Cut prices in half aside from FX chips with no CPU cooler until 20nm chips are released? People can go online to know if their CPU cooler will work. If no some mail in rebates for CPU coolers. Some manufactures can afford to have extra CPU's while the price IS low. How are AMD brand motherboards better? Not motherboards made for AMD actual AMD motherboards. AMD case for an AMD computer. Ad $20 for a DVD or no DVD...
Is this some kind of bizarre content generation spam that is trying to make text look legitimately authored? There's not even a call-to-swindle link anywhere :P
I didn't write this news story or place it online. If AMD cut the price of energy efficient CPU's to make $1 to $8 billion USD and 50% of the market share. How else would AMD get 50% of market 'share' and make billion(s). With money printing governments could issue coupons to AMD for energy efficient cpu's.
Mushrooms or LSD, rather. Cocaine doesn't make one that bad, wallstreet runs on that stuff and say what you want about corruption and immoral behavior but they talk pretty...
It could be some form of schizophrenia or dementia or something. Or it could be an artificial intelligence that still hasn't quite mastered the english language.
As long as the 2016 new cores are going well... They'll make it to 2016 but if those cores fail,they are more or less done. If the new core is fit for phones they should be looking at semicustom for folks like Xiaomi or even Lenovo. Xiaomi has that JV with Leadcore assets now, they might be working on their own chops and they are likely to have rather high volumes in 2016 and beyond.. Would be much easier if AMD had any connectivity IP, hopefully they find something affordable.
The Zen arch might get them close to parity with Intel on a node-to-node comparison (eg, AMD might be on 20nm then, which will have them to Intel's 22nm node that isn't even their front-line as of this generation.)
Anything beyond that is pushing it. Best hope is that they've got another team working hard on something to compete with the Intel Atom Trail arch.
Don't get me wrong, I say this as someone who's only used AMD since '07. But it's no secret they're struggling. Hopefully making the same long-pipeline mistake Intel did back when leads them to the same path Intel got on after P4.
First, why did a "chief sales officer" get promoted to a technical position in the first place!? No wonder AMD was falling behind. This is what I meant when I said that the company was being run by a bunch of suits who know more about MBA lingo than about the technology their company does. An overstatement, of course, but the previous CEO(Rory) and this Byrne guy fit that profile to a f---ing tee.
Second, the "chief stategy officer" came from McKinsey? Again, MBA, no technology background.
Lisa Su is a person with a deep technical background and this is the right step to take.
I think this is probably the right take. I think that people who were not necessarily qualified for their positions or whose positions were not really needed in the first place were the people who were let go here. I would not be surprised to find out that none of these positions are actually filled and Su takes over Byrne's position on a semi-permanent basis.
Since when does AMD have a Chief Marketing Officer?
I swear their marketing team has been like 2 interns for the past 5+ years. Maybe 3 interns.
I love AMD, but, well, getting rid of the CMO and not hiring a new one likes saves them a small bit of money that can add up. Seriously, where does and do marketing/!?!??!?
Oh, I know some of the differences, but, AMD's marketing reach at least in the USA is small. Granted, AMD's real revenue comes from South America and Asia iirc. Which, would explain why focus is put there.
But, I'm not talking just ads. I'm also talking about stuff like the countdown with Kaveri (http://wccftech.com/amd-launches-mysterious-countd... Which was launching a chip "into space" with a balloon. Huge countdown, feeds from twitter, etc. Into a complete and utterly silly marketing concept that had nothing.
AMD's marketing team __SHOULD__ be run by a team of two interns for the USA (And Europe(?)) because, they would likely do a better job overall. To consumers, that is. Marketing for companies to make design wins is a different matter.
Granted, I cannot claim to know the right moves to make. I can just say what is being done wrong, or, at least, seemingly done wrong.
1. No point spending significant amounts marketing desktops. Only those in the know will buy them at the price:performance sweetspot.
2. Partner with a laptop builder to supply APUs to market with high end components, (i.e. big good quality screen with good SSD and decent keyboard). If the laptop builders are unwilling to play ball, build them inhouse and sell directly via AMD website.
3. Workstations: AMD are nowhere here on non-HSA applications, best to save the money for the engineering teams.
4. Servers: I don't know enough about the market to be sure of how best to market to it. Although given its not a direct sell from OEM to end-user sending TECHNICAL teams to the suppliers (i.e. HP, Lenovo etc) to show them how to best utilise the hardware and its advantages vs. the competition would always be a good first step. They then make recommendations based on the needs of the end-user.
