The next segment of the launch event was the presentation of corporate videos from AMD and their partners who have all used x86-64 technology to better their product and business, as well as highlighting how these advantages benefit the industry. In keeping in tune with the demographic that was invited to the launch, the messages were from Gaming system manufacturers, Game developers and publishers, Multimedia software developers and content creation.
The CEO of Falcon NorthWest, North American assembly company of high performance clone machines for gaming which has high levels of respect and accolades from the industry, called the Athlon-64 "Elite".
The next partner message took some of us by suprise. AMD sponsors the Scuderia Ferrari Forumla 1 Racing Team and it was this team and their star drivers Michael Schcumacher and Rubens Barrichello who all spoke about how AMD processors have helped them improve their data analysis and race better. Specifically AMD helped solved brake wear issues at the Montreal, Canada circuit and Athlon-FX was called the Ferrari of processors. Sizeable amount of the footage was race and pit stops. Michael spoke candidly of AMD's involvement and through his message it was evident he was aware of the significance of performance computing to Ferrari's engineering efforts
DivX as a video CODEC has gone through quite allot of change and revolution from its beginnings, it has gone through legal and technical issues to become one of the premier MPEG-4 based video CODECs of this time. AMD being aware of the modern DivX Network's large install base both by users and content creators, partnered with DivX to ensure that the latest DivX CODEC would take full advantage of AMD-64.
DivX was one of the first supporters of Intel's SSE2 instructions on the Pentium 4 so it was wise of AMD to make sure they caught the bought this time around to ensure DivX fully supported and optimised for their design.
In keeping with the increased presence of home entertainment systems and multimedia in the home, a Digital House concept was presented. This concept utilised small form factor Shuttle XPC systems (Extended PC) as media servers and utilising wireless network technology and software by Home Media Networks, other multimedia devices such as Archos DivXmobile player or smart DVD players with network capability could all share multimedia content, allowing true digital integration within the home.
Up next were the game demos.
First we were shown Unreal Tournament 2004 - 64bit edition by EPIC megagames. The on screen scenes comprised of many of players and action that showcased the power of the system. This demo was a cite-recorded in game demo.
Next a new title that not many were familiar of was showcased. FarCry by Crytek Studios. Unlike the previous demo, a live tech demo was used which comprised of a flyby of the island which is the setting for game play. The FaryCry-AMD64 demo was rock solid at 60fps.
Having covered the gaming enthusiasts, it was time to highlight how well AMD can be used for Digital Content Creation (DCC). AMD Sponsored a rendered short-film contest and the winning entry was showcased as part of the launch. As an audience we thought that the short film was shot live and not rendered due to its high quality and realism and the fact that the short film was a render was revealed to us after the short film was finished.
MC Charlie Brown thanked the audience for attending and made a reminder to visit the partner and sponsor stands in the adjacent hall as well as to participate in the mini HALO Cyberslam tournament.
This marked the conclusion of the public portion of the launch presentation. For the press a Q and A session was held with John Robinson and Michael Athrope. Such questions and issues were discussed as that the Opteron was hailed as "awesome" by the press, how can PCI-X IEEE-1394b(Firewire-800) be supported by the AMD 8000 series chipset, which is something that some of the Digital Content Creation segment require or wish for; archecture; comparison to Apple's 64bit G5 systems and technical features of the new CPUs such maximum setup of 1TB and Mobile part using 51W and desktop 89W.