AMD completes its buyout of Seamicro

[mjw21a]

I wonder if this will give AMD and significant advantage in the future? I mean, heck, they had HyperTransport for a long time before Intel had an equivalent and seemed to waste/lose their advantage without ever fully utillizing it.....

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2163637/amd-completes-buyout-seamicro

 

[rescuetoaster]

I read a bit about the company, but can someone smarter than me explain why this is a good thing? I'm excited, I just don't exactly know why yet.

 

[ssjwizard]

Interconnects are the plumbing that keeps processors fed with data, and they consume considerable power and can be major performance bottlenecks in both high performance computing and cloud deployments.

The combination of this innovative technology with our processor design expertise greatly enhances our ability to attack the fastest growing portion of the server market with industry-leading low-power, low-cost, high-bandwidth solutions."

Basically AMD bought them to acquire there interconnect designs. They are low power high bandwidth designs something that could give AMD an edge in the CLOUD or massive compute clusters.

 

[mjw21a]

Sounds like something which could allow them to sell a larger number of chips.... Keep them in business.

 

[thevipper]

first they bought ati and brought us the apu a better intergrated graphics for low budget light gaming next will be to improve the design even more for lower power consumption using the interconnect fabric for a truly amazing gaming laptop (not talking about trinity) that lasts longer on its battery (yes i know it's meant for the server computers) but expect to see it in there mainstream cpu's and apu's also and soon after that we will get the cloud from amd

 

[mjw21a]

first they bought ati and brought us the apu a better intergrated graphics for low budget light gaming next will be to improve the design even more for lower power consumption using the interconnect fabric for a truly amazing gaming laptop (not talking about trinity) that lasts longer on its battery (yes i know it's meant for the server computers) but expect to see it in there mainstream cpu's and apu's also and soon after that we will get the cloud from amd

That would make sense.... However, how is this going to be of benefit in notebooks?

You're right about APU's, the really interesting stuff is the generation AFTER Trinity

 

[ssjwizard]

That would make sense.... However, how is this going to be of benefit in notebooks?

You're right about APU's, the really interesting stuff is the generation AFTER Trinity

1: Pretty sure hes talking about resonant clock mesh(figure you guessed but felt like pointing it out).

2: AMD has changed Trinity to include GCN cores instead of VLIW5 cores. I actually linked a bunch of info in your APU thread.

All in all any company whos products are being sought after that could make people believe AMD is cooking up some secret sauce someplace is good for business. I cant imagine there designs to have relevance in anything other than say the next gen opteron servers, and perhaps super computer clusters.

 

[mjw21a]

^^^ No, I'm a little slow this morning. Fixed my main/gaming rig + HTPC yesterday, was excited ot have these working after 3-4 days without operational desktops (apart form my crappy old notebook) and couldn't turn my brain off afterwards. As a result I got no sleep last night, makes me a bit slower than usual (ADD sucks that way, get too excited about computer stuff).

Oh..... I didn't realise, must have missed that. I thought Trinity was going to be VLIW5 based? Wow, its closer than I thought..... I really want to buy a Trinity based chip. Should absolutely fly with code written to make use of it.

 

[ssjwizard]

I really want to buy a Trinity based chip. Should absolutely fly with code written to make use of it.

Me too!

I dont think ill be able to though the wifey is already a bit tired of the latest round of upgrades. Probably next year though Ill swap out her liano setup for a Trinity

 

[mjw21a]

I guess I'm lucky/unlucky that way. Nobody to stop me spending money on completely unnecessary computer upgrades.

 

[thevipper]

1: Pretty sure hes talking about resonant clock mesh(figure you guessed but felt like pointing it out).

2: AMD has changed Trinity to include GCN cores instead of VLIW5 cores. I actually linked a bunch of info in your APU thread.

