October 12, 2001
8:29 AM Subscribe

Just a bit ago, there was a crowd of about 2,000 in downtown Seattle chanting "AMD! AMD!" People will do anything for the chance at free processors. It was seriously a spectacle, and a marketing department's wet dream. Who knew you could get 2,000 nerds to show up at 5-6am and stand around in the cold for two hours, and have them still be in good enough spirits to chant your brand name in response to the question "Who do you love?" (Of course, I might be less cynical about it if they'd just called number 4495.) Were any other MeFi peeps out there? Someone should post pictures. It was really kind of surreal.
posted by endquote (16 comments total)

Here is a picture. Surreal? No. Maybe if Bert was in one. Oh, wait.
posted by luser at 8:44 AM on October 12, 2001

The prizes are already on eBay, of course.
posted by endquote at 8:47 AM on October 12, 2001

I planned to go to the first stop in san francisco earlier this week, but was too tired to wake up early enough to go. Three of my friends ended up going and none of them won! Only around 400 people showed up since no one really knew about it. They gave away 200 setups (1.53 GHz Palamino + Motherboard + Cooler). Apparently the two people in front of my friend and three people behind him won. Thus, if I would have went, one of us would have most likely won. Oh well, my bed was just too warm and cozy to let go of so early.
posted by physics at 8:49 AM on October 12, 2001

I haven't kept up. Anyone know if there are any reliable dual Athlon mobos yet?
posted by RavinDave at 8:53 AM on October 12, 2001

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! They already came through Boston.....why wasn't this posted earlier? Why? Where was God?!?
posted by thewittyname at 9:02 AM on October 12, 2001

People were greedy, just trying to keep it quiet...

Photos from SF event
posted by curiousg at 9:08 AM on October 12, 2001

This was posted on Anandtech.com's Forum on 100501.

RD - there are some good mobos in the $220 range [check pricewatch] , the Tyan Tiger MP [anandtech] uses Athlon MP "Palomino". For price comparison:
MP @ 1.2Ghz is $165
XP 1500+ @ 1.33 Ghz is $117
Athlon 1.44 Ghz is $107

I would suggest waiting until the XP is in full production and there are boards that take advantage of the new XP core.

Then again, if you want dualies then MP is for you. But the problem is there are only like 3 or so power supplies that the MP can run on.

Good luck
posted by plemeljr at 9:22 AM on October 12, 2001

I'm getting me an XP 1600+ in 3 weeks time.. Is there actually any real difference between a 1600+ and a 1800+? To an average gamer?

Athlon MPs are too expensive.. And the motherboard costs a bomb 2..
posted by Mossy at 12:25 PM on October 12, 2001

pics are here

I wanted to win, but I fucked up my odds by having a tee shirt land on me. It was kind of messed up to see that many freaks beat each other up over tee shirts, yet no one beat anyones ass for the prize. sissys
posted by vincentmeanie at 3:59 PM on October 12, 2001

I WON, dammit! I fawkin' WON! MWUHAHAHAHAHAHA! I didn't even know about this till yesterday, when my friend told me he saw it on hardforum.com. We both figured there'd be about 500-600 people that showed up, with them giving away 200. I suspect the organizers didn't expect nearly the huge turnout that showed up, either.

I'm a night owl, so rather than go to bed I just stayed up a little later than normal, and at quarter past 5am I walked down from Capitol Hill to Westlake and saw the huge crowd already gathered. I thought, "Ah, screw it, I'm going home" but then figured I might as well get a ticket since I was already down there. Waited in line, got my ticket, went to the SBC and got coffee & a scone. Walked back out when they were just starting the anouncements, and I was in just the second group of 20 they called out- 04236. Without shouting or showing any jubilation (the mob seemed to be turning into the kind that would shoot a man in Reno, just to watch him die) I crossed the street and pushed through the crowd. Signed the release, grabbed my box, and as I was stepping away from the table a shirt was thrown into the air, hit the wind, and blew back to land into my hand! However, someone literally yanked it out of my grasp, and I wasn't interested in fighting over a t-shirt since I had this big box in my left arm. I fought back through the crowd, hopped on the #7 which conveniently showed up just then, and was back home and in bed by around 6:30a, less than an hour after I showed up. SAH-WEEEET!!! Naturally, the friend who told me about this had gone down there with his wife and didn't win- I believe his exact words were "You FUCKER!" when I told him later that morning that I had in fact won. :)

Hell, I don't know why I'm so excited; it's not like I really needed a new computer, since I'm running a dual P3-600 w. 1GB ram that suits me fine, but what the heck- I still won some free shit, man!
posted by hincandenza at 7:21 PM on October 12, 2001

More pics of the Seattle event here.
posted by DarkCougar at 11:48 PM on October 12, 2001

Um... link, please?
posted by hincandenza at 2:13 AM on October 13, 2001

RavinDave - I'm waiting for a dual Athlon 1.4GHz machine - should arrive next week. AFAIK, the mobo is fine, it's the Tyan Tiger that was reviewed on AnandTech a while back. 1Gb memory and a 24 bit 96kHz soundcard with Debian pre-installed... Weep all of you mere mortals :-) (PS build by http://www.gnd.co.uk)
posted by andrew cooke at 3:59 AM on October 13, 2001

Link to my AthlonXP Seattle pictures in http://jferrara.weblogs.com/2001/10/12. Sorry for the ommission in my previous post.
posted by DarkCougar at 3:10 PM on October 13, 2001

Way to go Hal! I wish I'd known. I might have stumbled down there with you (lessening your chances of course, realigning the raffle).
posted by crasspastor at 3:54 PM on October 13, 2001

hincandenza: Well if you don't need it, feel free to drop it by my place. I'd really like to replace my old P2/400. I live on the hill too, so I could just stop by anytime - just let me know!
posted by endquote at 10:29 PM on October 14, 2001

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October 12, 2001 8:29 AM Subscribe

October 12, 2001
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