[citation][nom]Zanny[/nom]I think that spinning off Global Foundries might be the downfall of AMD. They sold it to stay a float when they bought ATI, and while buying ATI was a good move, losing their manufacturing arm made them.. sic.. just like ARM, except they don't own the instruction set they design chips for.[/citation]
think of 5 years out. intel tried, they did, to have a stand alone gpu years ago and failed.
amd im betting saw the cpu+gpu working in tandem being a solution for the future.
the cpu side of computing is more or less as good as it needs to be, even if a cpu doubled or trippled its power, it would do what? cut a 90 second operation that needs to be once into a 30 second operation? what programs require a top end intel cpu otherwise they feel sluggish?
the hdd to sdd is one thing that makes a computer feel faster
going from a phenom II x4 to an i7, while would be faster, wouldn't feel faster by much.
however, look at cpu alone operations compared to gpu assisted operations.
what a amd does in 10 minutes, intel does in 5, but any gpu does in 1.
point being that the future is gpu+cpu in tandem, and intel wont be ready when it happens, amd will.
sorry if my point doesnt come across well