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Summing It Up
How Did This Happen?
We believe confusion related to the integration of this external circuit is what lead to the rumor of a delay. If Gigabyte's initial 7DX shipments didn't include this circuit, the company may be forced to quietly recall these boards and replace them with newer designs. Obviously, this will take time.
This isn't the first time a bug had to be squashed during the development of this chipset. Corona EVT-5 reference motherboards (based on revision B1 of the chip) had problems running properly at 133MHz system bus. In addition, AMD also raised DDR voltage from 2.5V to 2.65V to ensure proper operation while running in AGP 4X mode.
Quite simply, bug fixes occur frequently in the development of any chipset, and AMD's 760 chipset is no exception. Unlike previous chipset launches for AMD, with 760, these fixes just weren't able to be kept from the publics' eye.
Where Does AMD Go From Here?
So now that the problem is known and the fix determined, AMD and its motherboard partners must decide how they will proceed. For the first batch of motherboards, the fix will have to be resolved via the previously mentioned external circuit.
It remains to be seen if AMD will resolve this glitch with an upcoming revision of 761. This next revision is rumored to solve the heat-related issues some have encountered.
Our source suggested that some motherboard manufacturers don't even know the full story behind the glitch with B2, which hints that a few manufacturers may not be prepared to implement a fix.
Final Thoughts
So what's our opinion on this whole story? Earlier this week, we mentioned in our preview that Gigabyte was AMD's lead partner for launch. As such, they're entitled to certain information as well as the full resources of AMD's research and development team for 760, and therefore, certainly knows this glitch exists.
We believe this whole mix-up occurred as a result of poor communication within Gigabyte. While the Taiwanese arm of the company was fully aware of the problem and its solution, the European side of the company was left in the dark.
Now that the public knows the glitch exists, it's up to motherboard manufacturers to implement the fix as quickly as possible. Will this lead to some delays for manufacturers? We can't answer that question, but during our conversations with AMD, they made it clear that 760 and 266MHz Athlons won't be as readily accessible in the retail channel upon launch as their products have been in the past -- "widespread availability" isn't expected until the first quarter of next year.
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