macintoshtoffy
macrumors 6502a
Performance/Power relationship - right now AMD is horrible. Their GPU's are nice, their chipset and CPU are behind Intel when it comes to performance/power/efficiency.
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NVIDIA Sources Refute Claim of Split With Apple
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Performance/Power relationship - right now AMD is horrible. Their GPU's are nice, their chipset and CPU are behind Intel when it comes to performance/power/efficiency.
bruinsrme
macrumors 604
while I agree with all that looking at from an economic stand point Apple is Apple and they are in a position where they can really through any system together and sell it, regardless if it is the fastest and greatest, because they are the only legit show selling OSX.
They woukd jsut have to figure out how to pinch power to get the battery lifes they want. that can be done by sacrficing speed but how much would they want to give up is the question.
Eidorian
macrumors Penryn
macintoshtoffy
macrumors 6502a
Eidorian
macrumors Penryn
Please read my point on looking at the platform as a whole and the IGP situation among many other things.
I would still like to know more about AMD's inferior chipsets as you pointed out.
MorphingDragon
macrumors 603
Umm, the top Phenom 2 only gets out perfromed by the fastest and the extreme i7 for like 1/2 the price or smaller. They have a Dual Core and a Triple Core based on the Phenom 2 technology and Opterons outperform only but the most expensive Nehalem Xeons (I'm talking about the 3 and above again) For once again 1/2 the price.
So yes please tell me about AMD's inferior technology. I bet you take 64bit for granted too.
MattInOz
macrumors 68030
MorphingDragon
macrumors 603
MattInOz
macrumors 68030
In benchmarks maybe but they tend to over heat and flake out when driven hard. Although much improved in that regard after 10.5.7.
Eidorian
macrumors Penryn
Intel leverages heavy subsidies and rebates to keep vendors buying Intel.
AMD isn't the performance king it was with the Athlon 64 in the Netburst days but they manage to provide a platform with decent performance per dollar/watt.
MorphingDragon
macrumors 603
MorphingDragon
macrumors 603
The EU has stopped them from doing that now. Too bad the 1.2Bill didnt go into AMDs R&D.
AMD isn't an option for processors. They don't have the ability to properly supply Apple, and their laptop processors aren't as energy efficient (read: poor battery life). The chipsets and graphics are indeed an option, as both are fairly solid over all. The IO for AMD's chipsets are currently 5-10% less than Intel, but that is less of an issue for laptops. Nvidia and AMD each have their strengths in terms of graphics, and both have been utilized successfully by Apple. If Nvidia wants to pick a fight with Intel however, they could lose quite a bit in the end.
Eidorian
macrumors Penryn
They can support every other manufacturer and retail with AMD components but not Apple?
I agree with your other points though.
macintoshtoffy
macrumors 6502a
They're not used in their larger mass produced products - only in niche product ranges. Go into any retail chain and for every 1 amd laptop from a vendor there will be 5 intel ones available.
AMD has always had the problem of not being able to supply chips in volume when required - but things are going to change because what you're seeing today is the gradual turning of AMD into a fabless company.
With that being said, their power efficiency for their CPU's aren't as good, as for their chipsets - I am unsure as to whether they are creating chips for Intel; if they do create chips for Intel CPU's then maybe it could become a viable option.
Eidorian
macrumors Penryn
I've seen it go as high as a 50/50 split depending on the retailer.
That is a valid concern.
I can't imagine AMD/ATI making another chipset or IGP for Intel ever again. They plan on taking on the 9400 one the home turf with the 785G.
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I'm glad to hear something positive on this front. I really like NVIDIA. Everyone has a manufacturing issue from time to time.
I'm glad to hear something positive on this front. I really like NVIDIA. Everyone has a manufacturing issue from time to time.
macintoshtoffy
macrumors 6502a
I'm sure there are a whole host of issues, especially ones relating to the arrangement Apple have with Intel - they've been with them exclusively for 3 years, so there must be something in the arrangement that makes them superior. At the end of the day, Apple want to be on the winning team - they already had to settle for second best when they delt with IBM and Motorola, I'm sure Apple don't want to go through another fiasco of playing second fiddle to the big players.
Intel is big and reliable and that is what Apple needs when thy are growing - they can't afford to bank on a vendor like AMD that routinely goes through periods of knocking on deaths door and products falling too far behind the curve.
Eidorian
macrumors Penryn
If AMD/ATI does have a license to make chipsets/controllers and IGP's for Intel's DMI base platforms I could imagine them providing a solution for Apple.
Eidorian
macrumors Penryn
macintoshtoffy
macrumors 6502a
True, but that would raise an interesting question regarding 'conflict of interest' where Intel will need to transfer large amounts of information relating to their CPU to a vendor who not only makes chipsets and GPU's but also a product that competes with Intel. I wonder how they will get around that.
Sun Baked
macrumors G5
Hmm... sounds like a leak, which can be used to misdirect and confuse the competition.
"Psst, we are fine and no problems at all with Apple, don't tell anyone."
If the leak was from the head of the group working with Apple or the CEO, I'd say this source is legit.
Otherwise, it would be like depending on an Applestore employee for news of future Apple products.
I am not so sure it would be a mistake to walk away from NVidia. There is growing evidence that NVidia knew about the problems with 8600M it sold to Apple and lied about it. Heck, NVidia is even trying to avoid answering the inquiries by its own insurance company which is covering reimbursement for bad chips. There was also a suggestion that the new 9400 series had problems with heat early on (this was what partially caused the delay in its release) and that NVidia was cherry-picking them for Apple.
Most of this information is covered by the Inquirer and no matter what you think about the site, its information makes sense. If true, look for Apple to change graphics (to ATI?) when Nehalem is introduced. Hopefully Apple will also use a low-end ATI card and not Intel for integrated graphics.
BTW, it also sounds like Dell showed the door to NVidia, as well. This gives more credence to Apple doing the same.
coocooforcocoap
macrumors 6502
As I am now on my 4th 8600 GT chip for one MBP and waiting for it to die outside the extended warranty period, I say good riddance to Nvidea if this rumor is even true. Sure, ATI probably has bad chips too, but this was a total fiasco, and if we had not invested so much in Apple (and were such fan boys and girls) we would have dumped the whole product line for our small business. imo apple has to be tuf with its vendors to keep their quality up, as we are all paying premium prices for just that (i think, not sure why we are paying so much really🙂