Is Future Existince of AMD Relevant to GPU Purchase

[blackened23]

I think Nvidia would shift up prices even more if AMD weren't around. To that extent I think AMD keep Nvidia in check. The 7970 is a great card and good value for money considering how much the Titan costs.

Maybe. While I like AMD GPUs (I like nvidia GPUs as well, actually), the question becomes would you buy an AMD GPU out of pity for their financial situation. I'd have to say most users don't approach a purchase like this, they look for the best bang/buck or best performance. The good news is that AMD is still doing well with GPUs, so it isn't an immediate issue I guess.

 

[ctsoth]

Maybe. While I like AMD GPUs (I like nvidia GPUs as well, actually), the question becomes would you buy an AMD GPU out of pity for their financial situation. I'd have to say most users don't approach a purchase like this, they look for the best bang/buck or best performance. The good news is that AMD is still doing well with GPUs, so it isn't an immediate issue I guess.

The question isn't one of pity, the question is are you concerned that you will loose driver support if AMD folds. Buying a product out of a sentimental feeling has no place here.

 

[Genx87]

This is not to take sides, but it seems like Sony isn't all that concerned considering they gave AMD the PS4 contract, even more so considering it's a combined CPU/GPU.

afaik Sony bought a license to build the AMDs design. AMD could tank tomorrow and Sony wouldnt be affected. AMD is not fabbing this for Sony.

 

[Ferzerp]

afaik Sony bought a license to build the AMDs design. AMD could tank tomorrow and Sony wouldnt be affected. AMD is not fabbing this for Sony.

AMD can't license out x86 like that.

 

[SirPauly]

It may but how much?

One can also make the point by getting rid of the ATI brand name may of lost some brand recognition for graphics as well.

When they changed the name they had over-all discrete share leadership.

 

[exar333]

amd just got chosen as the company that makes the gpu and the cpu for ps4, and they also designed the ps4 from what I've heard (they also engaged in a partnership with ARM to create one of PS4's cpus), seems to me that they're pretty far from dying.

also, this gen's amd gpus rock, most of their gpus overclock at 50% and own the competition while being much cheaper. Isn't the 7970 almost 2x cheaper than a 680? it's faster than it when OC'd. Even my 7850 which is a mid range, can OC to 1200mhz and get to 7950 performance (high end). If I push it a little more I can get to 1350-1375mhz, that's more than 50% OC on stock coolers, and I've seen people on the internet who got comparable or better OC results than mine, and I'm not being a fanboy now, I've owned lots of nvidias in the past, and my previous card was a gts450 that OC'd rather well, from 800 to 1ghz core.

That really doesn't matter at all. AMD doesn't really make anything anymore, they essentially are designers only. AMD could go out of business and Sony would likely just license the design and continue to have these fabbed wherever.

 

[Ferzerp]

That really doesn't matter at all. AMD doesn't really make anything anymore, they essentially are designers only. AMD could go out of business and Sony would likely just license the design and continue to have these fabbed wherever.

For a GPU yes, but they'd have to also contract with Intel for anything x86. That's why it's pretty baffling that they've gone this route. If AMD were to fold, Intel would have sony in a very interesting position.

AMD can use x86 and the Intel patents required, but they cannot transfer that ability to any other entity. They even had legal issues when they got rid of their fabs with even being able to pay someone to make them for them.

 

[96Firebird]

Since when has a company of this caliper completely folded in recent history. Our governments don't let these types of companies fail.

Really? How big do you think AMD is? According to my reliable source (Wikipedia :biggrin, AMD has ~12,000 employees. Using the same source, Eastman Kodak Company had 17,000 employees in 2011. Guess what happened to Kodak? Right now they are in bankruptcy, and bleeding from every wound. Hostess had ~19,000 employees when they went bankrupt not too long ago. The government is not helping them, just like the government would not help AMD.

 

[SirPauly]

Edit: deleted

 

[BrightCandle]

I would be a very grave day for all gamers if AMD went splat. Their future doesn't look good and their recent delivery has been really problematic. So I would say the chance they fold in the near future is actually relatively high. If they do that means no drivers and that guarantees the card is useless from that day onwards. Worth taking account of in a purchasing decision? No not yet.