For ALL business areas, anyone should be able to buy the ENTIRE AMD range off the AMD website. Be that machines built by external builders and supplied through AMD or built in-house by AMD. Intel dominate the thoughts and websites of traditional suppliers. Don't try and fight them on that battlefield.
All they really need to do is release an A10 with more CPU (needs to be faster than i3) and GPU (better than R7 260X) at its current 95W TDP, or a mobile APU that can wipe the floor of an i5 with HD5100 in both CPU and GPU with less than 40W TDP and release them before 2016.
Or, yet another alternative, an APU that cuts down GPU power for more CPU power and can keep up with an i5U in performance and thermals.
why cut down GPU power? Given bandwidth is not an issue, you are FAR more GPU limited than CPU limited in games.
In the desktop APUs, the GPU is still the bottleneck. Even with the fastest current DDR3 RAM and overclocking.
on laptops, with less bandwidth, that is even more true. CPU performance is fast enough for general usage.
What AMD really needs to do is either go GDDR5, 2 channel high clocked DDR4, or quad channel LPDDR3. Make a 45-60W APU, give it any of those options, instally win every single person who wants to game without spending a fortune. __GIVEN OEMs actually use the damn chip. Brazos was in 17" computers *eye twitch*
If you're buying a laptop with an APU primarily for heavy CPU light GPU tasks, you're not being a smart consumer. (Given there are not personal reasons against Intel, I refuse to buy Intel except where impossible to avoid (IE 13-14" laptops with strong dGPU and 1080p+ displays) because of how badly they screwed AMD during the Athlon days)
I figure that the main problem AMD has is keeping power consumption and thermal output low, so cutting down on the GPU should help alleviate some of that issue, so that the CPU can get more overhead. GDDR5 is also a good move, as evidenced by PS4 vs XB1.
The issues with current APUs is that they are terrible at everything. Low GPU, low CPU, high power and high thermals, which translates to just plain bad when thrown up against i5+GTXm. The APU either needs to do CPU extremely well, or do CPU and GPU extremely well, if it has any hopes of being a decent product.
The problem with meaty GPUs in an APU is that memory bandwidth from DDR3 and even current DDR4 isn't really enough to service all those compute units. Hence full GDDR5 in PS4 and a big (expensive) slab of fast memory in the Xbox One APU.
There's always been a weird disconnect between AMD's current budget-focused APUs and the fact that you need premium DDR3 to run them at their best.
While change is always a bit unnerving, AMD must change up their management if they want to make it until they release their new cores in 2016. Their staff must be doing something right though as they have captured quite a few semi-custom contracts. Disclosure, I'm long AMD.
When you think a ship is sinking, you always go the same direction as the rats. I fear this is only the beginning of the end. That's probably why Rory Reed is sailing away on his private (golden) yacht, waving at Su with two thumbs up and the biggest grin.
He needs to get a safe distance before AMD implodes before the end results of a "job well done" are fully evident. He needs to get his next "job" lined up in advance.
We're all the ones to suffer for it. The enthusiast PC and PC gaming scenes are going to be the ones that have two power players without any counterbalance to keep them honest.
Last time there was a shakeup in AMD management, they announced their rather poor Q3 earnings and their abysmal Q4 forecast. Maybe we're looking at a worse-than-originally-thought Q4 and an even worse Q1?
Wouldn't at all surprise me. Their current product lineup is awful.
Not their GPUs. 290 was released 1.5 years ago and is going head to head with 970, even if both are supposed to be mid-range cards(upper mid-range in 290s case9.
AMD is falling behind because there are too many suits in the exec suite. This will clear that out.
What is the shakeup here? These companies are all full of worthless tools at the top. Intel could cut 4x this amount of execs. and no one would notice. Lisa is just doing what most of these companies should have done years ago. 1. quit polishing turds... flush them. 2. Get rid of useless people that are paid too much.
You seem to imply that people who run (large) companies don’t post on websites. You also seem to imply that people who run companies are ‘brilliant’.
Very few managers with an MBA or similar qualification are brilliant, most are specialized in self-promotion. Hence the reason that shedding some of the presumably lightweight managers within AMD is greeted with cautious approval.
Golden parachutes ? Few days ago, Su claimed that they will release exciting (as usual) graphics and gain market share from NV. And now GM is leaving. Messy company.
