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AMD CEO: The Next Challenge Is Energy Efficiency

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Re: AMD CEO: The Next Challenge Is Energy Efficiency

#321

Post by fsckboy »

Brybry wrote: post #59
fsckboy wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They are deliberately keeping prices high and creating artificial shortages of GPUs you've seen evidence for this, or it's your opinion? > AMD had a chance to really pull ahead of Nvidia with a graphics card line that you just told us is far behind Nvidia's?

AMD said it themselves. They're "undershipping" to "reduce downstream inventory". [1] The take from multiple[2][3][4] journalists on that call is they're trying to avoid a "supply glut" and maintain high prices. [1] https://seekingalpha.com/article/4574091-advanced-micro-devi... [2] https://www.pcgamer.com/amd-undershipping-chips-to-help-prop... [3] https://gamerant.com/amd-undershipping-graphics-cards/ [4] https://w…

you put "supply glut" in scare quotes, but again, do you know that their motive is cynical?

they're talking to the public, i.e. investors, and they could easily be saying "our current sales figures are lower not because our product is not popular, but because there is currently a large inventory downstream to meet current demand. When that glut is cleared, expect our sales to resume."

if downstream sellers have sufficient inventory, the only way to induce them to buy more would be for AMD to drop prices. If AMD cards are in hot demand and selling out immediately, restricting supply would be artificially boosting prices. But if the downstream pipeline is full, it's not right to say that reduced demand from wholesalers while that glut clears is AMD artificially boosting prices.

Re: AMD CEO: The Next Challenge Is Energy Efficiency

#322

Post by bob1029 »

awill wrote: post #320
bob1029 wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only reason ARM is competitive with x86 is due to heavy borrowing of its tricks (i.e. OOO execution). At the end of the day, Apple M2 and AMD Ryzen cores are not all that dissimilar.

But Ryzen has to support a bunch of legacy instructions, and M2 does not. That’s a huge advantage

I don't think it's a huge advantage. x86 instructions are not executed directly on fixed-function hardware anymore. Everything is microcode.

Re: AMD CEO: The Next Challenge Is Energy Efficiency

#323

Post by apatheticonion »

datadeft wrote: post #151
apatheticonion wrote: post #86

From the perspective of a consumer, my MacBook Pro is basically the perfect laptop, at least in theory. I love the battery life and performance of the hardware, not to mention the unrivaled build quality of the MacBook (screen, trackpad, keyboard). In practice, however, MacOS limits the capabilities of the hardware such that I cannot daily drive my MacBook Pro as a work or personal computer (poor containerization sup…

> poor containerization support I use UTM and Docker on a daily basis and it is extremely smooth. What exactly is missing? > an annoying development toolchain What are you talking about exactly? For example most Python and Rust builds just work out of the box. > no _real_ support for video games https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/Metal.html These claims look like a bit of an exaggeration.

Wanted to have a little rant about this:

> Rust builds just work out of the box

Works great until you're the author of an application written in Rust and want to distribute MacOS binaries which are automatically generated in CI/CD.

The only (legal) way to compile a Rust binary that targets MacOS is on a Mac. So your CI needs a special case for MacOS running on a MacOS agent. Annoyingly, cross compiling CPUs architectures doesn't work so you need to an Intel and arm64 Mac CI agent - the latter being unavailable via Github actions.

To make things even more bizarre, Apple doesn't offer a server variant of MacOS or Mac hardware, which seems to indicate they expect you to manually compile binaries on your local machine for applications you intend to distribute.

Re: AMD CEO: The Next Challenge Is Energy Efficiency

#324

Post by senttoschool »

Salgat wrote: post #262
senttoschool wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It really isn't competitive. First of all, when you downclock anything, you're going to gain efficiency. If Apple downclocks M1, it can get even more efficient. Second, most of these tests use Cinebench, which is highly optimized for x86, not ARM instructions. Geekbench should be used instead. Third, the M1 is a SoC. Everything is on it. Everything is efficiently connected directly inside the chip.

Both the M1 and 5800U run around 15W and are already clocked for efficiency. The M1 Max is their higher clocked less efficient offering.

This is false. The 5800U will boost well beyond 15w. Ignore their TDP marketing ratings.

Re: AMD CEO: The Next Challenge Is Energy Efficiency

#325

Post by anticensor »

Tepix wrote: post #183

They could score a quick win for power efficiency by making the Ryzen 9 5900 and Ryzen 9 3900 12-core 65W CPUs generally available instead of only selling them to OEMs.

Or go even further, and make a Ryzen 9 5950 non-X, hardcoded to -30 PBO offset and 88W maximum PPT out of the box.

Re: AMD CEO: The Next Challenge Is Energy Efficiency

#326

Post by anticensor »

ObviousHumanGPT wrote: post #210
bayindirh wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If your production process and binning doesn't create enough supply for these parts, you only sell them to OEMs, because they can silently discontinue, or limit availability of these models when parts can not be found. However it'll be a PR disaster if the parts have spotty availability in retailers, and will cause wild rumors to spread, from "AMD doesn't want you to have this CPU" to "AMD is going bankrupt".

I'd imagine all of the low power binned chiplets are going into EPYC and sold at multiples of desktop prices.

Low power, stable low frequency and low power, peaking high frequency make different bins. The former goes to servers and latter to enthusiast laptops.

Re: AMD CEO: The Next Challenge Is Energy Efficiency

#327

Post by georgeburdell »

spixy wrote: post #302
georgeburdell wrote: post #10

Su is just talking up AMD’s strengths, many of which come care of TSMC and for which the original R&D was largely funded by Apple. She is not wrong, and AMD has certainly made large gains in HPC recently, but AMD does not monopolize all possible paths to success here.

5nm? It was also funded by AMD since it is their customer, and by many other customers.

AMD just released a 5nm product a few months ago. Apple’s M1 is a year older. Apple funded 5nm
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