 

[Stuka87]

I would be a very grave day for all gamers if AMD went splat. Their future doesn't look good and their recent delivery has been really problematic. So I would the chance they fold in the near future is actually relatively high. If they do that means no drivers and that guarantees the card is useless from that day onwards. Worth taking account of in a purchasing decision? No not yet.

" Their future doesn't look good and their recent delivery has been really problematic."

Say what?!?! What "delivery" are you talking about? The 7k series chips have been fine and had not had any hardware issues. While their CPU's are not as fast as Intel's, they are still have a good performance/dollar ratio.

Personally I do not see AMD going anywhere. Even if things were very bad right now (And they aren't yet), it would take years for things to crumble.

 

[Hdgamer]

Really? How big do you think AMD is? According to my reliable source (Wikipedia :biggrin, AMD has ~12,000 employees. Using the same source, Eastman Kodak Company had 17,000 employees in 2011. Guess what happened to Kodak? Right now they are in bankruptcy, and bleeding from every wound. Hostess had ~19,000 employees when they went bankrupt not too long ago. The government is not helping them, just like the government would not help AMD.

No governments want competition. That's why they saved some of the failing banks. I know first hand that my company was going to get bought up by our competition because we were going into bankruptcy. But the government put a block on it and we got bought up by an investment firm. That's the way it works here in America. Hostess will be bought up as well if it hasn't already... Pennies on the dollar. There will be hostess products around in the future, just with a different name on it. That's all.

 

[raghu78]

That really doesn't matter at all. AMD doesn't really make anything anymore, they essentially are designers only. AMD could go out of business and Sony would likely just license the design and continue to have these fabbed wherever.

AMD gets their chips manufactured by TSMC and Globalfoundries. But it sells chips to its customers. they do license GPU tech like they did for xbox 360. But this gen they are mostly selling chips. the PS4 chip is a semi custom single chip APU (GPU and CPU on single die) with a GDDR5 memory controller,specialized video decoders, display outputs etc .

http://blogs.amd.com/fusion/2013/02/21/amd/

I don't think AMD is licensing the PS4 and Xbox Next chips. its mostly selling manufactured chips fabbed at one of their foundries (most probably TSMC). AMD has publicly stated in their Q4 2012 conference call that embedded and semi-custom chips would make 20% of their Q4 2013 revenue.

 

[96Firebird]

Say what?!?! What "delivery" are you talking about? The 7k series chips have been fine and had not had any hardware issues. While their CPU's are not as fast as Intel's, they are still have a good performance/dollar ratio.

Investors don't care about how well-built the chips are, or performance/dollar ratios. They care about making money in the end, and while the console wins may help, AMD's marketshare problems need to turn around.

Investors keep companies afloat, and if they aren't making money, they won't hang on for too long.

 

[bgt]

AMD makes great products and they surely won't go away. I am a happy AMD user anyway. Waiting to buy a Temash tablet when they arrive.

 

[raghu78]

I would be a very grave day for all gamers if AMD went splat. Their future doesn't look good and their recent delivery has been really problematic. So I would the chance they fold in the near future is actually relatively high. If they do that means no drivers and that guarantees the card is useless from that day onwards. Worth taking account of in a purchasing decision? No not yet.

Actually AMD's future is looking much better than what people make it out to be. With all the next gen consoles locked and loaded (PS4 APU, Xbox next APU, Wii U GPU) AMD has a steady revenue stream for funding future gpu, and apu R&D. their GCN products are competitive and their developer relations program GAMING EVOLVED is stronger than ever. With AMD being the hardware designer for next gen consoles game developers will work closely with AMD hardware which bodes well for their desktop CPU and GPUs too.

