News AMD Settles FX Bulldozer False Advertising Lawsuit for Roughly $35 a Chip

[coldmast]

Help me, my core didn't include enough parallelism as I initially thought and I don't like to read. I'm someone who solely makes purchases based on buzzwords and techno-jargon.

 

[coldmast]

Not to such a degree,if you have to look up a patent to figure it out it should be something stated on the box.
Just like with cheese analogue and similar stuff, if they just wrote cheese on the package it would be fraud because what cheese is is common knowledge that everybody shares.
The term core was also universally considered to be a certain thing at that time (mainly a core that has full access to all of its resources, all of the time)

Blue cheese: is both cheese and not cheese.

 

[kinggremlin]

Help me, my core didn't include enough parallelism as I initially thought and I don't like to read. I'm someone who solely makes purchases based on buzzwords and techno-jargon.

Seems pretty similar to the GTX970 RAM lawsuit. Odd how people were overwhelming supportive of that lawsuit, but when AMD does something similarly misleading, it's overwhelming defended on these same boards.

 

[jimmysmitty]

Seems pretty similar to the GTX970 RAM lawsuit. Odd how people were overwhelming supportive of that lawsuit, but when AMD does something similarly misleading, it's overwhelming defended on these same boards.

There is always more support for the "under dog". Although I wouldn't classify AMD as that. They are just another business and every move they make is to extract as much money as possible just like nVidia or Intel.

 

[TJ Hooker]

There is always more support for the "under dog". Although I wouldn't classify AMD as that. They are just another business and every move they make is to extract as much money as possible just like nVidia or Intel.

They're still an underdog IMO. We're talking about a company that makes CPUs and GPUs and still has revenue and market cap an order of magnitude lower than Intel (whose income comes primarily from CPUs alone). And half of Nvidia, whose income comes primarily from GPUs alone.

I agree that corporations should be thought of as amoral entities designed to make money, but frankly I think that AMD lacks the mindshare and/or clout to get away with some of the anti-competitive or outright illegal stuff that Intel and Nvidia have attempted. So if AMD happens to act better, it's only because they don't have the luxury not to.

 

[jimmysmitty]

They're still an underdog IMO. We're talking about a company that makes CPUs and GPUs and still has revenue and market cap an order of magnitude lower than Intel (whose income comes primarily from CPUs alone). And half of Nvidia, whose income comes primarily from GPUs alone.

I agree that corporations should be thought of as amoral entities designed to make money, but frankly I think that AMD lacks the mindshare and/or clout to get away with some of the anti-competitive or outright illegal stuff that Intel and Nvidia have attempted. So if AMD happens to act better, it's only because they don't have the luxury not to.

Considering they have done things in the past that were not so "nice", and people turn a blind eye to them, I wouldn't say so. And if you look at most boards Intel gets crapped on vastly more than AMD for, well anything.

I just don't see any company that has a board of directors and share holders as anything other than a company trying to take my money. Yes they seem to do things that are consumer friendly but they only do it in such that they know it would benefit them in the end.

But I digress. For myself I don't see them as an under dog. They are just a smaller large corporation who made some bad choices in the past and have righted the ship so to speak.

 

[TJ Hooker]

Considering they have done things in the past that were not so "nice", and people turn a blind eye to them, I wouldn't say so. And if you look at most boards Intel gets crapped on vastly more than AMD for, well anything.

I just don't see any company that has a board of directors and share holders as anything other than a company trying to take my money. Yes they seem to do things that are consumer friendly but they only do it in such that they know it would benefit them in the end.

Sure, anecdotally you may see some enthusiasts complaining online about Intel more than AMD. But at the end of the day Intel still makes money hand over fist and outsells AMD hugely. Same with Nvidia. That's the true indicator of public sentiment towards the company as far as I'm concerned, or at least the one that really matters.

What "not so nice" things did AMD do? Intel, for example, has a number of antitrust allegations (and convictions). Again, I don't think AMD is an inherently more 'moral' company, I just don't think they've been in a position to push their luck to the same extent as Intel (or Nvidia) has.

