The Rise and Fall of AMD.

[jihe]

AMD Haters are making the same transition as the apple sheep did years ago. Once the Intel IGP surpasses any current-gen APU offerings from AMD they'll be all over this board "Wheres your AMD NAO!, LMFAO Irrelevant!".

Look I love AMD back in the days, but I love a good product more. You cannot deny AMD's offerings have been tragic since the A64x2, when they price gouge massively. Frankly I put the blame on Hector.

 

[todpod]

I for one miss the good old days when AMD seemed to be the Robin Hood of the chip industry. When they were coming out with the 386SX-33 & 40sx, offering us folks on the low end something to shoot for. I looked forward to Computer Shopper and PC Mag with the latest news on what AMD, Cyrix and even TI was coming out with to compete. I have always been a player at the low end of building computers but that market seems to have dried up.
I hope AMD can stay relevant and push Intel and at least keep them honest, I also wish they would support Linux better esp with there APUs. Newegg has an ARM motherboard for like $60, maybe thats the answer for guys like me. Need to do some research for Ubuntu on ARM.

 

[Idontcare]

I looked forward to Computer Shopper and PC Mag with the latest news on what AMD, Cyrix and even TI was coming out with to compete.

Ah, good'ole Computer Shopper :wub: That thing was the pinnacle of nerd-dom, I absolutely loved getting that thing and spending weeks pouring through page after page hunting down "deals".

There was just something magical about seeing that Computer Shopper in the mail, like a kid who hunted through the Sears catalogue drafting their wish lists for Christmas or their birthday, as an adult it was pretty exciting

And I vividly remember at TI when we were at our peak in the 486 footrace to get the highest clockspeeds out to market with the best yields the internal mantra was "$1 per MHz!" rah, rah, rah.

We spent a good year with that as our top focus for logic semiconductor, get to $1/MHz with our 80 and 100MHz 486's. It was actually pretty exciting to see such a direct/immediate connection from the fab to the consumer market.

 

[Farmer]

Look I love AMD back in the days, but I love a good product more. You cannot deny AMD's offerings have been tragic since the A64x2, when they price gouge massively. Frankly I put the blame on Hector.

That's not quite true. Phenom 2 was a competitive product at their prices (that was 2009), in fact I'm still running a Phenom 2.

Big missteps by AMD were Phenom 1 and Bulldozer.

 

[Lonbjerg]

That's not quite true. Phenom 2 was a competitive product at their prices (that was 2009), in fact I'm still running a Phenom 2.

Big missteps by AMD were Phenom 1 and Bulldozer.

Your avatar is outdated

 

[Makaveli]

I thought it was a good article considering it was written by a member couple errors here and there.

And a good trip down memory lane for those of us that have been in this game since the early 90's.

I think i've built or had my hand on everything on that article from the 286 on.

It a good read for the people that blindly follow both companies and are possibly too young to know the history of both.

I must say I do miss the Early Socket A days the industry just seemed more exciting.

Everything now is Apple and Tablets its quite boring.

 

[lyssword]

my buddy just bought a fx6300, can't beat it for $130

 

[Phynaz]

It means that people settle for even as crap as HD4000.

Which is what I said, it means people don't care about a good IGP, therefore it isn't significant to the success of AMD.

 

[mrmt]

Which is what I said, it means people don't care about a good IGP, therefore it isn't significant to the success of AMD.

I think most people care about IGP and would be happier with more performance, but they want good IGP without sacrificing power efficiency and CPU performance. That's one of the lessons that AMD poor numbers give us.

 

[Maximilian]

People tend to fall into one of two groups with graphics, they either need a high performance discrete card to game on or they need some low end crap that will put a picture on the screen.

Having a low and crap IGP thats a bit better than the competition dosent really present any advantages to either group.

 

[Abwx]

I think most people care about IGP and would be happier with more performance, but they want good IGP without sacrificing power efficiency and CPU performance. That's one of the lessons that AMD poor numbers give us.

They would like to care but most have no knowledge of what it is exactly
and how much influence it has on a system fluidity.

Just today in a general store while looking at the offerings
another customer was left choosing between the two last netbooks,
one was Atom N270 + GMA3150 based while the second one was
using a Bobcat C60 , price being the same.

Guess wich model was bought....

 

[NTMBK]

People tend to fall into one of two groups with graphics, they either need a high performance discrete card to game on or they need some low end crap that will put a picture on the screen.

Having a low and crap IGP thats a bit better than the competition dosent really present any advantages to either group.

How about an IGP that can give playable framerates at decent resolution?

 

[todpod]

I think the key to the IGP is one that works with good driver support. There is a need for that. Look at the low end stuff at walmart and staples, that's what they run. If you buy on the low and and it never really works right you going to look at something different when you go to upgrade.

 

[Lonbjerg]

IGP's will always be where they are...at the bottom...giving piss poor performance compared to a real GPU.

