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AMD posts $473m Q4 loss, $1.18bn FY loss, stock goes up due to beat expectations

Can someone explain to me how AMD is in the shitter so bad but continuously makes killer video cards, mobile hardware, and is the company of choice for PS4/720?
 

iavi

Member
why are MS/Sony using AMD chips when AMD is going down

Cause AMD probably designs on pennies, figuratively.

Someone save this company. Intel and Nvidia are already fucking everyone, lord knows what they'll do with absolutely no competition.
 
Can someone explain to me how AMD is in the shitter so bad but continuously makes killer video cards, mobile hardware, and is the company of choice for PS4/720?

Killer video cards that people tend to not like and are usually behind in the market.
Mobile hardware that is too late, with Tegra taking over most of the market share.
Company of choice for PS4/720 cause NVIDIA is too cocky, expensive and busy to take charge.
 

Derrick01

Banned
Can someone explain to me how AMD is in the shitter so bad but continuously makes killer video cards, mobile hardware, and is the company of choice for PS4/720?

Their PC GPUs have been plagued with horrible and inexcusable problems and driver problems for years and it's driving people and exclusive contracts from developers to Nvidia.
 

Sethos

Banned
Their PC GPUs have been plagued with horrible and inexcusable problems and driver problems for years and it's driving people and exclusive contracts from developers to Nvidia.

Yep, definitely one of the reasons. All their shitty CF GPUs, terrible drivers and poor game support turned me to Nvidia.
 

iavi

Member
Their PC GPUs have been plagued with horrible and inexcusable problems and driver problems for years and it's driving people and exclusive contracts from developers to Nvidia.

No, the drivers haven't been plagued with problems for a long while now. It's this myth that has them where they are.

Not to say that they're up to feature parity with Nvidia
 
If AMD goes down while in the middle of manufacturing for the next gen consoles, things will get VERY interesting for Nintendo VERY fast!

How fast can big companies fold? I really hope it won't be like Having fun with Dick and Jane, it would be disastrous for both Microsoft and Sony.
 
Can someone explain to me how AMD is in the shitter so bad but continuously makes killer video cards, mobile hardware, and is the company of choice for PS4/720?

They tried to be both Nvidia and Intel, and failed at being better than either of them.

Nvidia makes better GPUs overall.
Intel makes better CPUs overall.

They fell behind in key areas at important tech shifts (like mobile).

I don't want AMD to die. Both Intel and Nvidia need some form of competitor to prevent them from getting lazier than they are already getting.
 
their GPUs are solid. very solid. 7970 ghz edition > 680, BUT AMD GPUs have this stigma of getting bad drivers and having issues with games at launch that always need a hotfix. i personally never had any major issues with their drivers, but some people have them. I really think the whole bad drivers thing is extremely overblown from a personal perspective.

the one thing i want from them to survive is their GPU division because they do good work and do give us great products.
 
If AMD goes down while in the middle of manufacturing for the next gen consoles, things will get VERY interesting for Nintendo VERY fast!

How fast can big companies fold? I really hope it won't be like Having fun with Dick and Jane, it would be disastrous for both Microsoft and Sony.

Correct me if I'm wrong but AMD doesn't manufacture anything. They design the chips then MS and Sony use a outside manufacturer.
 
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=74093&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1776795&highlight=

AMD are in trouble. Big trouble.

Cash balance is down to $1bn, assets are dwindling, losses are rising, the processor division is in deep red and the graphics division is barely profitable.

But, I thought the super lucrative console wins would save them, right guys?

*crickets*

I do wish somebody with deep pockets would buy AMD and keep them around. I dont want Intel and Nvidia with no competition.
 

1-D_FTW

Member
why are MS/Sony using AMD chips when AMD is going down

Because once you get the silicon design, it doesn't matter. AMD won these contracts precisely because they were so desperate. A healthier company would only take on the contract if it met a profit threshold they were happy with. AMD took what they could get. And the console makers didn't care, because all they needed was the design. AMD's fate after that was irrelevant.
 

herod

Member
No, the drivers haven't been plagued with problems for a long while now. It's this myth that has them where they are.

