AMD: Beyond R600
- Thread starter Unknown Soldier
- Start date
I think R700 would be a worthy thread topic, once we know something substantive about R600.
It seems a shame that it had to be a Fuad story that started it.
Also, does Fuad have some friends writing, or has he resorted to referringn to himelf in the first person plural? Since when was it "We"?
It seems a shame that it had to be a Fuad story that started it.
Also, does Fuad have some friends writing, or has he resorted to referringn to himelf in the first person plural? Since when was it "We"?
We do that all the time, too. It's good journalistic style, though the practice actually originates from representing a team with implied reciprocal support. For lone guns such as us it doesn't make as much sense, short of keeping the door open for future multitude.
Implying team support however doesn't mean that you actually collaborated on a story with a team, or even that the team agrees with you. When we wrote tech articles for print, our contact openly admitted being completely out of his league and we were essentially unchecked in our facts, because there was noone who could have done that.
And then when R700 is delayed you're gonna wait another year to build the fastest computer available with the top of the line parts available in xmas of 2k8 ..... then you're gonna wait to see if it's worth waiting for R800 in Q1 0f 2009 !!
Unknown Soldier
Veteran
Well I also thought it pretty early for R700 rumours .. but if it's true, I hope AMD learnt something in regards to the problems they experienced with the R600 and actually release the R700 on time. That's if this rumour is true none the less.
Won't speculate on specs since we still waiting for official R600 specs.
US
Won't speculate on specs since we still waiting for official R600 specs.
US
Blazkowicz
Legend
presumably it would bring FP64 support?
Lest we forget...
Also, I assume that you'll see FP64 on ATI cards before the end of this year. Don't count on it being fast; I think it's exclusively for GPGPU.
Also, I assume that you'll see FP64 on ATI cards before the end of this year. Don't count on it being fast; I think it's exclusively for GPGPU.
vertex_shader
Banned
I dont think so. AMD isn't that stupid to let go of such a market. I think they would do that if their market share in the IGP arena increases a lot. Just imagine, AMD stops developing discretes and goes for Fusions, then their fusions dont gain them any marketshare, this is a situation where AMD would have lost marketshare in every GPU market, and I'm sure AMD is keeping this in mind.
Yes....AMD is in a world of hurt.
Why throw money at development in a discreet market that they can't make money in?
AMD/ATI is close to a full generation behind in discreet graphics. Nvidia has won. AMD may choose to continue their developments, but that will aonly accelerate the ousterr of H. Ruiz as he throws good money after bad.
Ultimately, they (AMD) must cut their losses and refocus on their core strategy which is currently Fusion until that gets re-jiggered too.
AMD can still make money off the discrete market, even if R600 is does badly.
The margins may be skinny if things go badly, but any income is better than eating an unrecovered loss.
The margins may be skinny if things go badly, but any income is better than eating an unrecovered loss.
You must think like a CEO. He has shareholders to satisfy and a Board of Dir. Income with skinny margin is only justified if it leads to income with fat margins. AMD must find the strategy that does that.
- Can high-end discreet ever bring AMD fat margins? No AMD is a generation behind.
- Can low-end discreet bring them fat margins? No. By definition low-end discreet is not a high margin business.
- Can Fusion? Maybe. AMD/ATI is a unique combination. The question is, is there a market for their vision?
Silent_Buddha
Legend
On Topic
Wasn't there news a few months back that R700 was going to be composed of X numbers of discrete chips with AMD/ATI being able to scale how many chips were used based on the market segment it was going to target? Or was the rumor about multiple "cores" making up a modular type chip? Sounds fairly similar to the research and developement that Intel is doing on their next discrete chip.
Off Topic
Also, this isn't the first time that AMD has been in "trouble" nor is it even remotely close to the worst the company has been.
AMD was in far far worse shape when Intel pulled a switch from 486 to Pentium and AMD could no longer make virtually exact copies of Intel chips. Since then AMD has been investing quite heavily into research and development. First with the 586, then eventually the K6-2, K7 (Athlon) their first truly successful chip and then the K8 (Athlon 64).
The years between their 486 days and their Athlon XP days were bleak and much worse than what they are going through now.
Also, considering that the ATI division is currently almost (around 40ish?) percent of their incoming revenue. It'd be suicide to kill off the discrete business which is what is feeding ATI's integrated motherboard chipset solutions.
Also, lest you forget. A strong Discrete part is the equivalent of millions of dollars of free advertising via word of mouth and reputation.
I'm fairly certain AMD isn't quite that stupid and incompetant that they would kill it off.
Then again, companies have done stupider things in the past.
Regards,
SB
Wasn't there news a few months back that R700 was going to be composed of X numbers of discrete chips with AMD/ATI being able to scale how many chips were used based on the market segment it was going to target? Or was the rumor about multiple "cores" making up a modular type chip? Sounds fairly similar to the research and developement that Intel is doing on their next discrete chip.
Off Topic
Also, this isn't the first time that AMD has been in "trouble" nor is it even remotely close to the worst the company has been.
AMD was in far far worse shape when Intel pulled a switch from 486 to Pentium and AMD could no longer make virtually exact copies of Intel chips. Since then AMD has been investing quite heavily into research and development. First with the 586, then eventually the K6-2, K7 (Athlon) their first truly successful chip and then the K8 (Athlon 64).
The years between their 486 days and their Athlon XP days were bleak and much worse than what they are going through now.
Also, considering that the ATI division is currently almost (around 40ish?) percent of their incoming revenue. It'd be suicide to kill off the discrete business which is what is feeding ATI's integrated motherboard chipset solutions.
Also, lest you forget. A strong Discrete part is the equivalent of millions of dollars of free advertising via word of mouth and reputation.
I'm fairly certain AMD isn't quite that stupid and incompetant that they would kill it off.
Then again, companies have done stupider things in the past.
Regards,
SB
One whole generation behind? That's a dramatization, isn't it?
AMD will have a fab tech advantage in graphics, which should allow them to compete even with a design disadvantage. So yes, keeping the development going will lead to tangible returns eventually, as long as the PC gaming market doesn't outright implode.
I'm personally not even paying attention to any graphics card that consumes more than 50W. I couldn't tell you any G80 benchmark score. It may just be me, but hearing that the G80 generation is supposed to be over already is kinda surprising.
Right now AMD needs to make money. It doesn't matter right now if the margins are skinny. It is in debt and it needs more financing.
It needs to demonstrate to investors, analysts, and creditors that it can produce a reliable income stream. It needs to prove that it didn't get completely screwed by the ATI acquisition.
While not as glorious as the high end, the mid range and low-end products represent a reliable income stream.
Even if R600 does poorly, there is still time to recover in the next generation if the rest of the lineup does respectably.
Rolf N said:
There is unlikely to be an advantage in discrete graphics; AMD's using the same fabs Nvidia uses.
Right now they do. But AMD is certainly compelled to leverage their own fab technology when they get the chance.
in the distant future yes, they are already capacity constrained as it is right now.