All in all any company whos products are being sought after that could make people believe AMD is cooking up some secret sauce someplace is good for business. I cant imagine there designs to have relevance in anything other than say the next gen opteron servers, and perhaps super computer clusters.

anything that will come out of it for the general public for general purpose use, low priced, and not faulty will take time it took amd 5 yrs just to make the apu design, cost effective, take out most of the errors, and the software to do dual graphics and it's still not perfect from what i heard. but yes there first use will be for there opteron servers and that still might take some time. then again we might see the desktop apu's dual with a radeon hd 8/9800+ series in 1-2 yrs and still be able to do true crossfire with another for a total of 3 gpu's but would only be worth it if they get better performance out of the cpu to not bottle neck the graphics and get ddr5 memory on the mother boards

 

[mjw21a]

Interesting times we live in.... Well, those of us that love this stuff anyway. Bores the cr@p out of most of my mates

 

[thevipper]

lol same goes here

 

[ShadowPho]

anything that will come out of it for the general public for general purpose use, low priced, and not faulty will take time it took amd 5 yrs just to make the apu design, cost effective, take out most of the errors, and the software to do dual graphics and it's still not perfect from what i heard. but yes there first use will be for there opteron servers and that still might take some time. then again we might see the desktop apu's dual with a radeon hd 8/9800+ series in 1-2 yrs and still be able to do true crossfire with another for a total of 3 gpu's but would only be worth it if they get better performance out of the cpu to not bottle neck the graphics and get ddr5 memory on the mother boards

Ouch, your sentences are hard to read.

 

[Frakk]

And this has nothing to do with the fact that Seamicro used Intel based servers, right?

Can't beat them? buy them..... love that strategy.

Read this...

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2159749/amds-llano-helps-claw-market-share-intel

Piledriver can't come soon enough
By Lawrence Latif
Thu Mar 15 2012, 12:34


CHIPMAKER Intel saw a marginal increase in market share over the course of 2011 as AMD's Fusion chip saw the firm make up ground in the laptop market.
Industry analysts IDC totted up the scores for the two big x86 chip vendors in 2011 and came out with some good news for both AMD and Intel. Revenue from flogging chips rose by 13.2 per cent, bringing the total market revenue for 2011 to $41bn, with the majority of it going to Intel.

Intel managed to increase its market share in 2011 by 0.1 per cent to 80.3 per cent, while AMD lost 0.1 per cent leaving it with 19.6 per cent. That in itself isn't terrible news for AMD but when IDC broke down the figures into laptop and server chips, there was mixed news for AMD.

AMD's laptop chip market share, which the firm went after with gusto following the launch of its Llano chips in the middle of 2011, rose by 2.7 per cent to 16 per cent, while Intel's market share fell by 2.6 per cent to 83.8 per cent. While AMD was reaping the rewards of its Llano chips, its Bulldozer Opterons did nothing to demolish Intel's considerable market share in servers.

Even after delays to its Sandy Bridge Xeon chips, Intel managed to increase x86 server market share by 1.4 per cent to 94.5 per cent, while AMD lost 1.5 per cent leaving it with just 5.5 per cent. Bulldozer also failed to spark any life in the desktop market for AMD, with the firm ending up with 26 per cent market share, a drop of 1.6 per cent, while Intel added 1.7 per cent to end the year with 73.8 per cent.

AMD's performance disappointment with the Bulldozer architecture is unfortunate for the firm, and it needs to iterate the architecture quickly and not have to worry about fab issues at either Globalfoundries or TSMC. While the laptop market is clearly warming to AMD's Fusion chips, the firm knows it needs to capture at least 10 per cent of the server market to be taken seriously.

IDC forecasts that x86 processor shipments will grow by 5.1 per cent in 2012, and AMD's goal must be to win a significant share of that new business
Source: The Inquirer

 

[mjw21a]

No, AMD doesn't have the $ to play that sort of game. It has to provide a technical advantage.... Of course, taking away from giving Intel and advantage would just be a bonus

 

[mjw21a]

Hmmmm, this link gives me more insight into why they went with this.... Pure conjecture of course but probably not far off the mark

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/03/27/amd_seamicro_server_plans/