AMD readies "lottery-core" CPUs
By Darien Graham-Smith
Posted on 1 Apr 2010 at 10:20
AMD has announced a radical shake-up of its CPU strategy. Currently the manufacturer offers a broad range of chips ranging from dual-core parts at the bottom end right up to the new 12-core Magny Cours architecture for workstations and servers.
But speaking exclusively to PC Pro, the company has revealed that the next generation (codenamed Tyche) will be offered as a single “lottery-core” SKU, with the number of functional cores in each part left for the customer to discover.
British people love to treat themselves to a bit of a gamble
“We know gaming is very important to our customers,” explained regional marketing manager Ffwl Ebrill, “and we’re innovating to bring that win-or-lose experience out of the virtual world and into the marketplace.”
Playing the odds
Ebrill revealed that the UK has been chosen as a trial territory for the strategy, prior to a worldwide roll-out, because of the nation’s particular fondness for having a flutter.
“Even in times when the economy is still not so certain, British people love to take a punt, to treat themselves to a bit of gamble," he stated. "We see that in the extraordinary success of scratchcards, in the online betting space and with residential ADSL.”
“And the new strategy is a win for AMD too. We're projecting that with Tyche we'll see the best manufacturing yield in the business."
Ebrill could not give a precise date for the introduction of the new scheme, nor was he able to confirm how many cores the luckiest customers could expect to enjoy.
He did, however, admit that anyone discovering more than ten functional cores could consider themselves “a lottery winner,” while unfortunates discovering their new CPU had no working cores at all would be encouraged to “roll again.”
From around the web
Great Idea
I presume these will only be sold on one day a year. Best get in quick !
By ashtongraham on 1 Apr 2010 
Er, what?
*checks calendar*
.
Oh, I see.
By phantombudgie on 1 Apr 2010
Pathetic ...
By jmiii on 1 Apr 2010
@ jmiii / Darien
jmiii: Get a life.
Darien: Personally, it was funny, put a smile on my face.
By Genesis on 1 Apr 2010
Winner!
Well, lucky me - just got one and wow!: 10 (and and a half) cores and it makes coffee too. Win!
By PSilva on 1 Apr 2010
It's true
I've already beta tested the new roll-out. I got one that had ZERO cores but Windows 7 worked fine.
By sbeams on 1 Apr 2010
How many cores do you get for the bonus number?!?!!
By anthonysjones on 1 Apr 2010
This takes the prize for the nerdiest AFD gag ever.
By Noghar on 1 Apr 2010
...
April Fool!
By ChrisSnape on 1 Apr 2010
How to install AMD lottery core in Apple...
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-core-an-app
le-the-fun-way!/
By Gindylow on 1 Apr 2010
you'd have to really know your stuff to get this one, but i loved it
http://www.national.com/rap/files/datasheet.pdf
By ukjaybrat on 1 Apr 2010
While we're on the ssubject...
While we're on the subject of techie jokes, you're right in the middle of one. The PC Pro website! Falls apart regularly...
By ramjam on 1 Apr 2010
@ukjaybrat
That is so hilarious I'm considering using it for a new religion's blueprint. Excellent stuff!
By PSilva on 1 Apr 2010
LOL - I needed that today :)
By nicomo on 1 Apr 2010
Core blimey!
I assume this will be capped by Microsoft, who will offer a completely unknown number of bugs in Office 2010...
By JohnGray7581 on 2 Apr 2010
unfunny
Darien, perhaps spend a little less time writing unfunny spoofs, and a bit more time withdrawing your excrable and misleading Avira Antivir Personal "review" that downgrades the free anti-virus with the best performance at spotting viruses because you don't like the easy-to-disable nag screen and which refers to v9 whereas days after publication avira released v10. I ask again: what do people in the PC PRO office use on their personal laptops?
By gavmeister on 3 Apr 2010
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