AMD to cut thousands of jobs

#4430514 Posted on: 10/13/2012 05:55 PM

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AMD is focusing on APU, so I won't expect amd beating intel anytime soon.
APUs are great for middle level destop PC and high-middle end laptops.

I guess AMD really need to find or create constant need for APUs, like pcs in office running on Trinity APU, instead of iCore3... or laptops with APU is like tripple win (cpu + gpu + low energy usage for it) and I'd find that reasonable.

#4430515 Posted on: 10/13/2012 05:58 PM

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Advanced Micro Devices will very likely cut 2340 jobs which is about about 20 percent of the workforce.

AMD to cut thousands of jobs

Amd is on a roll, If they keep this up there might not be any workforce that actual makes there cpu,gpu that makes there money or lack there of it as of late.

If they go belly up it would be very bad for everyone

#4430516 Posted on: 10/13/2012 06:00 PM

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I had no idea the PC market was shrinking....

#4430517 Posted on: 10/13/2012 06:00 PM

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They need nothing more guy's, they need our support.
I don't wanna see again intel-nvidia monopoly like the old times, even if amd products are (and gettind) worse

AMD products aren't getting worse.... AMD has shifted focus from "high-end" processors to budget/mainstream processors. Of course they're of little interest to enthusiasts....but they provide value to those just looking for a cheap, capable computer for web browsing, e-mail, word processing and multimedia.

#4430518 Posted on: 10/13/2012 06:06 PM

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Except for the fact there is no money in enthusiast GPU's for the most part. The real money comes from the Tesla/Firepro and integrated GPU's/CPU's (Trinity, Tegra, etc.). Enthusiast GPU's aren't that hard to make so they are an easy high-margin money source, limited as they may be.

Not to mention that the desktop PC is a dead end at this point going forward, no need to be in denial about that. Your smartphone nearly has the power of a high end desktop PC from 5-6 years ago, the new Windows 8 tablets/ultrabooks will have 99% of the power of a PC (the power that actually counts to 99% of users) and be able to do 99% of the tasks any desktop can do while remaining ultra portable.

This desktop PC to my left is probably the last one I'll ever end up building for myself. Intel has seen the writing on the wall for a long time already, hence Haswell. Nvidia are no different, hence their focus on Tegra (which is a real money maker for them, especially with CUDA).

AMD are also starting to get onboard finally, they just need an architecture that can keep up. As one person succinctly put it, "The took a Server focused architecture and put it in a Laptop... brilliant!".

I dont buy that argument one bit, And I never will Yes phone have grown in power, and cause of that there battery life is pure trash, I dont buy them for anything other then to be cell phone, In terms of raw power they are not they same and will never be unless they come up with some huge break threw on batteries. Desktops are going no where

#4430519 Posted on: 10/13/2012 06:07 PM

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Except for the fact there is no money in enthusiast GPU's for the most part. The real money comes from the Tesla/Firepro and integrated GPU's/CPU's (Trinity, Tegra, etc.). Enthusiast GPU's aren't that hard to make so they are an easy high-margin money source, limited as they may be.

Not to mention that the desktop PC is a dead end at this point going forward, no need to be in denial about that. Your smartphone nearly has the power of a high end desktop PC from 5-6 years ago, the new Windows 8 tablets/ultrabooks will have 99% of the power of a PC (the power that actually counts to 99% of users) and be able to do 99% of the tasks any desktop can do while remaining ultra portable.

This desktop PC to my left is probably the last one I'll ever end up building for myself. Intel has seen the writing on the wall for a long time already, hence Haswell. Nvidia are no different, hence their focus on Tegra (which is a real money maker for them, especially with CUDA).



I don't think desktops will die out, there will always be a market for them.
Gamers/HTPC users/office workers...whatever.

#4430527 Posted on: 10/13/2012 06:17 PM

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Are you kidding?

Let's take laptops for a second:
Ultrabooks:


That's right, the average is 6.6 hours of straight internet browsing at the same processing power that you see on an average desktop (you know, the kind that most people buy from Dell).

Now let's take powerhouse laptops (that can play games on high graphics) for example:


That's 4.6 hours of straight internet browsing.

So don't kid us about raw power being the limiting factor, because if you want "RAW POWER!!!" then you can plug in any of those laptops and play most games at a high level of detail and still push great FPS:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6351/the-new-razer-blade-thoroughly-reviewed/6

And just look at how long the iPhone 5 with its extremely high performing CPU can last, now just wait till Haswell and Cover Trail come along.

#4430534 Posted on: 10/13/2012 06:26 PM

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I don't think desktops will die out, there will always be a market for them.
Gamers/HTPC users/office workers...whatever.

HTPC builders (i.e.- those using desktop components) are the niche of the niche market. And with the likes of Google TV, Apple TV, set top boxes and cheap Android units like the Mk808, this market has shrunk even further.

Offices are all buying laptops these days, everyone I know that works at any major company told me that when their company are buying new equipment, they all get laptops, and sometimes in addition tablets. It's just that more efficient.

All you have left are gamers, of which most are on consoles and mobile gaming. Desktop gaming is only a few tens of millions, and most don't use top end hardware to begin with. Just look at the Steam survey results, the top percentage of users just use the HD3000 iGPU:

http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey
Intel HD Graphics 3000 4.07%

Now look at how many people have an enthusiast class GPU:
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 0.63%
Not even 2/3 of a percent.

And look at the CPU results:

3.3 Ghz to 3.69 Ghz 9.57%
3.7 Ghz and above 0.43%

So don't kid yourself that most people buy themselves "gaming systems", most just use whatever system they have on hand.

#4430535 Posted on: 10/13/2012 06:30 PM

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who cares how long you can browse on a gaming laptop? the question should be how long you can game on them not plugged into the wall

#4430536 Posted on: 10/13/2012 06:32 PM

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Let's say even two hours, that's two hours of gaming on the move longer than you would have been able to do with your desktop sitting in your room plugged into your wall.

And like I said before, you can always plug it in... anywhere.

#4430542 Posted on: 10/13/2012 06:42 PM

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HTPC builders (i.e.- those using desktop components) are the niche of the niche market. And with the likes of Google TV, Apple TV, set top boxes and cheap Android units like the Mk808, this market has shrunk even further.

Offices are all buying laptops these days, everyone I know that works at any major company told me that when their company are buying new equipment, they all get laptops, and sometimes in addition tablets. It's just that more efficient. Not in my experience, I deal with several commercial clients that each have over 200 PC's and they all run desktops, we also deal with Universities and Technical Colleges that use desktops in their computer labs.


All you have left are gamers, of which most are on consoles and mobile gaming. Desktop gaming is only a few tens of millions, and most don't use top end hardware to begin with. Just look at the Steam survey results, the top percentage of users just use the HD3000 iGPU:

http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey


Now look at how many people have an enthusiast class GPU:

Not even 2/3 of a percent.

And look at the CPU results:


So don't kid yourself that most people buy themselves "gaming systems", most just use whatever system they have on hand.I never said most people buy gaming systems - nothing of the sort. What I said was there will always be a market for desktops - please pay attention to what I write.

I have never considered steam surveys to be representative of the enthusiast crowd....just look how many steam users are still running XP - says it all really.

Take cellphones - which have been around for years, but you don't seriously think call centre employees speak to you on a cellphone do you? Same principle....

#4430545 Posted on: 10/13/2012 06:49 PM

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All you have left are gamers, of which most are on consoles and mobile gaming. Desktop gaming is only a few tens of millions, and most don't use top end hardware to begin with. Just look at the Steam survey results, the top percentage of users just use the HD3000 iGPU:

http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey


Now look at how many people have an enthusiast class GPU:

Not even 2/3 of a percent.

