QOTD: How Would You Change AMD?

[Cuddles]

Only thing I would do is work with Nvidia on a standard API for Physx/Havok that both companies could support. I don't recall ever seeing an AMD commercial and I have seen tons of Intel commercials so I would really begin to launch a series of commercials showing that AMD has been paving the way for 64 bit computing while Intel has been hanging back. Really try and shift computing to the X64 format and show that X86 is just looking back.
Focus on Home Automation and Media Servers including an offsite backup location for "Premium" Customers. Just make it easy to Stream your Media to all your "AMD/ATI" devices.

 

[dangerous_23]

release a range of desktop processors with high power consumption but high clock speeds, phenom II overclocks well and desktop users don't care about power consumption - they just want speed

 

[dangerous_23]

release cpus with decent coolers

 

[Mucke]

The one mistake AMD made was the first version of the Phenom. From the design point of view everything was all right and it was even ahead of its time (look how much Intel copied for the Nehalem). The problem was that it doesn't make sense to produce 4 cores in 65nm -- the die gets to large resulting in a low yield rate, high power consumption in low frequencies. 45nm are needed.

The problem with this suggestion like any other is that improvements and additional products cost money. And as long as Intel has these exclusive OEMs, AMD wont have the money for R&D needed to compete. I don't blame AMD for falling behind but the antitrust divisions.

P.S.: The number one priorities on a "nice too have list" would be 45nm native dual cores -- high end for desktops and low-end for notebooks.

 

[JeanLuc]

Hindsight is lovely thing.

Instead of buying ATI I would have looked at buying a company like ARMA (SP?), their CPU's can be found in manner of devices from phones to PDA's. With investment from AMD they could have expanded their CPU's for netbook use just like Intel is doing with it's Atom CPU's which IMO would have been a really money spinner for AMD.

Looking back though I doubt AMD could have anything more to stop the impact of Core 2 Duo blowing every AMD chip out of water, you would just have to accept that and look at other markets. AMD made the right move in cutting the price of it's CPU's and also ensuring that it's motherboard chipsets worked with future CPU's so it's existing customer base could easily upgrade (Intel take note!).

 

[apache_lives]

heh a notebook motherboard standard (fit wise) - NBX?

 

[calvin_t]

Spinning off factories was a good move. Factories are highly illiquid asset. The money could be instead used for R&D, marketing, or other areas. Would otherwise have to wait for several years before they get back the initial investment + return.

Furthermore, by spinning off to Global foundries, they can also achieve economies of scale, as other chip designers can also use their factories. That way, you make the best use of the assets you have.

Buying ATI was a good move, however, in hindsight, we could say AMD paid too much. Bit, given it's done now, they need to get over it and work on synergies between the technologies. Come up with an fusion CPU/GPU for netbooks that is better than Intel's current solution, and they should be good. Make sure they get in before Intel. Also, look into the mobile phone market. Apply their IP to other products.

Marketing team needs to be working harder. They need to work on Brand mangagement, and not only on sales. AMD/ATI are good, but without a strong brand recognition, do something about it! Come up with something like Intel's 4 tone ad. Now that the economies are going into recession, consumers are price sensitive. Work on ads like the Microsoft ad where they put Apple products in the "high price but same output" category. Something personal rather than the stupid fast train ad they had long time ago.

 

[Tattysnuc]

I'd attack the stranglehold that Intel has on the X86 software market. I believe that Apple would be key to this.

Also, Develop a tie in to break the link with Intel and Microsoft. AMD make damned good products, and yet People perceive Windows to be an Intel thing.

Get a product that sits in everyones sitting room. A media centre pc concept that works. Coupled with some of the existing DVD recorders and digital TV packages out there, this is the ideal time to get into peoples homes. Intel are blessed with their strong brand equity, but this is in COMPUTERS and I don't believe that it translates to other markets, like for instance Toshiba or Sony.

finally I'd purchase a company like Nokia, and get my chips into the ultra small footprint, mobile platform.

 

[Guest]

"AMD is second best right now, so they need to lower prices than Intel"

What good would it do? Intel can afford to slash prices right away anyway and AMD would just lose more profit. They really have to ramp up 32nm production to catch up Intel's lead now.

 

[theubersmurf]

There are a couple of things I would have done differently. I used to be so glad when their performance beat out intel's. Not because I'm particularly a fan of theirs, but because it seemed possible for intel to potentially have competition. Right now that doesn't seem like a real possiblility.

1-I wouldn't have abanadoned AMD Game. You might think that sounds odd, but really I think there's a way to make PC gaming much, much more viable in it. Maybe renaming it would help, but more importantly, they have all of the components of a gaming PC developed in house. Packaging them together isn't very far flung. The way they had intended to implement it (the sticker on the packaging, and some sort of vague set of hardware minimums) wasn't enough. What I think they should have done was something more like this...get a specific board partner, MSI, Gigabyte, ASUS, one of those to make whole PCs using their chipsets, video cards and CPUs. AMD could offer them volume discounts, and more importantly, they could have done it like a console, and probably at a good price. HDMI out on GPUs is pretty common now, many come with adapters if they dont' have an HDMI out directly built in. Anyway, they could release a PC in console's clothing (running windows), and provide a standard set of hardware specs to game developers, which would give PC gaming a standard, but also give people a less expensive PC, one that connected straight to the telvision. Maybe with a TV tuner, they could double it's functionality to include that of a DVR. With external storage, it's a better solution than many DVRs released today...Maybe this isn't the best use of having all of those resources under one roof, but more the point is that they haven't taken advantage of the fact that they produce all of the elements for HTPCs and gaming PCs under one roof.

2-New socket for DDR3 supporting chips. They should have made a new physical socket for chips that support DDR3. I'm not opposed to their upgrade path idea, I think it's great. But the problem is the confusion people are having over how to upgrade on that path. I've read a couple of posts involving people who bought ram their mobo doesn't support. Putting AM2/AM2+ socket chips in mobos with DDR3 support. It's a small thing, but I think reducing potential confusion is always a good thing. And really they could create an AM2+ version of the Phenom II, the same architecture, but with different memory support. That's sort of a small issue, but it may make them look like they made a dumb error.

They need to make an "atom-like" processor, given the netbooks market share of new PCs sold, they need to get in on the money being made there. With a graphics division, they may be able to make a platform that offers HD playback or w/e (not that the screens on netbooks are particularly large, but meh). But I think they need to look at making a similar processor.

 

[theubersmurf]

[citation][nom]calvin_t[/nom]Buying ATI was a good move, however, in hindsight, we could say AMD paid too much. Bit, given it's done now, they need to get over it and work on synergies between the technologies. Come up with an fusion CPU/GPU for netbooks that is better than Intel's current solution, and they should be good. Make sure they get in before Intel. Also, look into the mobile phone market. Apply their IP to other products. Marketing team needs to be working harder. They need to work on Brand mangagement, and not only on sales. AMD/ATI are good, but without a strong brand recognition, do something about it! Come up with something like Intel's 4 tone ad. Now that the economies are going into recession, consumers are price sensitive. Work on ads like the Microsoft ad where they put Apple products in the "high price but same output" category. Something personal rather than the stupid fast train ad they had long time ago.[/citation]

I'm not sure they paid too much for ATI, I think the purchase was just ill timed. The release of the core2s and Geforce 8800 series was right around the corner, and they took a hit on both fronts making it look like a mistake.

I think they need to hire people for marketing...in a big big way. I don't think their marketing is terrible. They need to make themselves known to the public, and right now they're incapable of doing anything the public will find catchy.

 

[A Stoner]

If I was running AMD, I would set up a side group that consisted of hardware and software specialists. Their task would be to create a brand new system that does not use any x86 at all. Perhaps setting it up as initially a gaming platform. I would make the targets simple. POWER POWER POWER. It needs to show that the overall package is superior to x86 and as a base of programmers gets built building games for the new system, backdoor in microsoft and start to take over the PC world.

 

[thearm]

If they haven't scratched the surface after all these years, then someone is doing waaaay to much drinking or drugs or both.

 

[danimal_the_animal]

make CHEAP and INEXPENSIVE motherboards that can handle 2 quad core CPU's and TRUMP intels skull trail!!!!!!!

i would shell out 500 bucks for 2 quad cores and a motherboard to handle them both....heck people could build twin dual cores for CHEAP and make their own cheap quad core!!!!!

How about THAT!!!!! double CPU sales INSTANTLY!!!!!!!

 

[chudei]

I loved amd and it`s athlon generation and would give the people what they want. high caches, high frequencies in ultra small dies. I agree with the ati purchase because it is a very great card and i think it has more image quality than the n guys. remembering the 9700 blow and the athlon x2 era. It was unbelievable fast.amd and ati can still give a pretty good fight. The atonishing point was when i discover core i7 design was very familiar to the pehnom one the direct connect vs the hypertransport.

 

[takealready]

These are the steps I would take to change AMD (and it's subsidiary ATI).

1. Stop the production of Dual Core processors. There will only be x3 and x4 processors. I would do this to cut costs.

2. There will only be 2 processors per X model.
For example--> 2.5GHZ x3, 3GHZ X3 Black Edition, 2.5GHZ X4, 3GHZ X4 Black Edition, 2.5GHZ X4 Opteron Processor, 3GHZ X4 Opteron Processor Black Edition and a 2.5GHZ X6 Black Edition Opteron Processor. This will also cut costs and implement a two sizes fits all motto. IF need be people are more than welcomed to overclock the processors.

3. Excustive pay will be no more than $2 Million TOTAL (including perks, bonus, stock options, and any other form of "reward")per year. The executive pay (and "perks") will be handed out every quarter. This payment method includes I the new CEO of AMD as well (ATI execs are also subject to this pay method).

4. For ATI there will only be 5 graphic cards that will be produce for the entire year. Manufactures are welcomed to modifiy the design of the card. The 5 types of cards and there target segment are as follows:

$100 USD--600mhz Core/700mhz Shader/1GHZ Memory/320 stream pro./GDDR3/256 bit bus
--Low End

$150 USD--650mhz core/700mhz shader/850mhz memory/640 stream pro./GDDR3/384 bit bus
--high low end

$200 USD--700mhz core/750mhz shader/1GHZ memory/800 stream pro./GDDR4/448 bit bus
-Mid Range

$250 USD--800mhz core/800mhz shader/1.2GHZ memory/960 stream pro./GDDR4/448 bit bus
--High Range

$300 USD--900mhz core/900mhz shader/1.5GHZ memory/1120 stream pro./GDDR5/512 bit bus
--Enthusiasts Range

I feel that AMD/ATI spends to much money on crowding a segment. All of my actions are geared towrds cutting costs and reducing "clutter" in particular segments. As far as the development of motherbards goes...

for the AMD/ATI motherboards. This new feature will allow a ATI card or a nvidia card to be used in SLI or Corssfire.

1. $100 USD 800X series, X3,X4 & X6 compatible socket, 4GB of Ram total (DDR2 & DDR3), One PCI-e slot, 6 sata, 2 esata, 4 usb ports, 3 PCI slots, DEBUG LED

2. $150 USD 900X series, X3,X4 & X6 compatible socket, 8GB of Ram total (ddr2 or ddr3), 3 PCI-e slots, 6 sata, 2esata, 6 usb ports, 2 PCI slots, Debug LED, can use crossfire and SLI

3. $200 USD 1000X Series, dual socket, X3,X4 & X6 compatible sockets, 32GB of ram total (ddr2 & ddr3), 3 PCI-e slots, 12 SATA, 4esata, 4 usb ports, 2 pci ports, 1 express slot, Debug LED, can use corssfire and SLI.

I see these steps as just the beginning of my reign at AMD/ATI. I find it absurd that AMD continually keeps producing unnecessary products just to "crowd a price point". So having these choices for consumers (though I admit it's not a lot) gives a balance between cost cutting, performance and options for a consumer. Also, the "drop in method" also applies to the new generation of motherboards. So if someone had a 800x motherboard + a 2.5GHZ X3 processor and they want to have a home server. They can purchase a 1000X motherboard, use there existing X3 processor, purchase a X3, X4 or X6 processor (yes you can mix and match processors. since they are all based on the same platform) and there done. All of there existing hardware can be ported to the 1000X series motherboard.

 

[anamaniac]

I would sell the company and buy a private island.

What else?