I see, it's DOWNSIZING. AMD is letting them go to "save the money", after the sickly extravagant severance packages and other contractual obligations, AMD will "be ahead" after 10 years on "the deal".
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TonyMontana__ - Monday, January 12, 2015 - link
Cut prices in half aside from FX chips with no CPU cooler until 20nm chips are released? People can go online to know if their CPU cooler will work. If no some mail in rebates for CPU coolers. Some manufactures can afford to have extra CPU's while the price IS low. How are AMD brand motherboards better? Not motherboards made for AMD actual AMD motherboards. AMD case for an AMD computer. Ad $20 for a DVD or no DVD...Tegeril - Monday, January 12, 2015 - link
Is this some kind of bizarre content generation spam that is trying to make text look legitimately authored? There's not even a call-to-swindle link anywhere :Pskavi - Monday, January 12, 2015 - link
That would actually be pretty cool.TonyMontana__ - Monday, January 12, 2015 - link
I didn't write this news story or place it online. If AMD cut the price of energy efficient CPU's to make $1 to $8 billion USD and 50% of the market share. How else would AMD get 50% of market 'share' and make billion(s). With money printing governments could issue coupons to AMD for energy efficient cpu's.plonk420 - Tuesday, January 13, 2015 - link
cocaine... :Djospoortvliet - Tuesday, January 13, 2015 - link
Mushrooms or LSD, rather. Cocaine doesn't make one that bad, wallstreet runs on that stuff and say what you want about corruption and immoral behavior but they talk pretty...T2k - Tuesday, January 13, 2015 - link
Yes, this is DEFINITELY some sort of hallucinogen.takeshi7 - Wednesday, January 14, 2015 - link
It could be some form of schizophrenia or dementia or something. Or it could be an artificial intelligence that still hasn't quite mastered the english language.HungryTurkey - Wednesday, January 14, 2015 - link
I'm gonna' put my money on "Typical Modern Product of the U.S. Public Education System".dcoca - Wednesday, January 14, 2015 - link
The post was funny till your comment; I’ll say maybe the dude from turkey or hungry and challenged with verbal or written communication….dcoca - Wednesday, January 14, 2015 - link
LMAOjjj - Monday, January 12, 2015 - link
As long as the 2016 new cores are going well...They'll make it to 2016 but if those cores fail,they are more or less done.
If the new core is fit for phones they should be looking at semicustom for folks like Xiaomi or even Lenovo. Xiaomi has that JV with Leadcore assets now, they might be working on their own chops and they are likely to have rather high volumes in 2016 and beyond.. Would be much easier if AMD had any connectivity IP, hopefully they find something affordable.
fluxtatic - Tuesday, January 13, 2015 - link
The Zen arch might get them close to parity with Intel on a node-to-node comparison (eg, AMD might be on 20nm then, which will have them to Intel's 22nm node that isn't even their front-line as of this generation.)Anything beyond that is pushing it. Best hope is that they've got another team working hard on something to compete with the Intel Atom Trail arch.
Don't get me wrong, I say this as someone who's only used AMD since '07. But it's no secret they're struggling. Hopefully making the same long-pipeline mistake Intel did back when leads them to the same path Intel got on after P4.
Mondozai - Tuesday, January 13, 2015 - link
I think this shake-up is a GOOD thing.First, why did a "chief sales officer" get promoted to a technical position in the first place!? No wonder AMD was falling behind. This is what I meant when I said that the company was being run by a bunch of suits who know more about MBA lingo than about the technology their company does. An overstatement, of course, but the previous CEO(Rory) and this Byrne guy fit that profile to a f---ing tee.
Second, the "chief stategy officer" came from McKinsey? Again, MBA, no technology background.
Lisa Su is a person with a deep technical background and this is the right step to take.
teldar - Tuesday, January 13, 2015 - link
I think this is probably the right take. I think that people who were not necessarily qualified for their positions or whose positions were not really needed in the first place were the people who were let go here. I would not be surprised to find out that none of these positions are actually filled and Su takes over Byrne's position on a semi-permanent basis.wiyosaya - Wednesday, January 14, 2015 - link
Absolutely agree with you on this. The departing execs were a bunch of clueless nitwits that were likely promised golden parachutes by Rory.testbug00 - Monday, January 12, 2015 - link
Since when does AMD have a Chief Marketing Officer?I swear their marketing team has been like 2 interns for the past 5+ years. Maybe 3 interns.
