have afforded to delay a major technology launch for the sake of waiting for the ideal moment (or to make sure the new chips are available in sufficient quantities). Today, the Athlon 64 processor family is widely considered superior, which puts AMD into a role as leader rather than as a struggling competitor.
The Socket AM2 is a generation change that is becoming increasingly necessary for the sake of supporting memory that will be mainstream in mid-2006 and into 2007. It won't change the performance landscape by much, unless AMD decides to make some fundamental changes to the architecture such as upgrading the FX to 4 MB cache. However, it will also be the basis for the upcoming 65 nm processors that are due at the end of this year. That is when things are going to heat up; the shootout between Intel's Conroe desktop processor and AMD's shrunk Athlons will be as hot as the Gigahertz battle in 2000.
