How Will AMD stay alive?

Page 7 - Seeking answers? Join the Tom's Hardware community: where nearly two million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Status
Not open for further replies.


LOL

I'm just really worried about them now that Core i5 is going to be pushing their entire line-up into the sub-$200 if they want to have good price\performance.

Intel keeps pouring the pressure on, and AMD doesn't have the resources to be able to tick and tock with them.
 
Back on topic, with the i5 reviews out all over the net now, looks like the consensus opinion is that AMD is gonna have to compress their pricing:

I'll start this conclusion with what AMD must do in response to Lynnfield. The Core i5 750 is a great processor at $196, in fact, it's the best quad-core CPU you can buy at that price today. In nearly every case it's faster than AMD's Phenom II X4 965 BE, despite the AMD processor costing almost another $50. Granted you can probably save some money on an integrated 785G motherboard, but if you're comparing ~$120 motherboards the AMD CPU is simply overpriced. -- AnandTech
Click to expand...

So it would appear the new sweet spot for AMD's lineup would be maybe $180 for the P2-965, and down from there. As pointed out on Anandtech, this will further compress AMD's entire lineup pricing, and probably p!ss off the OEMs with yet another unplanned AMD price cut, leaving them with inventory they paid too much for once again. So much for the "AMD's excellent relations with the OEMs" theory espoused in another thread...

And AMD can probably count on their margins remaining dismally low next quarter, if indeed they cut prices. The Phenom II's are as large as the Nehalem's die-size-wise, and given that SOI wafers cost more than plain silicon, plus the fact that Intel is a year ahead of AMD/GF on process, means Intel's 45nm is cheaper and probably higher yields than AMD's.

AMD won't have 32nm CPUs until Bulldozer appears anywhere from 15 to 27 months from now (going on the "2011" date confirmed by AMD). Intel will have 32nm CPUs in less than 3 months.

According to the fanbois over at AMDZone, both Turboboost and Hyperthreading are "toy" features that don't do anything useful except as benchmarketing tricks. However IMO, both serve to broaden the core 'engine' power - one by adding turbocharging and the other low-end torque. Yes I know the i5-750 doesn't have HTT but it does have improved Turbo over the i7 920 et al. And the i7-8xx CPUs have both Turbo and HTT.

Seems to me that Intel has out-innovated AMD now for the last 3+ years.

So, is AMD doomed? I'm thinking AMD cannot wait for Bulldozer but will have to do something drastic in the next 6-9 months, certainly by Q4 of next year, if they wanna stay in business or avoid a buyout. After all, they have the $1.5B senior note axe scheduled to lop off their heads in 2011. If they cannot secure more financing or pay those off somehow, they will be bankrupt.
 
Even if AMD lowers the prices on thier current CPU's it will do little to no difference.... With the new benchmarks favoring the 750 over the 920, peeps will want to get their hands on the 750 ASAP and not even bother with anything AMD has to offer... AMD is on the brink of disaster.....
 


I wouldn't go that far. AMD is going to be the better choice for a cheap-dual GPU setup (niche market). X3's and X4's, if AMD shift the pricing like Fazers said, will still be great choices. But I do agree, if I was doing a build right now I know what I would put in it, an i5 750; especially since the motherboard situation is MUCH better than i7.
 


IMO, Intel has calculated exactly how much damage they can do to AMD without killing them off. They very easily could have left HTT in the 750, given it two PCIe-16 lanes and decoupled it from the main core so that ordinary people could get close to 5GHz overclocks on good air cooling. But instead of dealing the coup de grace axe blow, they chose to stick the knife in and twist it a bit.

It really looks like Intel is holding all the cards and AMD can only bluff as their pile of chips shrinks and shrinks. I'm guessing Intel will push AMD just far enough to where they get bought out, and then bye-bye x86 license with no antitrust suit worries...
 
I think what really hurt AMD was the fact that they thought that a well priced 3.4Ghz chip was going to be the next big thing and it backfired... the pricing was just awfull in every way even knowing that Intel was producing the i5 and was soon going to be released..... Like I said a 6 core CPU is worthless in these times specially when 4 cores arent even utililized half of the time....Kinda feel bad in a way... really wanted to see AMD last....

AMD's new motto: Got-Miracle?
 
AMD should lower their prices and split into 3 divisions: one to keep ATI top dog in graphicsland, one to design a CPU that can at least match Intel's leading chips, this generation, or the next and one to design cheap, reliable, low-end and mid-range CPU's (AMD has to become the king of low-end and mid-range by pushing Intel's E2xxx and E5xxx out of the market, remember that the lower markets are the biggest.)
 


Nice thinking, but generally the low-end mid-range CPUs are just slower\older version of what was once cutting edge. AMD just plain needs to get back in the game as a CPU leader so they can dictate market pricing, just as Intel has done with i5.



If this was an MMA match, AMD would be fiesty and scrappy on the ground, but standing up they get one-punched.
 
"Nice thinking, but generally the low-end mid-range CPUs are just slower\older version of what was once cutting edge."

True, but maybe it would be better to design low-end and mid-range CPU's bottom-up instead of just disabling cores and cache on high-end models.
 
