What still gets me in a twist is how Intel have gone about doing this launch.
Way way back in Feb/March Intel let review sites compare a prebuilt conroe rig to a prebuilt AMD rig. In particular, the Anandtech preview spread across cyber space like a wild forest fire. Conroe was the new buzz word on every computer related forum. This left many enthusiasts sitting on the edge of their seats with a puddle of drool on their keyboards. Intel no doubt knew this chip would be very popular amongst enthusiasts and certainly knew this would take back the so-called "performance crown" held by AMD for quite some time. The fact that they were even allowing previews to be shown goes to show how confident Intel was. They knew exactly what they were doing.
Fast forward.
Conroe conroe conroe conroe!!! It was like white noise being played in an interrogation camp. This thing was getting hyped beyond belief. The engineering samples were being pushed to the limits over at XS and no doubt left many of us in awe. Naturally, the number of people waiting for Conroe increased.
Then Intel anounced launch date of 23rd July. Bam! More Conroe hype, more excitement, more drool puddles. Meanwhile, AM2 hits the market and most people don't even bother to give it a second thought. On top of that, AMD announced that it would be cutting prices very aggressively in order to compete. Still, most people couldn't give a damn. Intel had hypnotised everyone with conroe.
By this time, Intel surely knew how high demand would be amongst certain sectors of the market, namely gamers/enthusiasts/overclockers.
Anyway, fast forward again. 14th July. NDA is lifted, more excitement, more hype. The official reviews were released and stirred up even more drama. At this point everyone just lost all patience and wanted their Conroes immediately. Gibbo was constantly being swarmed with posts about the ETA of Conroe. We were all (including Gibbo) under the impression that 24th July was the day we had been waiting for.
All seems well upto now.
Then we get to the Sunday 23rd, official launch date. Most consumers and etailors expected stock on the next day. We were so sure that we'd see Mr Postman with a parcel that some people even took time off work to build their new rigs. Intead...what do Intel decide to do? Only allow etailors to sell the X6800 and make everyone else wait until August/September - dirty fatcats. Intel stepped on everyone's feet and showed us who's boss! They knew very well that Conroe would be popular and they have the resources to produce a shed load of them but still they can't deliver the goods when consumers expect them. It's not as if the enthusiast market is a big chunk of the pie, Intel only need to allocate a tiny amount to us. Summer upgrade now looks like it's going to be an Autumn one.
Anway it paid off because we're still waiting for Conroe :roll eyes @ Intel:
