Report: AMD Working on Radeon-Branded SSDs

[blazorthon]

[citation][nom]dimar[/nom]custom GPGPU chip??[/citation]

That would be interesting. GCN powered SSDs FTW, lol, although I'd like to see their cut-down Piledriver CPU architecture get some usage (I forget what it was to be called). Maybe a very low-end APU with GCN cores for GPGPU acceleration to handle certain tasks like SSD accesses and the CPU core(s) can handle other stuff such as the GPU cores and the rest of the work. It'd be real cool if they did something like internal RAID 5 and claimed ridiculously great reliability and NAND endurance for it. Oh, the possibilities that will probably never be...

 

[wanderer11]

[citation][nom]A Bad Day[/nom]You also forgot the motherboard, PSU, cables, and wireless router...[/citation]

In that case I guess you need radeon wall outlets and a radeon power plant to provide electricity to your house. You need a radeon chair to sit on at your computer too.

 

[FinneousPJ]

[citation][nom]codo[/nom]if there are no moving parts, then how will they achieve that trademark AMD overheating?[/citation]
Wow, you're thick. So what are the moving parts in a CPU that make it overheat?

 

[blazorthon]

[citation][nom]FinneousPJ[/nom]Wow, you're thick. So what are the moving parts in a CPU that make it overheat?[/citation]

Besides, how is overheating a trademark of AMD? Intel's Ivy Bridge often runs hotter than anything from AMD anyway despite the usually large to huge (but not always) power efficiency advantage that Ivy has.

 

[ojas]

I don't see how an SSD can be "optimized" for a system (beyond the usual stuff), it's not a core component like the DRAM controller or GPU...

[citation][nom]zeratul600[/nom]They should launch a line like mac, but in black with aggresive lines, like pc for real men and not for sissy hipsters, also that way mac can sue them for being square or existing in this universe[/citation]
Your ideas of masculinity are disturbing... :|

 

[blazorthon]

[citation][nom]ojas[/nom]I don't see how an SSD can be "optimized" for a system (beyond the usual stuff), it's not a core component like the DRAM controller or GPU...Your ideas of masculinity are disturbing... :|[/citation]

IDK, I think that a black and aggressively designed exterior would be arguably more masculine than Apple's basic usually white exteriors, not that it's easy for me to call a computer necessarily more masculine than another...

Also, as for the SSD, there are some things where it helps even in gaming (such as loading times), although IDK where there's much gains to be had beyond simply getting a half-decent SSD or better. Maybe it's supposed to be optimized to optimally cache some things or something more clever such as what I said earlier or throwing in some compression like SandForce paired with a controller that doesn't need it anyway (imagine a Samsung 830/840/840 Pro or Vertex 4/Vector with SandForce's compression, it'd be incredible for compressible workloads and still great for in-compressible workloads).

Still, I don't have such high expectations. AMD might give us something truly innovative on the SSD front, but they might just give us hype and something like their RAM products, slightly overpriced IMO and not really any better than competing modules AFAIK. Maybe the AMD modules are AMD-optimized like most DDR3 modules are Intel-optimized and that makes some sort of difference, but that isn't true AFAIK and it'd need to be true for me to be wrong about them being nothing special. AMD has some great products, but I just don't expect them to be top-notch in SSDs on their first try. I hope that they surpass what I expect, but I won't be disappointed if they don't.

 

[ojas]

[citation][nom]blazorthon[/nom]IDK, I think that a black and aggressively designed exterior would be arguably more masculine than Apple's basic usually white exteriors, not that it's easy for me to call a computer necessarily more masculine than another...[/citation]
No i meant...what on earth is a PC for "real men"? And since you bring up the aggression point too...is masculinity defined by aggression? Or is this the definition of masculinity that's society has conditioned us to believe?
I mean, yes i like my HAF 912 because it gives me that stealthy badass look, but the reason i dislike Apple's tower is simply because it looks crap (to me), not because it's less "aggressive".

I mean heck i'm hardly aggressive most of the time, doesn't make me less of a man!

Just food for thought.

But yeah on the SSD part, i'm pretty much thinking along the same lines as you are...unless they find a proprietary way to interface with it over the South Bridge.

