Long time fan of AMD here, chiming in about how the P4 debacle should have been everything AMD needed to do a Phenom III instead of that Bulldozer POS. I mean, they beat Intel when those guys went almost total speedracer architecture with the Netbust P4 (and also full brainiac with Itanium, and we all know how that ended). So the theory that a balanced architecture is best proved right in practice, thanks to Intel.

So what does AMD do? Put out a speedracer-insipired architecture! WHAT? WHY??? I kept thinking, OK, they'll resurrect the Phenom II on a newer process, enhance it, call it Phenom III and do away with that whole Bulldozer crap. But no, they had to go... How many years with the stupid FX CPUs?

And finally, a balanced architecture again, and boom, they are (were?) on par with Intel. And overtaking them quick. But this is down to process trouble, so it's worth noting that AMD needs to remember these missteps and not repeat them! The next few years are predictably AMD's dominance, but after that... Well, we'll have to wait and see. Either way, competition is good, but that only happens when both sides deliver.