Steamroller is zowel architecturaal als op productie procedé gebied een verbetering. T.o.v. Bulldozer is Piledriver 15% sneller met eenzelfde verbruik op hetzelfde productie procedé. Als men met Steamroller alleen al op architecturaal 15% sneller is dan Piledriver is. Dan kan dit i.s.m. de overstap van 32nm naar 28nm een mooie boost geven (een hypothetische situatie waarbij Steamroller dus op 32nm gebakken zou worden waarbij het verbruik even hoog is als Piledriver terwijl de performance 15% hoger ligt). AMD heeft zijn target met Streamroller rond de 15% sneller dan Piledriver liggen. Dus ze zijn wat bescheiden, wellicht vanwege het loslaten van SOI wat indirect performanceverlies met zich meebrengt (verbruik neemt toe dus clock frequentie lager om dit te compenseren).
De opvolger van Vishera zou een grote stap voorwaarts kunnen zijn aangezien dit wel eens een decacore CPU zou kunnen worden. Verschillen t.o.v Vishera: Steamroller i.p.v. Piledriver, 10 i.p.v. 8 "cores" en 28nm HKMG i.p.v. 32nm SOI+HKMG. De opvolger van Vishera staat geplant voor 2014 terwijl Steamroller zelf zijn debuut in 2013 al maakt in de vorm van Kaveri, de opvolger van Trinity.
Ik denk zelf dat er nooit een opvolger van Vishera gaat zijn en dat AMD volledig afstapt van de productie van CPUs en dus volledig overgaat op de productie van APUs in 2013 of 2014. Immers is de Bulldozer architectuur en de daarop volgende architecturen (Piledriver, Steamroller en Excavator) gemaakt met Fusion in het achterhoofd waarbij men dus volledig overgaat op HSA. HSA zou in 2014 voor het eerst zijn intreden moeten doen.
Een logische stap voor AMD om te stoppen met CPUs. Immers is dat iets wat straks alleen nog maar op de high-end en servermarkt verkocht kan worden. Die laatste wordt daarnaast ook nog eens betreden door ARM gebaseerde chips en GPGPU wordt ook steeds meer toegepast op server gebied. Zelfs als deze laatste twee de servermarkt niet zouden beïnvloeden, dan nog zou AMD het af moeten leggen tegen Intel op dat gebied. Idem dito voor de high-end markt waar AMD ook niet op kan tegen Intel. Ze zetten logischerwijs hun geld dus in op Fusion/APUs.
Met APUs willen ze ook de servermarkt gaan betreden juist omdat vanwege het steeds belangrijker worden van GPGPU op dat gebied.
De overnamen van SeaMicro was voor AMD waarschijnlijk hierom te doen.
De overnamen van ATI in 2006 is het enige wat AMD toekomst heeft gegeven aangezien ze het niet van hun CPU performance moeten hebben. Alles leunt dadelijk -en nu eigenlijk al- op de GPU divisie. Llano en Trinity zijn een "succes" vanwege het GPU gedeelte.
Let wel, in de financiële resultaten (op papier) lijkt het alsof de GPU divisie (Grapichs) er niks van bakt, maar dat is waarschijnlijk omdat de GPU divisie (op papier) niet mee profiteert van de verkopen van de APUs die onder de Computing Solutions valt (net als de CPUs). Derhalve is een vergelijking (zoals een paar al eens hebben gedaan) tussen AMD Graphics divisie financiele resultaten en de nVidia Graphics divisie financiele resultaten niet mogelijk.
Uit het
2011 ANNUAL REPORT ON FORM 10-K:Computing Solutions
Computing Solutions net revenue of $5.0 billion in 2011 increased 4% compared to net revenue of $4.8 billion in 2010, primarily as a result of a 16% increase in unit shipments partially offset by an 11% decrease in average selling price. The increase in unit shipments was attributable to an increase in unit shipments of our microprocessors, including APU products for mobile devices, as well as our chipset products. Unit shipments of our microprocessors, including APU products for mobile devices increased due to strong demand for our Brazos and Llano-based APU platforms. However, the increase in unit shipments in 2011 was limited by supply constraints with respect to certain microprocessor products manufactured using the 32nm technology node. Chipset unit shipments increased primarily due to an increase in overall unit shipments of our microprocessor
Computing Solutions net revenue of $4.8 billion in 2010 increased 16% compared to net revenue of $4.2 billion in 2009, primarily as a result of an 18% increase in unit shipments partially offset by a 2% decrease in average selling price. The increase in unit shipments was attributable to an increase in unit shipments of our microprocessor products for mobile devices as well as chipset products, resulting primarily from an improved economic environment. In addition, chipset unit shipments increased as customers increasingly adopted our chipsets with our microprocessor products, while unit shipments of our microprocessors for mobile devices increased due to increased demand from existing and new customers for our new notebook platforms. Average selling price decreased due to a decrease in average selling price of embedded processors, partially offset by an increase in average selling price of our chipsets and microprocessor products. Average selling price of embedded processors decreased due to a shift in our product mix to lower-end, legacy products. Average selling price of products. The decrease in overall average selling price was primarily attributable to a decrease in the average selling price of our microprocessors for servers due to a shift in our product mix and competitive market conditions as well as sales of our Brazos APU platforms, which have a lower average selling price than our other processor products. microprocessor products increased due to a favorable shift in our product mix to higher end microprocessors, especially for servers, as customers continued to transition to our AMD Opteron™ 6000 series server platforms. Average selling price of our chipset products increased primarily due to a shift in product mix.
Computing Solutions operating income was $556 million in 2011 compared to $529 million in 2010. The improvement in operating results was primarily due to the increase in net revenue referenced above, partially offset by a $70 million increase in cost of sales, a $45 million increase in research and development expenses and a $42 million increase in marketing, general and administrative expenses. Cost of sales increased primarily due to higher microprocessor and chipsets unit shipments and the absence of a one-time benefit related to the deconsolidation of GF in 2010. Research and development expenses and marketing, general and administrative expenses increased for the reasons set forth under “Expenses,” below.
Computing Solutions operating income was $529 million in 2010 compared to $142 million in 2009. The improvement was primarily due to the increase in net revenue referenced above and a $25 million decrease in cost of sales, partially offset by a $224 million increase in research and development expenses and a $61 million increase in marketing, general and administrative expenses. Cost of sales decreased due to reductions in manufacturing costs and a one-time benefit related to the deconsolidation of GF in 2010. Research and development expenses and marketing, general and administrative expenses increased for the reasons set forth under “Expenses,” below.
Graphics
Graphics net revenue of $1.6 billion in 2011 decreased by 6% compared to net revenue of $1.7 billion in 2010. The decrease was due to a 6% decrease in net revenue from sales of GPU products. Net revenue from sales of GPU products decreased primarily due to a decrease in both GPU unit shipments and average selling price. The decrease in GPU unit shipments was primarily due to lower customer demand which we believe was due in part to the disruption in the supply of hard disk drives caused by the flooding in Thailand at the beginning of 2011. GPU average selling price decreased due to a shift in our product mix to lower end GPU products.
Graphics net revenue of $1.7 billion in 2010 increased 43% compared to net revenue of $1.2 billion in 2009. The increase was due to a 49% increase in net revenue from sales of GPU products. Net revenue from sales of GPU products increased primarily due to an increase in both GPU unit shipments and average selling price. Unit shipments increased due to strong demand for our DX 11 —ATI Radeon™ products. However, the increase was limited by supply constraints primarily related to constrained wafer foundry capacity in the first half of 2010. Supply constraints improved in the third quarter of 2010, and we did not experience any supply constraints during the fourth quarter of 2010. GPU average selling price increased due to a shift in our product mix to higher end GPU products.
Graphics operating income was $51 million in 2011 compared to $149 million in 2010. The decline in operating results was primarily due to the decrease in net revenue referenced above and a $20 million increase in marketing, general and administrative expenses, partially offset by a $25 million decrease in cost of sales. Marketing, general and administrative expenses increased for the reasons set forth under “Expenses,” below. Cost of sales decreased primarily due to lower GPU shipments and correspondingly lower manufacturing costs.
Graphics operating income was $149 million in 2010 compared to $35 million in 2009. The improvement was primarily due to the increase in net revenue referenced above, partially offset by a $345 million increase in cost of sales due to higher GPU unit shipments, a $22 million increase in research and development expenses and a $15 million increase in marketing, general and administrative expenses. Research and development expenses and marketing, general and administrative expenses increased for the reasons set forth under “Expenses,” below.
Enfin, dit hoort volgens mij allemaal min of meer thuis in het AMD nieuwsdiscussie topic...
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Voor 60% gewijzigd door
madmaxnl op 26-10-2012 19:50
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