I love AMD, but, well, getting rid of the CMO and not hiring a new one likes saves them a small bit of money that can add up. Seriously, where does and do marketing/!?!??!?
IS81 - Monday, January 12, 2015 - link
Don't confuse marketing with advertising. They really are two rather different things.testbug00 - Monday, January 12, 2015 - link
Oh, I know some of the differences, but, AMD's marketing reach at least in the USA is small. Granted, AMD's real revenue comes from South America and Asia iirc. Which, would explain why focus is put there.But, I'm not talking just ads. I'm also talking about stuff like the countdown with Kaveri (http://wccftech.com/amd-launches-mysterious-countd... Which was launching a chip "into space" with a balloon. Huge countdown, feeds from twitter, etc. Into a complete and utterly silly marketing concept that had nothing.
AMD's marketing team __SHOULD__ be run by a team of two interns for the USA (And Europe(?)) because, they would likely do a better job overall. To consumers, that is. Marketing for companies to make design wins is a different matter.
Granted, I cannot claim to know the right moves to make. I can just say what is being done wrong, or, at least, seemingly done wrong.
Atari2600 - Tuesday, January 13, 2015 - link
AMD marketing should be pretty simple.1. No point spending significant amounts marketing desktops. Only those in the know will buy them at the price:performance sweetspot.
2. Partner with a laptop builder to supply APUs to market with high end components, (i.e. big good quality screen with good SSD and decent keyboard). If the laptop builders are unwilling to play ball, build them inhouse and sell directly via AMD website.
3. Workstations: AMD are nowhere here on non-HSA applications, best to save the money for the engineering teams.
4. Servers: I don't know enough about the market to be sure of how best to market to it. Although given its not a direct sell from OEM to end-user sending TECHNICAL teams to the suppliers (i.e. HP, Lenovo etc) to show them how to best utilise the hardware and its advantages vs. the competition would always be a good first step. They then make recommendations based on the needs of the end-user.
For ALL business areas, anyone should be able to buy the ENTIRE AMD range off the AMD website. Be that machines built by external builders and supplied through AMD or built in-house by AMD. Intel dominate the thoughts and websites of traditional suppliers. Don't try and fight them on that battlefield.
Frenetic Pony - Tuesday, January 13, 2015 - link
And that's probably why she was *Cough* let go.meacupla - Monday, January 12, 2015 - link
All they really need to do is release an A10 with more CPU (needs to be faster than i3) and GPU (better than R7 260X) at its current 95W TDP, or a mobile APU that can wipe the floor of an i5 with HD5100 in both CPU and GPU with less than 40W TDP and release them before 2016.Or, yet another alternative, an APU that cuts down GPU power for more CPU power and can keep up with an i5U in performance and thermals.
But, honestly, not keeping any hopes.
testbug00 - Monday, January 12, 2015 - link
why cut down GPU power? Given bandwidth is not an issue, you are FAR more GPU limited than CPU limited in games.In the desktop APUs, the GPU is still the bottleneck. Even with the fastest current DDR3 RAM and overclocking.
on laptops, with less bandwidth, that is even more true. CPU performance is fast enough for general usage.
What AMD really needs to do is either go GDDR5, 2 channel high clocked DDR4, or quad channel LPDDR3. Make a 45-60W APU, give it any of those options, instally win every single person who wants to game without spending a fortune. __GIVEN OEMs actually use the damn chip. Brazos was in 17" computers *eye twitch*
If you're buying a laptop with an APU primarily for heavy CPU light GPU tasks, you're not being a smart consumer. (Given there are not personal reasons against Intel, I refuse to buy Intel except where impossible to avoid (IE 13-14" laptops with strong dGPU and 1080p+ displays) because of how badly they screwed AMD during the Athlon days)
meacupla - Tuesday, January 13, 2015 - link
I figure that the main problem AMD has is keeping power consumption and thermal output low, so cutting down on the GPU should help alleviate some of that issue, so that the CPU can get more overhead.GDDR5 is also a good move, as evidenced by PS4 vs XB1.
The issues with current APUs is that they are terrible at everything. Low GPU, low CPU, high power and high thermals, which translates to just plain bad when thrown up against i5+GTXm.
The APU either needs to do CPU extremely well, or do CPU and GPU extremely well, if it has any hopes of being a decent product.