Not to say that they're up to feature parity with Nvidia

I RMA'd a 7850 this week because it kept blue screening in Portal 2 and Crysis, despite passing furmark no problem.
 

Derrick01

Banned
That simply isn't the case anymore, stop making up BS.

Doesn't matter if it's not happening anymore. They burned the bridge with customers and most will likely never come back. At least they won't be comfortable enough to come back by a time frame that includes AMD still being alive.
 

quest

Not Banned from OT
Can someone explain to me how AMD is in the shitter so bad but continuously makes killer video cards, mobile hardware, and is the company of choice for PS4/720?

They were to slow to react to the changing market. They should of had temash out much earlier. They should of also had brazos 2.0 out much sooner than they did. Once they found out how incredible the bobcat was they should of made it #1 priority of the company. I think they will be in better shape this year if they can get the jaguar SOCs out on time in large quantities. They should have the low end desktop, entry x86 tablets and laptop market locked down with temash and kabini.
 
Bad news for the PC space. No way Nvidia or Intel should be out there on their own. We need strong competition on both the processor and video card fronts.
 
No, it can't. I'm pretty sure someone on the forums said that they don't make all that much money from these contracts.

i believe it's true. microsoft isn't buying chips from them. they're buying the rights to a manufacture a chip they developed with AMD specifically for use in their next console. it's the same thing they did with the 360. buy the blueprints and fab it out where you want.
 

pestul

Member
I don't want a situation where Nvidia has a monopoly.

Nope, that's the worst possible outcome especially seeing as they are already cocky enough to launch a fucking $900 graphics card. They know AMD is going down.

It shouldn't effect the pre-designed nextgen graphics hardware though.
 

Cornbread78

Member
So how will this effect next gen consoles, and can the company be bought out by another on the cheap to continue with those console contracts?
 
Doesn't matter if it's not happening anymore. They burned the bridge with customers and most will likely never come back.

nVidia did the same shit, but called their drivers "beta" to avoid complaints. AMD just isnt scummy enough to compete with nVidia and Intel, unfortunately. Especially with so many ignorant people spouting garbage the last decade.
 
Too be somewhat fair I want to say Intel's revenue was down about the same in percent terms (obviously overall Intel much healthier)

It's somewhat a function that the PC market is declining because of tablets and whatnot.
 

Azure J

Member
I'm with shinobi on this matter. They have contracts for all 3 next gen consoles' GPUs/GPU designs, offer power within a single digit range of the nVidia competitors on average with prices that are easy on the consumer. Is it really just stigma (dem driverzzz) and their CPU development (more understandable) that's sinking them?
 
They land deals on all NextGen consoles and they are still in trouble? WTF?

Not sure how production in video cards work but you don't get paid until you deliver. They get a purchase order, part gets made, Sony/Microsoft test it and tweak it until they get what they like. They get paid for all the testing and tweaking but not for final design and mass production until the parts are finalized.

I can be very wrong though.
 
why are MS/Sony using AMD chips when AMD is going down

Their products are cheaper, Nvidia has fucked both MS and Sony before, and their graphics division is on par with Nvidia hardware design wise. Also, if AMD proper goes bankrupt the graphics division would likely get snatched up by another company or get spun off. They're still profitable so I'm not too worried about an Nvidia monopoly. Either way, I'm not sure if the US government is willing to allow Intel a monopoly in the desktop industry.
 

pswii60

Member
If AMD goes down while in the middle of manufacturing for the next gen consoles, things will get VERY interesting for Nintendo VERY fast!

How fast can big companies fold? I really hope it won't be like Having fun with Dick and Jane, it would be disastrous for both Microsoft and Sony.

AMD won't be manufacturing the chips for Microsoft and Sony, so it's irrelevent. It's a collaborative design, that's all, and that work will have been completed. No different to Xenos in the Xbox 360 - ATI designed it with MS, but MS held the rights to the final chip.
 
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