AMD buying ATI ?

***Zardon*** · Jul 26, 2006, 04:22 PM

Vote and discuss

Chaos · Jul 26, 2006, 04:31 PM

not much to say until all the smoke clears and the share holders decide. My last intel chip was a 486SX-25 and it's been AMD ever since. My last Nvidia card I owned was a GF4 Ti4200 but then I bought a Radeon 9500NP and have remained with ATI since then. My current rig is AMD CPU powered with ATI RD480 Crossfire motherboard and an ATI X1900XT

Judas · Jul 26, 2006, 04:33 PM

alot of smoke i must say

***Zardon*** · Jul 26, 2006, 04:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chaos

not much to say until all the smoke clears and the share holders decide. My last intel chip was a 486SX-25 and it's been AMD ever since. My last Nvidia card I owned was a GF4 Ti4200 but then I bought a Radeon 9500NP and have remained with ATI since then. My current rig is AMD CPU powered with ATI RD480 Crossfire motherboard and an ATI X1900XT

ok, so guessing......... you must be pretty happy if your two favourite companies are combining forces..... no?

dsdsdk · Jul 26, 2006, 04:58 PM

Stupid...

Like Ferrari merging with Momo...

First of all, we dont want "optimized sollutions".. they are gonna punk you to get an AMD cpu with a ATI gfx. Just like the nvidia mobo + nvidia gfx = good performance, but bad idea in the mind of ppl.

And, http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060726-7355.html
nvidia ceo: "leaving us as the only stand-alone (graphics chip) company in the world" <- is this really true?

**MIG-31** · Jul 26, 2006, 05:02 PM

seeing as i do prefer Intel & i currently have a nvidia card,and it's going to stay this way for some time.... i have no interest in the merger.

Chaos · Jul 26, 2006, 05:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zardon

ok, so guessing......... you must be pretty happy if your two favourite companies are combining forces..... no?

On the surface yes I am happy but until some new gear that shows the joint effort combined on a complete solution who knows what will happen

Sonata · Jul 26, 2006, 05:36 PM

Time will tell.

Dyre Straits · Jul 26, 2006, 05:43 PM

I tend to be more of the 'it's a bad idea' sort.

My main concern/objection is that I don't like the idea of the CPU maker owning the video card maker. Although I don't have anything personally against AMD, I think I'd feel the same way if Intel were the entity involved.

I see it as more of a conflict of interest type of thing because the ATI engineers will now be more likely to lean toward pleasing their new bosses and not be so apt to work hard on support for Intel-based systems.

I know there's still a lot yet to be worked out, but, I'm very hesitant to give this my blessing. (As though it's even needed.

)

Falstaff · Jul 26, 2006, 05:44 PM

would make the playing field more level really...
may even bring prices down and provide for a wider array of products too...
and the opposite is also true...
look what happened when AMF bought Harley Davidson...need I say anything more?

**Asmoday** · Jul 26, 2006, 05:57 PM

-Im undecided, in fact ive no idea-

Time will most certainly tell, but as of now I have no idea...

swimtech · Jul 26, 2006, 06:39 PM

I really think that AMD needed to do something - the technologies both companies have pioneered and are implementing should help both if the people in place in both companies have the "right" attitude. The mix of people matters soooo much...

pr0digal jenius · Jul 26, 2006, 07:26 PM

I feel that with AMD's fairly poor track record of chipsets [nvidia makes msot of the good ones] and ATi's recent software drought that we're going to see a whole new variety of bugs and launch issues before we see any sort of groundbreaking stuff

CDsDontBurn · Jul 26, 2006, 07:31 PM

Quote:

I'm undecided, in fact ive no idea

i really don't have any idea as to what will happen, other than a few guesses.

1. ATI will make their cards optimized for AMD systems (i'm guessing this is most definite

)

2. Intel will retaliate and buy out nVidia

3. nForce chipsets on AMD boards will be no more.

4. the merger will go bust and there will only be Intel and nVidia to provide us with CPUs and GFX cards.

it's about all i can think of really. and i'm not a fan boy. i buy my hardware from whoever has the better hardware at the time i make my purchases.

TheBlackCat · Jul 26, 2006, 09:58 PM

I am undecided. I don't know enough about the industry to say for sure.

It is hard to tell exactly how this will play out. If either AMD seeks to sabotoge Nvidia cards on their chips, or if Intel seeks to sabotoge ATI cards on theirs, then lawsuits would be a certainty. It would be possible for AMD to have integrated ATI chipsets on their motherboards, but this would likely be counterproductive since people seem to want to be able to upgrade graphics cards easily. It would also likely prompt a similar deal between Nvidia and Intel. The question becomes how much muscle Intel and AMD have with computer manufacturers. Can AMD and Intel make deals to prevent computer manufacturers that use their CPU's from using their competitors' graphics cards? I don't know, but if so it could seriously help Nvidia since Intel currently has a larger market share than AMD. It would most likely be stupid for AMD to do this since it probably wouldn't help them, and they would probably sue if Intel tried such a thing. Attempts to make ATI and AMD chips "optimized" for each other would also land them in legal trouble. Due to the restrictions from antitrust laws I do not see these sorts of deals coming to pass. However, one or more of these companies might take a chance and go for it, knowing that these sorts of legal cases take years and hoping the benefit they get in the meantime, either in terms of shear proift or in terms of improving market position, will more than outweigh whatever punishment they recieve. On the other hand, such a plan might backfire, even going so far as breaking up AMD and ATI again if things get out of hand.

The question then becomes, what sort of impact in terms of technology and business will this allow? Can ATI technology help AMD? Can AMD technology help ATI? Can combining resources help both companies, or will it spread them both too thin? Can AMD's cache with technophiles help ATI? Can ATI's visibility to the general public help AMD? I really do not know the answer to these questions.