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NV55
Why AMD should merge with Nvidia
Comment: To save us from Intel
By Axonn Echysttas
TO QUOTE A famous expression: "there can be only one". Looking at how
things shape up for AMD and Nvidia, it's rather obvious to see that in
the future there can be only one.
To battle Intel and its upcoming technologies, it's going to take a
lot more than what AMD or Nvidia can offer on their own. They need to
form a very close cooperation or even fuse into one single, across-the-
board company.
Daamit is in big trouble with its CPU line and Nvidia is in big
trouble with... pretty much everything. But AMD has a big debt coming
along with it and Graphzilla is far from being the richest boy in the
classroom. However, they're both green, so check one on the
compatibility list.
Technology match
Not only in colour are the two companies a good match. Now that Ruiz
is gone, maybe a bit of common ground can be found. If only Huang can
forget about his ego for a few moments, only enough to realize that a
common future is a much better path than a separate future. Daamit has
a very nice engineering potential as well as several fabs in its
pocket. It has the most efficient GPU to date and a CPU line to go
with it, embattled as it may be. Nvidia on the other hand, can fill in
the high performance GPU gaps and can offer additional chipset know-
how. Together, they have what it takes to deliver strong single and
multi GPU technologies, a very complete physics support for gaming
purposes and a great GPGPU range. AMD already delivered Puma, a
unified mobile platform. Together with Nvidia, they can put the
pressure on Intel, big time. They got Fusion coming up, Nvidia has
Physx and if they work together that can mean a world of pain for
Chipzilla.
A blue future
Arguably, Intel has all the aces right now. It's going to be a blue
future for the IT world, but also a blue mood for Envydia and Daamit
if Intel can make things work in reality the way they currently work
on paper. And, unfortunately for the greenies, in the past few years
Intel has actually made things work even better in reality than what
they promised in slide shows. The upcoming discrete GPU from Intel,
Larrabee as well as the upcoming Nehalem assault should give Damvidia
a lot to think about.
For now, there is no reason to think that Intel's new aspirations in
the GPU market will be a fluke. Of course, there is no reason to think
otherwise either. Larrabee is an unknown factor right now. But Intel
has proven many a times that even though it might be a fresh entrant
into a given arena, it can make up for the lost experience extremely
fast. This is a very agile and versatile competitor, definitely not to
be underestimated. Huang knows that and that's the reason he's so
passionate about Intel lately.
Under the belt
What's even more worrying is the fact that Intel will undoubtedly hit
both green camps under the belt with Larrabee. For now, they appear to
accept the fact that rasterization is still hip in the gaming world,
but Larrabee has the potential to do much more, they made sure we all
know that. First of all, there's raytracing. This may be the ultimate
in providing super realistic graphics and fantastic special effects.
and Intel is banging the war drum on this subject. Nvidia and AMD have
nothing in this area as of right now and they will pretty much wake up
not only being beat at their own game, but even falling behind with a
few years from a technological point of view.
To this, we must add Intel's know-how in the field of chip design.
Larrabee is already supposed to be multi-core, and very powerful too.
Think about the raw amount of power offered by the beast as well as
the efficiency with which that power will be used. These things alone
should be more than enough reason to worry for the greenies.
Conclusion
It's been a while since AMD has had its own GPU line. The latest
exponent of this line, the 4800 series, is one of the best pieces of
graphical acceleration engineering to grace the IT world in the past
few years. But one cannot argue that Nvidia is a very strong ally to
have on board. Even with its lack of charisma, Intel's Santa Clara
neighbour is what AMD needs to weather the storm ahead.
It goes the other way around too. With a mounting debt and a host of
other problems, Chimpzilla can't afford any more months filled with
bad news and migration of key personnel. A fusion or at least a very
close partnership is something that will undo some frowns and give the
investors reasons to cheer about. It would boost motivation in both
camps and bring numerous marketing, logistical and technological
assets under one hopefully happy roof. Nvidia, with its monstrous GPU
tactic is safe, because DAAMIT's targets in this arena are different
anyway. So why not put two plus two together and give Intel some real
competition in the future, not two small companies which to wipe the
floor with? µ
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/08/01/why-amd-should-merge-nvidia
Comment: To save us from Intel
By Axonn Echysttas
TO QUOTE A famous expression: "there can be only one". Looking at how
things shape up for AMD and Nvidia, it's rather obvious to see that in
the future there can be only one.
