From a techical POV, No they're not. But for certain uses, they're a less expensive alternative to Intel's offerings, which is a definite advantage for AMD (i.e. clusters, render farms, virtualization that doesn't need dynamic resource allocation,...).
I know. That's why it's nothing special from a techical aspect (dual die CPU's have been around, and dual die transistors even longer). A 12 core single die CPU, would have been another story, as they'd have a obtained good lead on Intel had they done so (efficiency/core wars currently underway). That would have made one heck of a splash in the enterprise market.
They're primary market is the low cost server arena, not consumer parts (though like Intel, they scale them down to produce low cost consumer parts to further their sales, and ultimately, profits). And it's sizable enough that they should be able to survive, so long as they don't make a substantial blunder.
Those too, but think of it this way; consumers buy one, maybe a couple of systems at a time. Enterprise purchases however, may be buying in the thousands (one sale). So if you look at quantities sold, the enterprise market is the larger chunk of their sales (and it does include low cost single user systems, such as office workers only doing email, web browsing,...). But even in this realm, the server rules in terms of profits.
Definitely. But it's the same thing for the server parts too, and they sell more of them.
In terms of both raw performance and total profits, absolutely. But AMD is after the market area Intel's least interested in (low cost systems) due to lower margins.
They've definitely gotten themselves into a bit of a fix. It's recoverable I think, but it's going to take a strong line of parts IMO, and going fab-less isn't the solution. Even with a lab fab for R&D, they'll loose QC over the production facility, and that's likely to come back and bite them in the ...
I can't help but think let the GPU designers have a go at the CPU side. Powerful, small, and efficient. Nice combo, and could teach their other half a few things I think (nVidia needs to take notice too - idiots -, but there's a personal aspect for me).
They should be capable of developing CPU's as well. Uni's don't offer separate CPU and GPU degree... Electrical/Computer Engineers can do both (as well as a lot of other things; you know, those other annoying, necessary bits like RAM).letting GPU devs into the CPU side of things? isnt that just GPGPU like stuff lol!
They should be capable of developing CPU's as well. Uni's don't offer separate CPU and GPU degree... Electrical/Computer Engineers can do both (as well as a lot of other things; you know, those other annoying, necessary bits like RAM).
