Motherboard makers are supposed to get the first samples of AMD's 45nm processors in August or September.

This means we won't see production models in action until the later part of the fourth quarter. While AMD has never said anything beyond "2H 2008" for a release date, a few indirect indicator had indicated an end of 3Q release date.

Of course, this assumes all goes well.

You may think this isn't much of a delay, and by the clock, it isn't. It doesn't look any worse than Intel's "non-delay" of mainstream Penryn quads.

But some slips hurt more than others. The Penryn delay simply meant Intel took a little longer before competing against itself. What this slight K10.5 slip means is that Intel's Nehalem-class processors will beat K10.5 to market.

True, Intel won't crank up mainstream Nehalem production until 2009, but coming in after Nehalem means all the reviews will match K10.5s against Nehalems, rather than just Penryns. AMD will lose those, so the perception won't be "AMD is back," but rather "Too little, too late," again.

Ed