OrphanageExplosion - Tuesday, January 13, 2015 - link
The problem with meaty GPUs in an APU is that memory bandwidth from DDR3 and even current DDR4 isn't really enough to service all those compute units. Hence full GDDR5 in PS4 and a big (expensive) slab of fast memory in the Xbox One APU.There's always been a weird disconnect between AMD's current budget-focused APUs and the fact that you need premium DDR3 to run them at their best.
harobikes333 - Monday, January 12, 2015 - link
While change is always a bit unnerving, AMD must change up their management if they want to make it until they release their new cores in 2016. Their staff must be doing something right though as they have captured quite a few semi-custom contracts. Disclosure, I'm long AMD.CajunArson - Monday, January 12, 2015 - link
So apparently they fired Byrne after he told them that all their processors ARE CRAP!!!(since AMD doesn't fab any chips in Scotland, and therefore... NOT SCOTTISH!)
HisDivineOrder - Monday, January 12, 2015 - link
When you think a ship is sinking, you always go the same direction as the rats. I fear this is only the beginning of the end. That's probably why Rory Reed is sailing away on his private (golden) yacht, waving at Su with two thumbs up and the biggest grin.He needs to get a safe distance before AMD implodes before the end results of a "job well done" are fully evident. He needs to get his next "job" lined up in advance.
We're all the ones to suffer for it. The enthusiast PC and PC gaming scenes are going to be the ones that have two power players without any counterbalance to keep them honest.
testbug00 - Monday, January 12, 2015 - link
AMD isn't imploding. If they didn't have Semi-custom design wins now, they probably would be.Malih - Monday, January 12, 2015 - link
Too many shakeups at AMD, while I believe Rory Read fixed the leak, as an AMD fan, I hope this will be the wind they need to sail faster.mrdude - Monday, January 12, 2015 - link
Last time there was a shakeup in AMD management, they announced their rather poor Q3 earnings and their abysmal Q4 forecast. Maybe we're looking at a worse-than-originally-thought Q4 and an even worse Q1?Wouldn't at all surprise me. Their current product lineup is awful.
Mondozai - Tuesday, January 13, 2015 - link
Not their GPUs. 290 was released 1.5 years ago and is going head to head with 970, even if both are supposed to be mid-range cards(upper mid-range in 290s case9.AMD is falling behind because there are too many suits in the exec suite. This will clear that out.
mrdude - Tuesday, January 13, 2015 - link
Sales figures and guidance paint a different picture. They explicitly stated that their GPU sales were very weak last conference call.The 290 is certainly more competitive when pitted against Maxwell than their CPUs are against Intel's product lineup, but they're still second fiddle.
hpglow - Tuesday, January 13, 2015 - link
What is the shakeup here? These companies are all full of worthless tools at the top. Intel could cut 4x this amount of execs. and no one would notice. Lisa is just doing what most of these companies should have done years ago. 1. quit polishing turds... flush them. 2. Get rid of useless people that are paid too much.Mondozai - Tuesday, January 13, 2015 - link
If you were so brilliant you would be running one of these companies instead of writing comments on a website.RafaelHerschel - Tuesday, January 13, 2015 - link
You seem to imply that people who run (large) companies don’t post on websites. You also seem to imply that people who run companies are ‘brilliant’.Very few managers with an MBA or similar qualification are brilliant, most are specialized in self-promotion. Hence the reason that shedding some of the presumably lightweight managers within AMD is greeted with cautious approval.
The_Assimilator - Tuesday, January 13, 2015 - link
Rats, ship, sinking.YazX_ - Tuesday, January 13, 2015 - link
the way i see it is they got fired since they didnt add any value to the company in addition to cutting cost, good move in the right direction.TristanSDX - Tuesday, January 13, 2015 - link
Golden parachutes ?Few days ago, Su claimed that they will release exciting (as usual) graphics and gain market share from NV. And now GM is leaving. Messy company.
chizow - Tuesday, January 13, 2015 - link
Got worried for a second, but as long as Mark Papermaster didn't leave, their future roadmap production is secure.4KHomePage - Tuesday, January 13, 2015 - link
It's all about that Dirk Meyer, man.robi - Tuesday, January 13, 2015 - link
Kind of shocked John Byrne is leaving so soon...FlushedBubblyJock - Wednesday, June 3, 2015 - link
I see, it's DOWNSIZING.AMD is letting them go to "save the money", after the sickly extravagant severance packages and other contractual obligations, AMD will "be ahead" after 10 years on "the deal".
Yeah, epic fail.