 

[MasterMadBones]

What "not so nice" things did AMD do? Intel, for example, has a number of antitrust allegations (and convictions). Again, I don't think AMD is an inherently more 'moral' company, I just don't think they've been in a position to push their luck to the same extent as Intel (or Nvidia) has.

I know one case of AMD and Nvidia engaging in price fixing for GPUs from 2003 to 2006. I haven't heard of any others, but especially in recent times, to which most of my knowledge is limited, AMD has not been in the position for anticompetitive practices.

 

[jimmysmitty]

Sure, anecdotally you may see some enthusiasts complaining online about Intel more than AMD. But at the end of the day Intel still makes money hand over fist and outsells AMD hugely. Same with Nvidia. That's the true indicator of public sentiment towards the company as far as I'm concerned, or at least the one that really matters.

What "not so nice" things did AMD do? Intel, for example, has a number of antitrust allegations (and convictions). Again, I don't think AMD is an inherently more 'moral' company, I just don't think they've been in a position to push their luck to the same extent as Intel (or Nvidia) has.

The worst thing in my mind was when Athlon 64 exploded in popularity. They had so many orders they were not able to supply everyone. So they would prefer to sell to large OEMs and skipped out on the smaller builders who were their largest carriers before hand.

Thats when I realized that even as a smaller "under dog" AMD is nothing more than a company. Its when I also realized every company is the same so worrying about what they may or may not have done shoudln't affect my choice of buying them or not rather their performance for the price point I pick should.

 

[helpful55]

I have always thought my 8350 was an eight core. Now I find out it isn't. This specific suit does not apply to me as it is only for those from Cal or who bought their processors from AMD's website. Is there any rights for me taken away if I don't object to this settlement? It seems like many of us who are not from Cal or who did not buy directly from AMD were harmed also. Seems there could be additional lawsuits.

 

[Gam3r01]

I have always thought my 8350 was an eight core. Now I find out it isn't. This specific suit does not apply to me as it is only for those from Cal or who bought their processors from AMD's website. Is there any rights for me taken away if I don't object to this settlement? It seems like many of us who are not from Cal or who did not buy directly from AMD were harmed also. Seems there could be additional lawsuits.

Highly doubt we will ever see additional settlements. This suit is about "false advertising" from AMD, if you bought elsewhere then its not their advertising anymore.
Additionally, the suit is over bulldozer processors, not vishera.

 

[TJ Hooker]

As I quoted on the previous page, the settlement class includes anyone who visited AMD's website and bought any FX-8xxx or FX-9xxx CPU. That includes Vishera, and it doesn't appear that you have to have purchased it through AMD's site (merely that you visited their site prior to buying it).

Settlement Class Definition: The Settlement Class is defined as follows: “All persons who purchased one or more of the following AMD computer chips either (1) while residing in California or (2) after visiting the AMD.com website: FX-8120, FX-8150, FX-8320, FX-8350, FX-8370, FX-9370, and FX-9590.”1 Agreement § 1.28.2

https://regmedia.co.uk/2019/08/27/amd-eight-core-settlement.pdf

 

[waltc3]

The suit was settled with AMD electing to pay a certain amount instead of continuing on though to the end--which AMD would have won, no doubt about it, but which would have cost them more than the settlement amount--and the lawyers who brought the suit elected to settle rather than lose their suit, which would certainly have happened--which is their motive for settling. Such class-actions usually end up this way! It is stipulated in the settlement by the plaintiffs that AMD did no wrong and was not guilty of either false advertising or misdirection. Don't know why Tom's likes to pretend the settlement is that same thing as AMD being found "guilty" of something--it is the furthest thing in the world from that. Typical in these cases, the lawyers will get millions of $ while the people supposedly affected by this will get $35, maybe.... I bought one and unlike some people, I knew exactly what I was buying because of the reams of promotional data AMD released on these CPUs at the time--which I can remember quite vividly. AMD spared no expense in illustrating to me and the world at large at the time what they were buying. Accordingly, I will not put in for my $35 even though I just received an email from Amazon asking me to participate if I wanted--and that email, too, stressed that AMD did not lose the suit and that the plaintiffs did not win. There were no surprises with the FX CPUs I bought--all were as advertised copiously. All of us who buy technology pay the increased costs these kinds of spurious lawsuits add to the goods we buy!