As long as AMD will continue to offer chips, I will gladly alternate my builds accordingly to try and give AMD the opportunity to keep Intel on its toes and keep chip prices down. As long as Intel has AMD at least within spitting distance, then Intel will continue to innovate and not sit back and collect on their monopoly. s soon as AMD hangs up the towel, I fully expect to see chip prices go up at least a third more than they are now and then see Intel start to slow down their development cycle.
 


Well that would make sense if we were clueless to what both companies have to offer in the near future... We already know that AMD has NOTHING up it's sleeve... The 750 is out, there is nothing that AMD can do at this point..... Let's say that Bulldozer was released later on this year, then yea AMD would have something to stand on.... that's not the case here....
 
Well, monopolies are illegal anyways, so if AMD falls Intel will have to split in two anyway, that will keep the competition going.

It would be worse if AMD remained active but gave up on the high-end, than Intel could really screw over the consumer, but that would mean the chip industry, vital to the world, would almost cease to progress and then it would make sense for governments to keep the progress going by setting up a new company with ex-AMD-employees
 
Well to be honest I never liked Intel, don't know why but for AMD is king. AMD is buget company, it's like alternative to regular and that's why many people take Intel, they don't know for another company. Most consumers are regular people and not some hardcore gamers that want to clock their cpu to max. There are some people that spit on AMD but they should be thankful cause they are holding intel prices down and these days quads, duals you name it, have never been cheaper. So much raw power at our fingertip that a few years back were unthinkable.
 


Even thou they are illegal, that does not mean that companies don't opt to do so..... Drugs are illegal, do you see the fiens throwing away their crack pipe? As long as there is supply and demand, it won't matter who is cheating....
 


Except Intel has to do it out in the open, so the government will sue them, just like they do with Microsoft.
 


But that designing & validating costs money - why not just harvest stuff you'd otherwise toss out?? Unless of course the lower price cuts into the fully-functioning CPU sales.

AMD is in for an even tighter spell than they have been, and methinks 2010 will be make or break time for them. My guess is that they will get bought out as a whole, broken up & sold, get out of the CPU biz and stick with GPUs (i.e., ATI pulling a sneak buyout of AMD with AMD's dollars, and massive layoffs of the CPU side personnel), or go - should I say it?? - BANKRUPT!! 😀.

Of course, AMD could pull the rabbit out of their hat or Intel stumble badly. But one thing is certain - AMD has to cough up $1.5 billion dollars in a couple of years on the ATI purchase debt.
 
Of course, AMD could pull the rabbit out of their hat or Intel stumble badly. But one thing is certain - AMD has to cough up $1.5 billion dollars in a couple of years on the ATI purchase debt.
Click to expand...

That should not be an issue at all since the next-gen GPU's will cover those cost's... I don't think AMD has an issue paying off that debt, they should be more worried about their CPU's selling in Q4 of this year....
 


OK intel fanboy, why did you leave STALKER, FSX and Farcry out of those benchys oh thats right cause the P II shits over them, where i come from the PII is MUCH cheaper than the i7 this makes the PII the winner in price/performance
 


Don't click on this text...


(Yes, I know it's not i7, but it is something that is cheaper than i7 and PII and is beating up on any PII, unless you want to look at the i7 Lynnfield, but I HIGHLY recommend against that)
 


I understand your point, what you have to realize is the fact that AMD no longer holds the price to performance bracket regardless what you can get the P II's for....

Microcenter is selling the 750 for 179.99... basically 10 bucks cheaper than the 955... So in all it would be a no-brainer to get your hands on the 750 regardless of what anyone says......
 


Maybe this holds for a reader of this forum. Generally, it's a bit unworldly. As long as AMD lowers prices and as long as OEMs keep on rolling out AMD machines, people will keep buying them. The average consumer doesn't look at benches. CPU performance differences between Nehalem and K10 would have to be larger for the average consumer to notice.

The release of LGA 1156 is not even major news in the popular press. People like David Pogue prefer to write about the iPhone 3GS, the Palm Pre, digital cameras, Google voice, and Snow Leopard instead of looking at differences between the various incarnations of the Nehalem microarchitecture.
 



I think that's an in-store price. I think a fairer price is the more widely avialable $209.00 with free shipping and no tax in the US. Even then, the i5 750 is still $40 cheaper than the 965BE.



I'm out to the doctor to check up on our first (not yet born), peace out boy scouts!
 


I would have to disagree to a certain point.... AMD will not lower their current prices by more than 25%, so in all they have hit a wall due to the fact that you can get an Intel 750 that outperforms AMD's current flagship CPU for about 40/60.00$ less.... Dual core is almost at the end of it's lifespan and even though they still sell, 95% of OEM's don't even use them anymore.... In all the only option that AMD has to sustain their share in the market is basically pulling out a rabbit out of a hat that nobody knew about and that is not going to happen.....The main reason this is going on is due to Bulldozer being pushed back on and on again....Back in 2007 AMD had anounced that Bulldozer was going to be released in Q3/Q4 2009.... AMD's interns failed to launch at a critical time and therefor AMD has it's back to the wall...

Only way AMD will survive is by selling their top quads at 150.00 or less and I doubt that will happen since they already lost more than they invested....
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom