AMD Answers Some Questions

Several weeks ago, I went to Austin, TX to meet with AMD. I asked our readers for questions they would like answered, and I submitted them.

I just received the answers, which are posted at the Read More link:

What AMD chip is in the new raon Everun umpc that was at computex ?

AMD GEODE

Considering how late Barcelona/Phenom was and assurances made last year it would be on time, is AMD sticking with its schedule for 45nm? Will AMD release low-end or High End 45nm first?

While we can’t comment on specific frequencies, we plan to begin shipping our 45nm server and desktop parts, codenamed, ““Shanghai” and ““Deneb” respectively, in the second-half of this year. 

Do they expect improved performance with 45nm at similar freqs. compared to Phenom/Barcelona?

Both processors will feature enhancements to the existing core and recognize benefits from the shift to 45nm process technology.

Where does AMD see itself financially in 5 years time? Can they dig themseleves out of the current hole and if so which division do they think will be responsible for their comeback (GPU or CPU)?

We can’t speculate on this. 

Where do they see market share in each of the above segments in the next 12 months?

We can’t speculate on this.

Will NVidia Physix capabilities play a major role in the GPU segment, and how is AMD dealing with this?

Thus far, PhysX has not been implemented by any game developers, and even then, NVIDIA only plans on supporting a dozen titles in the next year or so.  On the flip side, AMD supports Havok physics, which is currently implemented in over 300 game titles.      

Intel is moving to ‘native quad’ design and HT typee interconnects. How will AMD counter to stay competitive or o they feel their offering will be good enough to take on the Intel CPU’s?

We continue to enhance our Direct Connect Architecture which is currently in its third generation of AMD microprocessors. Around the time Intel begins production of its Nehalem processors, we will be beginning production of our 45nm server and desktop processors with even more enhancements to our Direct Connect Architecture as well as coherent HyperTransport 3 for our server processors.  

Rob, what are their thoughts on recent discussions elsewhere that multicore CPUs will eventually replace graphics cards. Are AMD pursuing this as an objective?

No, AMD is not pursuing this as an objective.  Case in point; a single graphics chip has 40 to 50 times the parallel compute power of a CPU, and this is the kind of compute capability that is best suited to graphics.