this Ben guy is killing me. Stop it already...eeewww see what you did.
those 2 investors that were already cooked are running like hell now
@psoomah continue to ignore him, maybe they come back.
just shortly, how is 2014+(?) Kaveri going to stand against this?
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6600/...rformance-compared-to-nvidias-geforce-gt-650m
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My reasoning on this is as follows:
1. AMD's CES slideshow identified gaming as "a massive market opportunity for AMD'. That backs up copious evidence AMD is putting massive resources into it's gaming related divisions to take full advantage of that massive market opportunity. There is certainly no other lucrative market segment AMD can leverage it's APU strategy to so thoroughly eliminate meaningful competition. It pretty much stands as a unique, relatively short term and highly lucrative plum just waiting to be plucked.
2. AMD's CES roadmap shows Kaveri retail availability towards the end of 2013. Thee consoles would certainly get first priority to the initial 28nm Kaveri runs, which per Charlie D's 2013 console release cutoff timeline means the initial console Kaveri/variants mass production is currently in progress. Hence the initial engineering samples would have been available coincident with the rumored timeline both Microsoft and Sony rethought and changed their next gen plans and decided to go with an all AMD solution. This strongly suggests a Kavei based next gen solution for both Microsoft and Sony. Likely a more extensively customized Kaveri for Microsoft and a somewhat less customized Kaveri, perhaps even a near stock Kavveri, for Sony based on their financial situation and Haz Kirai's recent statements in Japan indicating a somewhat less powerful console than expected and one optimized for almost immediate profit.
3. AMD's Kaveri Steamroller HSA based architecture with a unified address space, common memory pool and GCN 2.0 graphics is backed up by an already extensive and growing middleware and development toolkit for that particular architecture, a unique architectural configuration substantially different than what Intel or Nvidia has.That architecture in both next gen game consoles means AMD will be involved at multiple levels with next gen game engines and game developers in addition to their involvement with Microsoft and Sony. This gives AMD the inside track at every level of next gen game development. For game developers and publishers the better their games run on cheap computers, the more they sell. Including already coded Kaveri optimizations in their PC ports would be good for business.
4. AMD will be highly motivated to make sure the next gen PC ports will be highly optimized for the Kaveri architecture. As that optimization will already exist in the console versions of the games, it is logical to project extensive built in optimization for the Kaveri line of chips that will be coming out in the same time frame as the next gen consoles.
5. AMD already has
far better drivers than the notoriously bad drivers Intel standardly provides. On next gen games with their continuing deep involvement it can be expected AMD's Kaveri drivers will be highly polished from day 1 including for games as they are released. AMD has made gaming a primary focus of their strategy and is allocating their resources accordingly. This focus is going to be felt across the gaming spectrum.
6. Game developers and publishers carefully prioritize their resources. Optimizing for console ports (read AMD's architecture) will be priority no. 1, optimizing for Intel or Nvidia architectures for their PC ports will be very far down the list, particularly with a brand new architecture like Haswell. It is unlikely to receive more than cursory attention unless Intel throws some substantial money at the developers. Same goes for Nvidia.
7. In the case of Haswell, it's
raw performace might exceed Trinity by 20-30%, but Kaveri is reliably predicted to double Trinty's graphics performance and closing in on this in it's CPU performance. Kaveri's raw gaming performance will substantially exceed Haswell's. Kaveri with a standard AMD driver advantage will supercharge that graphics advantage. Kaveri with the coding and driver advantage resulting from it's console domination will nitrous inject that supercharger. Looking at a
massive blowout advantage over Haswell here.
8. Not expecting Nvidia to fare well against this advantage either.
9. I expect AMD is going all in to lock up the Steam Box, which would give it a solid 800 lb gorilla status in the console and x86 gaming space. AMD certainly has the best immediate solution to a Steam Box console. The Xi3 Piston is a verified 'Steam' box to run current x86 Steam games, but it's unverified if it will also be configured to run 'Steam Box'. It's hard to pin down what G. Newell's long range strategy might be. He might be taking into account whether solidifying that AMD 800lb gorilla status is in Valve's long term interest and might go with an initially less immediately optimum Intel/Nvidia solution. Or he might be playing coy by oblique references to Nvidia relating to ongoing negotiations with AMD. Valve remains a wildcard. But with or without 'Steam Box' AMD has a massive advantage over Intel and Nvidia, perhaps sufficient advantage in the case of Nvidia to force it from the consumer graphics space over the coming years. If AMD also nails Steam Box, it would all but seal Nvidia's fate in consumer graphics.
So to answer your question - I would say Kaveri is going to stand up against that quite handsomely.
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