 

[blazorthon]

[citation][nom]ojas[/nom]No i meant...what on earth is a PC for "real men"? And since you bring up the aggression point too...is masculinity defined by aggression? Or is this the definition of masculinity that's society has conditioned us to believe?I mean, yes i like my HAF 912 because it gives me that stealthy badass look, but the reason i dislike Apple's tower is simply because it looks crap (to me), not because it's less "aggressive".I mean heck i'm hardly aggressive most of the time, doesn't make me less of a man! Just food for thought. But yeah on the SSD part, i'm pretty much thinking along the same lines as you are...unless they find a proprietary way to interface with it over the South Bridge.[/citation]

I think that most serious computer guys would like something that looks more like say an Alienware laptop without the weird logos than say a Macbook. I think the same idea of say the HAF 912's "stealthy badass look" is what zeratul600 was referring to.

For example, which look do you prefer of these two pictures:

I don't know about you, but I'd probably go for the first picture's style over that of the second. It's not even that I'd call it more masculine, but it simply looks more interesting and appreciable. I might even call it more feminine given the much less boxy and less subdued look, but it is definitely more *out there* without being too far gone IMO.

I'd agree with you on that a pc "for real men" doesn't seem like a very objective thing at all nor is it a good way to describe a look. I don't think that I'd even say that masculinity is described by masculinity; I think that I was wrong to imply that in my previous post.

 

[JonnyDough]

Platform platform platform. AMD is trying to use vertical integration to complete a unified platform.

 

[JonnyDough]

[citation][nom]ojas[/nom]I don't see how an SSD can be "optimized" for a system (beyond the usual stuff), it's not a core component like the DRAM controller or GPU...Your ideas of masculinity are disturbing... :|[/citation]

The faster they get the more core they become. Since when is a hard drive not a core component?

 

[blazorthon]

[citation][nom]JonnyDough[/nom]The faster they get the more core they become. Since when is a hard drive not a core component?[/citation]

Overall, storage is generally not a very limiting factor on performance of most software, especially most commonly used software. Storage can be a core component for some people, but for most, simply getting enough capacity will do the trick. Otherwise, a decent SSD with enough capacity, maybe with a hard drive of enough capacity to function as a data drive and/or primary drive with the SSD as a cache for the hard drive will almost definitely do the trick. SSDs and such improve overall system responsiveness, usually not performance by too much.

Since the CPU, memory, and graphics are usually the most limiting factors, they are usually more core component than storage. Motherboard can be thrown in too since it's the platform for the rest of the components.

So, it's not the faster they get, the more core they become, it's more like the more their performance gets important, the more core they become.

 

[sulanis]

AMD is my brand, so i would give them a shot!

 

[JonnyDough]

[citation][nom]blazorthon[/nom]Overall, storage is generally not a very limiting factor on performance of most software, especially most commonly used software. Storage can be a core component for some people, but for most, simply getting enough capacity will do the trick. Otherwise, a decent SSD with enough capacity, maybe with a hard drive of enough capacity to function as a data drive and/or primary drive with the SSD as a cache for the hard drive will almost definitely do the trick. SSDs and such improve overall system responsiveness, usually not performance by too much.Since the CPU, memory, and graphics are usually the most limiting factors, they are usually more core component than storage. Motherboard can be thrown in too since it's the platform for the rest of the components.So, it's not the faster they get, the more core they become, it's more like the more their performance gets important, the more core they become.[/citation]

Yes but a short time ago the hard drive was THE major bottleneck in computer systems. With more RAM (you can make cache drives, page files, etc) it becomes less important but it will never be unimportant.

 

[blazorthon]

[citation][nom]JonnyDough[/nom]Yes but a short time ago the hard drive was THE major bottleneck in computer systems. With more RAM (you can make cache drives, page files, etc) it becomes less important but it will never be unimportant.[/citation]

It was THE bottle-neck for system responsiveness and loading time for most people. It did not impact performance of most workloads by much. SSDS are far more convenience-related than core-component related for pretty much everyone. For example, a gamer with an SSD will undoubtedly have much better loading times and such than a gamer with a regular hard drive such as the newest Caviar Blue 1TB (SATA 6Gb/s 7.2KRPM 64MB cache), but actual performance will not be too different at all for most workloads.

