Sold 2 blocks of NEM at 55.14, and bought back the July 22.50 calls at 3.00 for a net gain of .44/share.
When compared to IBM, there are three elements to this strength of the new Itanium chip procesor that will be released July 18: 1. Size. Montecito has 24 megabytes of on-die L3 cache, versus 1.9 megabytes for Power. 2. Latency. Access takes only 14 cycles of latency for Montecito versus 87 for IBMs off-chip L3. 3. Bandwidth. Montecito delivers 102 gigabytes per second versus IBM Powers 30 gigabytes per second.
Independent reviews of the new destop version of the Woodcrest, code-named "Conroe" is all over tech magazines and website. But for the last several weeks, technology publications and Web sites have had in hand real production versions of the Intel Core 2 Duo processor for desktops specifically the E6700 and the X6800 (Extreme) with the caveat that they could not publish any reviews until Friday, July 14. In the meantime, theyve been running the chips through dozens of tests in their own laboratories. Highly respected writer Anand Lal Shimpi may have put it best: "You'relooking at the most impressive piece of silicon the world has ever seen, at the fastest desktop processor we've ever tested. What you're looking at is Conroe and today is its birthday." Toms Hardware is known for its meticulous hardware testing. The site features an amusing "photo" of a downtrodden soccer player wearing an AMD t-shirt getting a "red card" at the World Cup. The Toms Hardware review begins with these words: "Hardly anything about Intel's new processor remains secret: Core 2 beats Athlon 64, period. "As soon as Core 2 Duo hits the market, it will outperform the complete Athlon 64 family (X2 and FX) in all areas, including gaming, where AMD has traditionally been very strong." CNET.com is perhaps the most widely read tech site in the United States. Its review concludes, "If you're buying a new computer or building one of your own, you would be wise to see that it has one of Intel's new dual-core chips in it. The Core 2 Duo chips are not only the fastest desktop chips on the market, but also the most cost effective and among the most power efficient. About the only people these new chips aren't good for are the folks at AMD, who can claim the desktop CPU crown no longer." Exclusive PC World tests show that PCs equipped with Intel's new Core 2 Duo processors, formerly code-named Conroe, set new high marks for desktop performance--they're the fastest we've seen by far." Intel has produced a winner with its Core Duo 2 design; and for the first time in years, the company holds a clear performance advantage over its longtime rival, AMD." Perhaps the premier British tech news site, The Register was one of the first publications with a Core 2 Duo review. "Intel once again has the fastest desktop processor on the market, and AMD is either going to have to start competing on price again, or pull something out of a hat to beat the Core 2 Duos speed. AMD is by no means a lost cause, but if you're after the best performing desktop processor on the planet, you're going to be shopping for an Intel Core 2 processor." Enthusiast site GD Hardware gets a bit graphic in its review of the new Intel Core 2 Duo processor "In the most simplistic of terms, Conroe (dubbed Core 2 Duo) kicks the Athlon64 right in the [bleep] and doesnt look back." Kudos to Intel for getting it right and not just baby-stepping us into the next realm of performance but really handing AMD its ass on a silver platter. Were performance nuts around here and appreciate the school-of-hard-knocks Intel has gone through with P4. Its nice to see AMD eat some crow for awhile." Like many other sites, Legit Review has already begun speculating on what AMDs response might be: "With both the Core 2 Extreme X6800 and the Core 2 Duo E6700 easily outperforming the AMD Athlon 64 FX-62 across the board we expect AMD to do something here in the near future. We had the chance to talk with AMD on the phone today they promised Legit Reviews that AMD will have an aggressive price move come in July and went on to say that AMD will not give up the lead in price versus performance. Other than that, AMD let us know that their upgradeable 4x4 platform is coming along in their test labs, but AMD has yet to have the launch quarter narrowed downfor now, the victory flag goes back to Intel."