While on one hand as a PC user and builder...and really wanting to build a BD based mindblower, I'm a little disappointed...OK, more than a little...by these results. On the other hand, as an MBA and investor in AMD, I see the big picture and have to reluctantly agree...and hopefully profit.
If you have constrained and finite capabilities in both design and manufacture (GloFo needs its butt kicked), you maximize along a marginal ROI track and right now that would be server chips to support the growing and lucrative cloud, data warehouse, HPC, and corporate servers and the growing fusion space integrating modest x86 with robust video on low wattage single chips, you end up with exactly what we have here. BD (a server chip rebranded) and Llano with plans to improve both with descendents.
In highway terms it would be akin to building semis and commuter cars. This is the high performance forum and while the Ferrari Enzos are cool and badass, it's hard to fault AMD for the approach. After all, when you're on the road today, you'll see a bunch of semis and commuter cars...its economics. Performance sells magazines, utility sells products.
BD must be a killer server beast because Cray (you know Cray, right?) just got a $97M contract from Oak Ridge NL about a month or so after taking possession of the first box of BD based server chips. I think Cray knows a thing or two about making computers haul butt.
Now we'll see if any of that translates into the client space...