It sure looks like AMD has good demand for their products in spite of all the naysayers. With the recent roll-out of Opteron 6200's and the FX series, AMD's financial picture should improve significantly.
As a gamer I hope this is a trend which continues. Graphics on consoles is clearly reaching limits it can hit & game developers are now struggling just a little bit in finding the room to add some of the features they are looking to add. The ability of PC games to hit high resolutions at 60fps consistently and also by the addition of other graphical tweaks which make those games stand out is helping a bit of a resurgence of PC games. In turn, I hope this forces console manufacturers to maybe even slightly accelerate their timelines for launching new hardware.
you are inventing things here.... They only managed to ship some 3 mill Llano while Brazos sold some 10 mil units (they said 20 mil Brazos up to date and with some 1 mil in q4 last year,3 mil in q1 and 6 mil in q2 you are left with about 10 mil). GloFo capacity is pretty low due to yield problems on 32nm and if it wasn't for Brazos (made at TSMC),AMD would be in a funny situation.
Keep in mind the Average Selling Price of Llano is far higher than Brazos, so even though Brazos is shipping more units it's entirely possible they're making more money off Llano.
I don't know if I'd call it a flop. Maybe for we desktop users, but I imagine it's just what the server market was looking for in Opteron. AMD's high-end CPUs have traditionally been designed for server markets first, with fallback to the desktop. It's a good strategy really, as each unit sells for way more in that segment.
Exactly, AMD isn't really that bothered about catering to the 'enthusiast PC' market. That's why they just re-badged their server chip as a top-end desktop part. No point making too much effort for a segment that doesn't even pay for the coffee machines.
Llano/Brazos etc. is what they are truly working on for the domestic market. I think it's the right thing to do. Most of my customers don't want desktop PCs anymore. They all want laptops.
Intel has more to worry about really going forward than AMD.
Well I guess you could put a Llano in a laptop. I used to have a Athlon64 4000 desktop CPU in a Compaq laptop I bought in 2005. Very capable machine for the time. Used it everyday till I replaced it in 2009.
Opterons are designed for heavy workloads and thats where the BD architecture currently shines. Single threading is Bulldozers weak point. That may improve with Piledriver. Win 8 already shows ~5 improvement with the FX CPus over Win 7. All of the major laptop makers are selling Llano APU based laptops as they meet the needs of mainstream consumers.
I feel like bulldozer is only a prequel, or maybe i am still just overly optimistic. I am by no means a computer scientist, but it seems to me that the architecture is aimed at a different goal, and missing a significant part...the integrated GPU. Imagine a top of the line bulldozer with a 6990 on chip...
It'd be like having a Ferrari with its handbrake on. The bandwidth just isn't there, and the die would be horribly large. Mid-range at best is more sensible - why spend on transistors you simply cannot use?
If they threw stacked memory on die, it'd solve the bandwidth issue... just not the heat or power.
In a competitive business landscape, you can get your company ready to go or result in the upgrades you need sooner than you think by securing a merchant cash advance loan. ==== h t t p : / / w w w . f u n d f a c t o r . c o m / m e r c h a n t - c a s h - a d v a n c e . h t m l ====
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Beenthere - Thursday, October 27, 2011 - link
It sure looks like AMD has good demand for their products in spite of all the naysayers. With the recent roll-out of Opteron 6200's and the FX series, AMD's financial picture should improve significantly.tipoo - Sunday, October 30, 2011 - link
Opteron yes, Llano yes, but I doubt the FX series will significantly line their pockets, the ways reviews went.MonkeyPaw - Thursday, October 27, 2011 - link
I bought a Phenom II that quarter, so I helped! :pJust shows how good mobile products are exactly what AMD needed to improve the bottom line.
arnavvdesai - Thursday, October 27, 2011 - link
As a gamer I hope this is a trend which continues. Graphics on consoles is clearly reaching limits it can hit & game developers are now struggling just a little bit in finding the room to add some of the features they are looking to add.The ability of PC games to hit high resolutions at 60fps consistently and also by the addition of other graphical tweaks which make those games stand out is helping a bit of a resurgence of PC games. In turn, I hope this forces console manufacturers to maybe even slightly accelerate their timelines for launching new hardware.
jjj - Thursday, October 27, 2011 - link
you are inventing things here....They only managed to ship some 3 mill Llano while Brazos sold some 10 mil units (they said 20 mil Brazos up to date and with some 1 mil in q4 last year,3 mil in q1 and 6 mil in q2 you are left with about 10 mil).
GloFo capacity is pretty low due to yield problems on 32nm and if it wasn't for Brazos (made at TSMC),AMD would be in a funny situation.
LtGoonRush - Friday, October 28, 2011 - link
Keep in mind the Average Selling Price of Llano is far higher than Brazos, so even though Brazos is shipping more units it's entirely possible they're making more money off Llano.gevorg - Thursday, October 27, 2011 - link
Good news for AMD! At least they're not in the red! Too bad Bulldozer is a flop.MonkeyPaw - Friday, October 28, 2011 - link
I don't know if I'd call it a flop. Maybe for we desktop users, but I imagine it's just what the server market was looking for in Opteron. AMD's high-end CPUs have traditionally been designed for server markets first, with fallback to the desktop. It's a good strategy really, as each unit sells for way more in that segment.yuchai - Friday, October 28, 2011 - link
I thought the server market is all about performance per watt, which BD seems to fall short on.jabber - Friday, October 28, 2011 - link
Exactly, AMD isn't really that bothered about catering to the 'enthusiast PC' market. That's why they just re-badged their server chip as a top-end desktop part. No point making too much effort for a segment that doesn't even pay for the coffee machines.Llano/Brazos etc. is what they are truly working on for the domestic market. I think it's the right thing to do. Most of my customers don't want desktop PCs anymore. They all want laptops.
Intel has more to worry about really going forward than AMD.
marc1000 - Friday, October 28, 2011 - link
i also believe that this is due to Brazos, and not Llano....jabber - Friday, October 28, 2011 - link
Well I guess you could put a Llano in a laptop. I used to have a Athlon64 4000 desktop CPU in a Compaq laptop I bought in 2005. Very capable machine for the time. Used it everyday till I replaced it in 2009.Needed some dual core goodness by then.
Taft12 - Monday, October 31, 2011 - link
Uhhh, you sound unaware that Llano laptop chips exist which I can assure you, they do. Not only that, they're awesome! Especially the A8'shttp://www.anandtech.com/show/4444/amd-llano-noteb...
Beenthere - Friday, October 28, 2011 - link
Opterons are designed for heavy workloads and thats where the BD architecture currently shines. Single threading is Bulldozers weak point. That may improve with Piledriver. Win 8 already shows ~5 improvement with the FX CPus over Win 7. All of the major laptop makers are selling Llano APU based laptops as they meet the needs of mainstream consumers.bakonator - Saturday, October 29, 2011 - link
I feel like bulldozer is only a prequel, or maybe i am still just overly optimistic. I am by no means a computer scientist, but it seems to me that the architecture is aimed at a different goal, and missing a significant part...the integrated GPU. Imagine a top of the line bulldozer with a 6990 on chip...silverblue - Saturday, October 29, 2011 - link
It'd be like having a Ferrari with its handbrake on. The bandwidth just isn't there, and the die would be horribly large. Mid-range at best is more sensible - why spend on transistors you simply cannot use?If they threw stacked memory on die, it'd solve the bandwidth issue... just not the heat or power.
tipoo - Sunday, October 30, 2011 - link
That would be a monster to cool, and would also be hard to feed it with adequate bandwidth.freezervv - Friday, October 28, 2011 - link
"the continuing status of GloFlo’s 32nm process"Why G-L-O-F-*L*-O?
Wouldn't that suggest their name was GlobalFloundries?
marc1000 - Friday, October 28, 2011 - link
Global Floss???silverblue - Saturday, October 29, 2011 - link
Correct. In an industry with short names for everything, it only makes sense to abbreviate or shorten it somewhat. :Psilverblue - Saturday, October 29, 2011 - link
Actually, ignore me. Eyes not working.Where's the edit button when you need it? Umm...
*headbutts keyboard*
zhangqq - Monday, October 31, 2011 - link
http://ygn.me/bTf7plucypinderol - Tuesday, November 1, 2011 - link
In a competitive business landscape, you can get your company ready to go or result in the upgrades you need sooner than you think by securing a merchant cash advance loan. ==== h t t p : / / w w w . f u n d f a c t o r . c o m / m e r c h a n t - c a s h - a d v a n c e . h t m l ====