People talk like games will not evolve futher...I'd rather just upgrade my GPU...than having to upgrade my CPU(and Mobo?)...because the piss poor IGP is holding me back.

 

[HypX]

I have no comment. AMD was good when they came out with the first dual core CPU. X2 64bit they had the lead over Intel IMO at that point. Until Core 2 came out and after that its been disaster from what I read and see.

http://www.techspot.com/article/599-amd-rise-and-fall/

:whiste:

Well, it's pretty damn obvious that ARM is the real challenger to Intel. I just don't see what's the point of AMD even existing these days.

 

[Lonbjerg]

Well, it's pretty damn obvious that ARM is the real challenger to Intel. I just don't see what's the point of AMD even existing these days.

ARM has had an easy ride so far.
Now Intel prioritizes their mobile/atom SKU's much more than before.

ARM is going the way of AMD soon...playing second fiddle to Intel.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

People talk like games will not evolve futher...I'd rather just upgrade my GPU...than having to upgrade my CPU(and Mobo?)...because the piss poor IGP is holding me back.

That's going to be a bit difficult in a laptop... :whiste:

Otherwise, I hear you...

 

[HypX]

ARM has had an easy ride so far.
Now Intel prioritizes their mobile/atom SKU's much more than before.

ARM is going the way of AMD soon...playing second fiddle to Intel.

I very much doubt that. ARM isn't like AMD in the sense it provides a finished product like a CPU or GPU and sell them directly. Rather, it just licenses out the architecture and several chip designs to anyone who wants them. Numerous companies have taken up on that deal, including Qualcomm, Apple, Samsung, etc., who then go on to use the licenses as they please. Usually integrated as part of a larger product and usually with numerous customizations and enhancements of their own.

So in order for ARM to go the way of AMD, all of the companies that use ARM's IP need to perform poorly. Very unlikely to happen IMO. These companies are very well managed (relative to AMD at any rate) and are much better funded. Samsung even owns its own fabs*. They are in much better shape than AMD has ever been. Furthermore, then won't get into patent entanglements with Intel either, since it is a totally different ISA. I expect the Intel vs ARM licensee's as a much more interesting, and more competitive fight.

*As Jerry Sanders once said, "Real men own fabs," so I guess Samsung are full of real men right?

 

[ShintaiDK]

Both Samsung and Apple dont have any relations to ARM as such. Its only Qualcomm. Samsung and Apple is just interested in selling smartphones.

Thats basicly the main problem for ARM, most of the socalled ARM supporters dont have any reason to use ARM if a better product is out there.

 

[Idontcare]

IGP's will always be where they are...at the bottom...giving piss poor performance compared to a real GPU.

People talk like games will not evolve futher...I'd rather just upgrade my GPU...than having to upgrade my CPU(and Mobo?)...because the piss poor IGP is holding me back.

It is not so different from that of the laptop, console, smartphone/tablet markets either, whether you are into productivity purposes (laptop) or mainstream gaming purposes (consoles) or mobile purposes (smartphone/tablet)...the market segment that actually upgrades their PC's on an individual component level is rather tiny.

When was the last time we saw a game that was first and foremost designed for the PC gaming market and then downscaled and ported to consoles as a secondary sales opportunity?

 

[Jaydip]

Witcher 2 comes to mind

 

[jpiniero]

Thats basicly the main problem for ARM, most of the socalled ARM supporters dont have any reason to use ARM if a better product is out there.

I suppose Samsung could switch. It'd be a lot more difficult for Apple due to compatibility reasons because there is a lot more native software on iOS.

Despite that, it still seems unlikely that Intel can build a product that's faster, less power consumption and cheaper. And that's what it's going to take to get them off ARM. Pricing is the biggest thing because you can pretty much assume that any smartphone or tablet in volume is going to have very small margins (esp if the Nexus 4 starts selling), and that means small margins for their suppliers.

 

[frozentundra123456]

How about an IGP that can give playable framerates at decent resolution?

I am still waiting for exactly that.

 

[Olikan]

I suppose Samsung could switch. It'd be a lot more difficult for Apple due to compatibility reasons because there is a lot more native software on iOS.

IMO, samsung is the company that most benefits from ARM...
(and the other foundries)

 

[exar333]

I suppose Samsung could switch. It'd be a lot more difficult for Apple due to compatibility reasons because there is a lot more native software on iOS.

Despite that, it still seems unlikely that Intel can build a product that's faster, less power consumption and cheaper. And that's what it's going to take to get them off ARM. Pricing is the biggest thing because you can pretty much assume that any smartphone or tablet in volume is going to have very small margins (esp if the Nexus 4 starts selling), and that means small margins for their suppliers.

I really don't see why not. They took a Atom and it is already competitive with ARM offerings in terms of performance and battery life. That's essentially a 'bastard' CPU leveraged for low-power usage. When Intel really starts to target and engineer these, they absolutely can be competitive.