AMD has a good ultra low power chip for Windows 7 / 8 tablets(Temash) and low power chip for low end notebooks (Kabini) out in Q2. they need a strong CPU architecture for the high end. AMD's rock bottom was bulldozer. so things can only improve from there. Piledriver improved things a bit. AMD Steamroller and Excavator would put them in a better competitive situation. Maybe steamroller and excavator will not win over haswell and broadwell but they will keep AMD in the race. AMD has Jim Keller (athlon 64 designer) leading the high end CPU design team. I am confident AMD can pull off a Athlon 64 by 2015 or 2016.

 

[Fx1]

ATI is worth more than the whole of AMD so work it out. AMD goes down and ATI gets sold to Qualcomm or something with big money. Maybe Samsung who knows.

The only issue has been the CPU side and im betting once EU says intels anti sale clause in the x86 licence is ruled illegal then many people would look to buy AMD. Apple could buy them with change down the sofa and so could IBM or Samsung or Qualcomm.

All of those players have use for GPU and CPU's

 

[Dribble]

If you buy a card it's not going to evaporate if AMD go under or get taken over, but I would worry about drivers. The cutbacks will have already hit their driver teams, and if they get taken over there's no guarantee's whoever buys them will care that much about the PC market.

e.g. if Qualcomm or almost anyone else buy ATI they will want it for new non x86 products, which will mean new drivers, which will mean most of the x86 radeon driver team being moved over to do that.

 

[Eureka]

That's the way it works here in America. Hostess will be bought up as well if it hasn't already... Pennies on the dollar. There will be hostess products around in the future, just with a different name on it. That's all.

That is failure. No, the IPs aren't going to magically disappear, but the government's not going to come in and save a small company like this. It's small enough that if it fails, it won't make a huge dent on the economy.

 

[max347]

Did you really have to post that giant image? Good grief man.

He said, sitting behind his 800x600 CRT...

 

[3DVagabond]

afaik Sony bought a license to build the AMDs design. AMD could tank tomorrow and Sony wouldnt be affected. AMD is not fabbing this for Sony.

No. Because they are X86 designs Sony is buying them from AMD. AMD can't license someone else to make them.

 

[CHADBOGA]

ATI is worth more than the whole of AMD so work it out. AMD goes down and ATI gets sold to Qualcomm or something with big money. Maybe Samsung who knows.

The only issue has been the CPU side and im betting once EU says intels anti sale clause in the x86 licence is ruled illegal then many people would look to buy AMD. Apple could buy them with change down the sofa and so could IBM or Samsung or Qualcomm.

All of those players have use for GPU and CPU's

None of those players current use AMD's stuff, so why would they waste money trying to compete in x86 against Intel?

IBM already has an x86 license and they decided years ago it wasn't worth going head to head with Intel in the x86 world.

 

[FalseChristian]

With their console contracts and there excellent new FX lineup of CPUs AMD is in a position to actually making money on the CPU side (for a change).

 

[3DVagabond]

With their console contracts and there excellent new FX lineup of CPUs AMD is in a position to actually making money on the CPU side (for a change).

The new Vishera chips do improve performance. Also we are seeing apps take advantage of more threads/cores. This makes AMD's processors more viable. @ $200 the FX-8350 is a good option. We'll have to see if enough people see the value, or not.

This is encouraging.

Far from scientific the FX-8150 has 720 user reviews. The FX-8350 has 440 user reviews. Just by that metric, considering how long the FX-8350 has been on the market, it appears the FX-8350 is selling better. Good enough? I guess time will tell.

 

[f1sherman]

AMD gets their chips manufactured by TSMC and Globalfoundries. But it sells chips to its customers. they do license GPU tech like they did for xbox 360. But this gen they are mostly selling chips. the PS4 chip is a semi custom single chip APU (GPU and CPU on single die) with a GDDR5 memory controller,specialized video decoders, display outputs etc .

http://blogs.amd.com/fusion/2013/02/21/amd/

I don't think AMD is licensing the PS4 and Xbox Next chips. its mostly selling manufactured chips fabbed at one of their foundries (most probably TSMC). AMD has publicly stated in their Q4 2012 conference call that embedded and semi-custom chips would make 20% of their Q4 2013 revenue.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/1218911-neither-playstation-nor-windows-tablet-will-turn-around-amd