And look at the CPU results:


So don't kid yourself that most people buy themselves "gaming systems", most just use whatever system they have on hand.
Don't know what's this argument about, didn't read, but here I'll have to cut you off.

This just shows that many Steam users do use new hardware. Stats showing high numbers of Intel HD graphics mean that many users have new Sandy/Ivy CPUs. It does not, however, mean that they are using Intel HD IGP. Keep in mind that Steam detects only primary video card, which in this case is Intel HD. I'm pretty sure that most of these Sandy/Ivy users have mid or high-end current or older gen video cards, which are fit for gaming.

As far as GTX 680 goes, anyone interested in hardware knows that it's a very overpriced card. GTX 670 offers same performance @ 100$ lower price tag. GTX 500 cards make up a fair amount of stats.

Also, what about CPUs? High clock doesn't mean it's a gaming CPU FFS. Not everyone is an overclocker, you know...

#4430552 Posted on: 10/13/2012 06:57 PM

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Not in my experience, I deal with several commercial clients that each have over 200 PC's and they all run desktops, we also deal with Universities and Technical Colleges that use desktops in their computer labs.

I never said most people buy gaming systems - nothing of the sort. What I said was there will always be a market for desktops - please pay attention to what I write.

I have never considered steam surveys to be representative of the enthusiast crowd....just look how many are still running XP - says it all.

Take cellphones - which have been around for years, but you don't seriously think call centre employees speak to you on a cellphone do you? Same principle....

I see what you are saying, but even so I disagree and am saying that the market is going to dry up further.

Again, let's take your example, education. It used to be that schools used to order dozens to a hundred desktops every x amount of years for their labs and faculty staff.

Now I'm just going to take my local education system for example. Every single student is going to be getting a tablet (probably an iPad) to replace every single textbook, notebook and regular computer facilities. Every single school will have open WIFI as well. Furthermore, except for some old desktops being used for the secretary, all the faculty will have Laptops and Tablets.

Even in your example of a computer lab, that was 200 desktops for a University size order. Let's say they even put in five orders a year like that, that's still a measly 1,000 desktops. Now let's times that by even 50 Universities (I'm grossly exaggerating the number upwards just to show you how disproportionate the market is), it is still only 50,000 desktops for the entire University system; that's barely a footnote.

And as I mentioned, most businesses that I know are all moving to mobile as it offers higher productivity (allows the worker to bring home the work to continue it) for a price no higher for the most part than a desktop.

And that's just today in 2012, fast forward just two years and you can imagine the niche the desktop is becoming.

#4430556 Posted on: 10/13/2012 07:01 PM

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Don't know what's this argument about, didn't read, but here I'll have to cut you off.

This just shows that many Steam users do use new hardware. Stats showing high numbers of Intel HD graphics mean that many users have new Sandy/Ivy CPUs. It does not, however, mean that they are using Intel HD IGP. Keep in mind that Steam detects only primary video card, which in this case is Intel HD. I'm pretty sure that most of these Sandy/Ivy users have mid or high-end current or older gen video cards, which are fit for gaming.

As far as GTX 680 goes, anyone interested in hardware knows that it's a very overpriced card. GTX 670 offers same performance @ 100$ lower price tag. GTX 500 cards make up a fair amount of stats.

Also, what about CPUs? High clock doesn't mean it's a gaming CPU FFS. Not everyone is an overclocker, you know...

In regards to the CPU's, I just wanted to show how many people even go for the likes of an i5 2500k (and above) or AMD FX class of CPU, the answer is very few, even less when you count in the fact that the 3.3GHz class also includes some older Pentiums, etc.

And this was just from Steam where there is an above average change of more powerful hardware being used. If I could get numbers from HP, Dell, etc, the numbers would be even bleaker.

#4430559 Posted on: 10/13/2012 07:03 PM

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Again, you can argue that all is fine with the desktop, etc. But you can't argue with the fact that the signs are on the wall about this shift amongst the major players .

Hell, even Anand said so recently:



Let's face it, no one wants to be tied down if they don't have to.