Vending the Dragon
AMD has frequently stated its desire to be viewed at a ‘platform' as opposed to ‘component' company. A big reason for this is that it's the only company to make the full triumvirate of CPU, GPU and chipset and it wants to capitalise on that supposed advantage.
So we've had things like the Puma and the recent Yukon platforms, but over a year ago one of the first was Spider. This claimed to offer unique advantages to desktop gaming PCs if the CPU, GPU and chipset were all made by AMD (ATI).
Partly due to the CPU suffering in comparison with what Intel had to offer at the time, Spider failed to capture the popular imagination. Unperturbed, AMD has launched a new desktop gaming platform in conjunction with the launch of its new CPU - the Phenom II - called Dragon.
As this is a platform, as opposed to a retail brand, its success or otherwise is heavily dependent on what, if anything, OEMs and local system builders do with it. AMD must be pretty pleased, therefore, that Dell (which isn't known for its intimate relationship with AMD) has embraced the Dragon proposition.
This takes the form of the Dell XPS 625. "The XPS 625 is the ideal desktop for gamers looking for a high-performance rig that won't break the bank," said Arthur Lewis, president of Alienware and GM of the Dell Gaming Group. "The robust nature of this system gives users the flexibility to configure anything from an aggressive, value-based platform to an all-out benchmark killer."
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