To battle Intel and its upcoming technologies, it's going to take a
lot more than what AMD or Nvidia can offer on their own. They need to
form a very close cooperation or even fuse into one single, across-the-
board company.
Daamit is in big trouble with its CPU line and Nvidia is in big
trouble with... pretty much everything. But AMD has a big debt coming
along with it and Graphzilla is far from being the richest boy in the
classroom. However, they're both green, so check one on the
compatibility list.
Technology match
Not only in colour are the two companies a good match. Now that Ruiz
is gone, maybe a bit of common ground can be found. If only Huang can
forget about his ego for a few moments, only enough to realize that a
common future is a much better path than a separate future. Daamit has
a very nice engineering potential as well as several fabs in its
pocket. It has the most efficient GPU to date and a CPU line to go
with it, embattled as it may be. Nvidia on the other hand, can fill in
the high performance GPU gaps and can offer additional chipset know-
how. Together, they have what it takes to deliver strong single and
multi GPU technologies, a very complete physics support for gaming
purposes and a great GPGPU range. AMD already delivered Puma, a
unified mobile platform. Together with Nvidia, they can put the
pressure on Intel, big time. They got Fusion coming up, Nvidia has
Physx and if they work together that can mean a world of pain for
Chipzilla.
A blue future
Arguably, Intel has all the aces right now. It's going to be a blue
future for the IT world, but also a blue mood for Envydia and Daamit
if Intel can make things work in reality the way they currently work
on paper. And, unfortunately for the greenies, in the past few years
Intel has actually made things work even better in reality than what
they promised in slide shows. The upcoming discrete GPU from Intel,
Larrabee as well as the upcoming Nehalem assault should give Damvidia
a lot to think about.
For now, there is no reason to think that Intel's new aspirations in
the GPU market will be a fluke. Of course, there is no reason to think
otherwise either. Larrabee is an unknown factor right now. But Intel
has proven many a times that even though it might be a fresh entrant
into a given arena, it can make up for the lost experience extremely
fast. This is a very agile and versatile competitor, definitely not to
be underestimated. Huang knows that and that's the reason he's so
passionate about Intel lately.
Under the belt
What's even more worrying is the fact that Intel will undoubtedly hit
both green camps under the belt with Larrabee. For now, they appear to
accept the fact that rasterization is still hip in the gaming world,
but Larrabee has the potential to do much more, they made sure we all
know that. First of all, there's raytracing. This may be the ultimate
in providing super realistic graphics and fantastic special effects.
and Intel is banging the war drum on this subject. Nvidia and AMD have
nothing in this area as of right now and they will pretty much wake up
not only being beat at their own game, but even falling behind with a
few years from a technological point of view.
To this, we must add Intel's know-how in the field of chip design.
Larrabee is already supposed to be multi-core, and very powerful too.
Think about the raw amount of power offered by the beast as well as
the efficiency with which that power will be used. These things alone
should be more than enough reason to worry for the greenies.
Conclusion
It's been a while since AMD has had its own GPU line. The latest
exponent of this line, the 4800 series, is one of the best pieces of
graphical acceleration engineering to grace the IT world in the past
few years. But one cannot argue that Nvidia is a very strong ally to
have on board. Even with its lack of charisma, Intel's Santa Clara
neighbour is what AMD needs to weather the storm ahead.
It goes the other way around too. With a mounting debt and a host of
other problems, Chimpzilla can't afford any more months filled with
bad news and migration of key personnel. A fusion or at least a very
close partnership is something that will undo some frowns and give the
investors reasons to cheer about. It would boost motivation in both
camps and bring numerous marketing, logistical and technological
assets under one hopefully happy roof. Nvidia, with its monstrous GPU
tactic is safe, because DAAMIT's targets in this arena are different
anyway. So why not put two plus two together and give Intel some real
competition in the future, not two small companies which to wipe the
floor with? µ
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/08/01/why-amd-should-merge-nvidia