AMD: Pirate Islands (R* 3** series) Speculation/Rumor Thread

[3dilettante]

Obviously, I meant how feasible is that they'd just update the GPU with newest tech and leave it as it is otherwise

New physical design, fresh masks, and a re-do of validation. Creating a derivative means re-using much of the R&D that went into the base architecture which the prior GPU did from its base architecture, so if that cost is discounted, it is the costs of implementing, validating, and manufacturing a new ASIC, plus possible costs related to inventory of the prior GPU that does almost the same thing.

That AMD has been reluctant to do so the last change it got may indicate that the return on investment is not great.

 

[Alexko]

Rebrands are old news, more importantly can AMD cut down the power consumption and be competitive at the same time?

http://techreport.com/news/27996/4gb-gtx-960s-trickle-into-retail-channels?post=893388#893388

Very intriguing. This kind of performance at 145W would basically put it at the same level of power-efficiency as GM204! I'd like to see an independent test of this, however.

 

[Frenetic Pony]

Samsung might buy AMD: http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/...ng-an-amd-acquisition-heres-what-could-happen

Which would be great for both. AMD desperately needs capital and a competent marketing team. Samsung meanwhile has resolutely failed at creating "innovative" new products despite spending billions in trying. Vertical integration however has always been their thing, and their own CPU/GPU IP fits right into that.

For AMD more importantly it means not sitting on the edge of disaster, and for a new architecture probably much faster access to Samsung's Finfet fabs. Imagine AMD cards with the sort of fab advantage that Intel CPUs get, at least assuming the trend of "Mobile clients get access to the new node first, then other clients later" continues.

 

[Grall]

Samsung buying AMD would be a Really Good Thing, IMO. It'd inject fresh R&D capital into a body which is severely starved for that right now, Samsung also has serious silicon fabbing power (even though they probably stole a lot of that IP from TSMC, lol), so would also benefit AMD.

Without a strong backer like Samsung, AMD's gonna be nothing but a shell of its former self in a few years and completely gone in a few more.

 

[Esrever]

Every company is rumored to buy AMD at this point. Ill believe it when I see it.

 

[Ethatron]

Has Samsung enough money to buy a x86 license at the "it's so much money we can't say no" pain-threshold of intel's board? AFAIR AMD's is null and void when they get sold.

 

[Frenetic Pony]

Has Samsung enough money to buy a x86 license at the "it's so much money we can't say no" pain-threshold of intel's board? AFAIR AMD's is null and void when they get sold.

A point, but AMD's next CPU core is also being designed with an ARM instruction decoder as well as an x86 one. So their CPU IP is still valuable there, especially for Samsung's phones and tablets.

 

[thatdude90210]

Has Samsung enough money to buy a x86 license at the "it's so much money we can't say no" pain-threshold of intel's board? AFAIR AMD's is null and void when they get sold.

What would happen if they call it a merger instead?

 

[3dilettante]

What would happen if they call it a merger instead?

I think this rumor, even if it had some truth to it, would not be close enough in time to affect Pirate Islands GPUs.
Beyond that, the disclosed agreements showed Intel's lawyers did think of this. Change of control is also evaluated from the standpoint of the relative worth of each party in a "merger". Samsung tips the scales far too much to say these are two relatively equivalent companies merging together.

The only way that sort of resource transfer could be justified as not being a change of control would be if Samsung's corporate leadership, capital and real-estate documentation, and IP crown jewels were on a cruise ship in international waters and AMD's executive team sailed up on the Jolly Roger, stormed the bridge, and took Samsung as their rightful piratical booty.

I am not a corporate litigator, nor a buccaneer, but I believe there is a fatal oversight in Intel's legal position in not including a clause for acquisition by plunder whilst in international waters.

 

[Kaotik]

Has Samsung enough money to buy a x86 license at the "it's so much money we can't say no" pain-threshold of intel's board? AFAIR AMD's is null and void when they get sold.

Not really the right thread for this, but on another forum someone suspected that if AMD gets bought, the competition regulators will make sure the x86 transfers as well despite what the licensing agreement says

 

[ninelven]

Yep, if push comes to shove I'm sure Intel would reach an agreement with whoever bought AMD because to not do so would be a significant danger to themselves.

 

[nutball]

Since we're playing hypotheticals, perhaps hypothetically Samsung wouldn't care about x86 at all.

Nor discrete GPUs.

 

[pjbliverpool]

Since we're playing hypotheticals, perhaps hypothetically Samsung wouldn't care about x86 at all.

Nor discrete GPUs.

That's a scary point.

 

[gamervivek]

Very intriguing. This kind of performance at 145W would basically put it at the same level of power-efficiency as GM204! I'd like to see an independent test of this, however.

Does sound too good to be true, and there's another anecdote in the comments which goes against it. Would be interesting if AMD can make up for the difference with API change instead of cranking the voltage to 11.

 

[Ethatron]

The only way that sort of resource transfer could be justified as not being a change of control would be if Samsung's corporate leadership, capital and real-estate documentation, and IP crown jewels were on a cruise ship in international waters and AMD's executive team sailed up on the Jolly Roger, stormed the bridge, and took Samsung as their rightful piratical booty.

I am not a corporate litigator, nor a buccaneer, but I believe there is a fatal oversight in Intel's legal position in not including a clause for acquisition by plunder whilst in international waters.

LOOOOL
The much easier legal loophole could be AMD buying Samsung for 1$.?

 

[fehu]

Why nobody think about buying Via to get an x86 license?

 

[Deleted member 13524]

Why nobody think about buying Via to get an x86 license?

I can think of two reasons:

1 - VIA's license may not be transferable to another company on purchase (I think this was mentioned when nVidia was denied access to QPI and the future of nForce could go through nVidia making their own x86 CPUs).

2 - Going against intel in x86 is an almost guaranteed losing battle, at least while their fab nodes are ~2 years ahead of TSMC.

 

[fehu]

Via has acquired the license, but don't know the legal limitations, and samsung at the moment looks like the only fab able to compete with intel on nodes reliability and timing

 

[Picao84]

I think this rumor, even if it had some truth to it, would not be close enough in time to affect Pirate Islands GPUs.
Beyond that, the disclosed agreements showed Intel's lawyers did think of this. Change of control is also evaluated from the standpoint of the relative worth of each party in a "merger". Samsung tips the scales far too much to say these are two relatively equivalent companies merging together.

The only way that sort of resource transfer could be justified as not being a change of control would be if Samsung's corporate leadership, capital and real-estate documentation, and IP crown jewels were on a cruise ship in international waters and AMD's executive team sailed up on the Jolly Roger, stormed the bridge, and took Samsung as their rightful piratical booty.

I am not a corporate litigator, nor a buccaneer, but I believe there is a fatal oversight in Intel's legal position in not including a clause for acquisition by plunder whilst in international waters.

Thanks for the laugh.. ahahahahahah.

 

[SimBy]

Since we're playing hypotheticals, perhaps hypothetically Samsung wouldn't care about x86 at all.

Nor discrete GPUs.

What would they care about then? Not that I believe this rumor is true. Rumors about someone buying AMD surface at least twice per year....for the past 10 years.