AMD no longer making high performance CPUs

[rage33]

With AMD officially out of the "enthusiast" CPU market, I have to ask the question(s):

What's the next step for Intel?

Is Intel simply going to sit back and continue to produce the same performance CPUs and market them with new names and coding?

How does this effect the enthusiast market?

With no competition does Intel over inflate the cost of their products?

I heard a rumor from an employee that works for Intel, and was told that eventually Intel will stop producing desktop CPUs and begin to focus on all-in-one high performance computers that you will take with you and simply plug them into docking stations. Something like carrying around a giant tablet with higher performing parts.

If this information is true, does it make the enthusiast desktop (gaming, performance work station) extinct?

Let me know your thoughts if you have any.

 

[vilenjan]

Yes and Yes.

Currently CPUs are so far ahead most consumer software due the cpu wars that started around 2001 that we will be fine even the pace slows down, especially in gaming. Intel is still going to make desktop level cpus, its their most dominant and profitable market (along with server cpus).

AMD is going to go back to pre-K7 days were (hopefully) they provided cpus that were fast enough for most mainstream consumers at prices lower than what intel had at that price point. AMD cant stop developing new cpu technologies since APU's still require a cpu

I am still holding out to see what pile driver and maybe even steamroller will bring. They don't have to be the best, just the best $/performance

 

[InvalidError]

What's the next step for Intel?

Similar next step to AMD.

Both are slowly pushing more cores.
Both are pushing faster IGPs.
Both are pushing better performance per watt.
Both are incrementally improving their IPC.
Both have "K-series" CPUs with unlocked multipliers for enthusiasts/overclockers
Neither wants to sacrifice power efficiency for performance anymore, at least not in stock configurations.

If this information is true, does it make the enthusiast desktop (gaming, performance work station) extinct?

IGPs are not going to catch up with discrete any time soon, medium/high-end GPUs are going to stay around for several more years.

Since unlocked multiplier CPUs cost manufacturers nearly nothing more to manufacture, they will continue offering those for the foreseeable future as well since they are almost pure extra profit.

Whatever AMD and Intel do, enthusiast rigs are not going extinct any time soon. The markets going to get cleaned out by IGPs is the low/mid-range and tablets/subnotebooks where low cost and longer battery life/lower power is often more valuable than graphics performance.

 

[sarinaide]

Yes - you will not see a $400+ AMD chip for a very long time, but Intel and AMD are chasing two different markets.

By Steamroller, perhaps AMD would have addressed the needs of mainsteam gamers with a highend CPU fused with a mainstream level GPU, this will be a good market to attract as you will get game at the cost minus a discrete card, then there is asymetrical crossfire (IGP+Discrete) which is showing rather impressive numbers on a Llano already.

AMD will not challenge at the cost end, but will challenge when it comes to future computing needs, maybe even have a huge advantage by the time 2015 rolls on.

 

[amuffin]

Thing is, THERE are barely any enthusiasts anymore. It's all about common users, think about it. A common user doesn't play games, just surfs the internet. Intel's IGP is perfectly fine for doing so. BUT the common joe doesn't do their research, so they look at clock speed...

 

[sarinaide]

Thing is, THERE are barely any enthusiasts anymore. It's all about common users, think about it. A common user doesn't play games, just surfs the internet. Intel's IGP is perfectly fine for doing so. BUT the common joe doesn't do their research, so they look at clock speed...

I tend to look at 3 markets;

1] Enthusiast

2] Mainstream

3] Commercial

each sector has differing needs, as well as some concurrent needs. AMD by the looks of things have abandoned the Enthusiast market to focus on mainstream and commercial sector, I haven't included mobile so this is strictly Desktop.

 

[grumbledook]

Intel has to make better chips to be able to sell them so they can't just stop innovating. They will still have competition in the lower end by AMD and ARM will also be a bigger competitor soon. The desktop market is shrinking so it's the mobile market which is where they are focused more and more, and to do that they need to make their cpus power efficient. They're also doing a lot of work on their integrated gpu these days. AMD is doing the same actually.