 

[GreaseMonkey_62]

It's starting to sound like AMD actually has a plan instead of squandering in second place for the CPU market.

 

[ojas]

[citation][nom]blazorthon[/nom]I don't know about you, but I'd probably go for the first picture's style over that of the second. It's not even that I'd call it more masculine, but it simply looks more interesting and appreciable.[/citation]
Ditto, i would too. But maybe someone older (like, 35+), for example, would find it too non-serious or flashy. So yeah i think we both get each other's drift!

[citation][nom]JonnyDough[/nom]The faster they get the more core they become. Since when is a hard drive not a core component?[/citation]
Um...well, you could run a system without a hard drive but couldn't do that without the RAM/CPU/Graphics chipset/controller. In that way. You'd obviously need some sort of storage from where you'd execute the program, but unless the program is read/write heavy, the storage isn't a performance limiting factor. That's not really what i'm getting at though.

Look at it another way, there's a reason the north bridge and south bridge are different from each other. One side is WAY faster than the other. The south bridge handles stuff differently. It's related to I/O, not processing. RAM/CPU/GPU come under the processing category.

In other words, unless you reinvent SATA, you're facing certain limitations that you can't do much about, can't optimize for. Whatever you optimize for won't be AMD specific, because SATA should (more or less) work the same regardless of where it's placed. If i buy an AMD SSD, i'll expect it to work pretty much the same on an Intel system.

Of course, there are variations between I/O protocols, like USB 2.0 is to an extent dependent on the speed of it's host processor, while FireWire isn't. (read this last thing in Scot Muller's Building and Repairing PCs btw).

 

[blazorthon]

[citation][nom]ojas[/nom]Um...well, you could run a system without a hard drive but couldn't do that without the RAM/CPU/Graphics chipset/controller. In that way. You'd obviously need some sort of storage from where you'd execute the program, but unless the program is read/write heavy, the storage isn't a performance limiting factor. That's not really what i'm getting at though.Look at it another way, there's a reason the north bridge and south bridge are different from each other. One side is WAY faster than the other. The south bridge handles stuff differently. It's related to I/O, not processing. RAM/CPU/GPU come under the processing category.In other words, unless you reinvent SATA, you're facing certain limitations that you can't do much about, can't optimize for. Whatever you optimize for won't be AMD specific, because SATA should (more or less) work the same regardless of where it's placed. If i buy an AMD SSD, i'll expect it to work pretty much the same on an Intel system.Of course, there are variations between I/O protocols, like USB 2.0 is to an extent dependent on the speed of it's host processor, while FireWire isn't. (read this last thing in Scot Muller's Building and Repairing PCs btw).[/citation]

Maybe AMD intended to optimize how the SSD works specifically for their south bridges and that is what was being implied above.

Also, yes, I get your point on the case look appeal

 

[army_ant7]

The resulting streamlined system would seemingly be a complete AMD Radeon package, fine tuned to burn rubber on the internet and to melt the eyeballs of desktop gamers with incredibly high framerates and HD graphics.

When I saw this, I was honestly looking for quotation marks that enclosed it but saw none. Not to offend but it seemed like marketing talk to me, because as I've seen, AMD CPU's don't seem to allow "incredibly high framerates" (in games) at least relative to modern Intel CPU's. And also, I guess because of what I believe this person's joke implies (which made me laugh BTW, and I +1'ed it ).

Is there a set bonus for having all slots filled with AMD/Radeon?

Radeon-the T-shirt, Radeon-the Coloring Book, Radeon-the Lunch box, Radeon-the Breakfast Cereal, Radeon-the Flame Thrower.

...radeon wall outlets and a radeon power plant to provide electricity to your house. You need a radeon chair to sit on at your computer too.

These made me laugh! Thanks for that guys! :lol:

 

[nitroexplosion]

[citation][nom]A Bad Day[/nom]Because Tom's hardware is so laggy with the news report, why not digest the ones that were already reported elsewhere?You forgot the motherboard.[/citation]

And PSU!!!