AMD's master plan to topple Intel - Back to the top on a radical GPU

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/07/07/amd_graphics_core_next/

by ableal • 15 years ago

71 42 15 years ago

theregister.co.uk

rbanffy3• 15 years ago

I'd love to be able to go back to the diverse ecosystem we had in the 80's, but I don't see how an architecture that deviates significantly from the x86 norm could gain traction in this Windows world.

drewvolpe2• 15 years ago

I do: cloud computing and mobile.

5 years from now, it won't be a windows world. Consumers will be spending most of their time using iOS, Android, and Windows Mobile devices. On the server, a large % of apps will be written on a layer above the OS (GAE, Azure, Heroku, DjangoZoom, ...).

rbanffy3• 15 years ago

I'd love to see that happen, but we have been predicting the demise of Windows since the last century but Windows is still going strong. Inertia is a powerful thing.

azakai2• 15 years ago

> 5 years from now, it won't be a windows world. Consumers will be spending most of their time using iOS, Android, and Windows Mobile devices.

That sounds about right, except what is Windows Mobile doing there? It's a pretty tight race for third place, and I wouldn't bet on Microsoft there.

tsotha2• 15 years ago

This can't possibly be true. It may be true for home users and hobbyists, but people running business applications need screen real estate and a keyboard on which you can touch type. That's the Achilles heel of mobile, and it's not going away.

lojack• 15 years ago

I wouldn't be surprised if more users were on devices that ran linux than devices that ran windows nowadays.

CrazedGeek• 15 years ago

If you trust StatCounter's stats, mobile is gaining on desktops, but just barely: http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_vs_desktop-ww-monthly-2010...

(Also according to StatCounter, on the desktop, Windows has a 92% share. Make of that what you will.)

jallmann• 15 years ago

I don't think this is meant to replace the x86 ISA, but rather SIMD units like MMX/SSE and traditional GPU shaders. The article was a bit muddled -- I'm waiting for the Anandtech version.

Successful adoption will be dependent on good tooling. Auto-vectorizing is really hard in compilers, mostly because current languages aren't really built for it. But if AMD were to introduce something purpose-built (eg, with a Matlab-like syntax), then that might compel devs who aren't assembly or GPU gurus to develop against this.

cageface• 15 years ago

Maybe something like Google's new Renderscript API could be used to expose this in a friendly way?

sigil2• 15 years ago

> But if AMD were to introduce something purpose-built (eg, with a Matlab-like syntax), then that might compel devs who aren't assembly or GPU gurus to develop against this.

Does anyone know if it's possible to program GPUs today without using a new, special purpose programming language? That would be the killer app for GPUs.

I see your point about most languages not admitting auto-vectorization. But couldn't you take a compilable functional language like Gambit Scheme, Clojure, or Haskell and emit GPU code for constructs like map and fold on numeric vector types?

jcheng2• 15 years ago

The R language (http://www.r-project.org) is inherently well suited for auto-vectorizing. There are a couple of packages for GPU-accelerated processing already--currently heavily skewed towards CUDA though.

http://cran.r-project.org/web/views/HighPerformanceComputing... (scroll down to "Parallel Computing: GPUs")

jcheng2• 15 years ago

Here's the AnandTech writeup (and as you expected, it's way better than the Register one): http://www.anandtech.com/show/4455/amds-graphics-core-next-p...

buzzzlight• 15 years ago

Fellow programmers make fun of me for liking Matlab. I've tried to explain it to them many times (how it doesn't need iterators, how most things are one-liners, how it's 10-100 times less code all the way down), but I've come to the conclusion that they just feel threatened because it goes around most of the problems they've learned to solve with c. It's like how some auto mechanics don't think much of electric cars. I know that hundreds of cores is the future, but nobody knows how to use inherently parallel languages like Matlab, so all I can do right now is wait for the future to arrive.

SkyMarshal• 15 years ago

"but I don't see how an architecture that deviates significantly from the x86 norm could gain traction in this Windows world."

One possible way is that Linux quickly adapts to support it and gains a significant, un-ignorable performance advantage on the server side, forcing MS to step up and quickly support it as well. Basically, similar to happened with the transition to 64bit, must moreso.

rbanffy3• 15 years ago

With AMD's support for GPUs under open-source? Their lack of support in the past (to the point of not even properly documenting their hardware) is not very encouraging.

sliverstorm• 15 years ago

My guess is as bad as yours, but it seems to me like they intend to make the change mostly invisible to the software layer.

gaius• 15 years ago

Consider this: probably the majority of "enterprise" developers today are working in Java. And they would rather run their code in a JVM on a PC than on a dedicated JavaStation/SunRay/whatever. That's the kind of entrenchment you would have to overcome.

rat• 15 years ago

otoh a lot of enterprise java code is probably tied to windows in some fashion. And linux runs best on x86.

wlesieutre• 15 years ago

How about Bulldozer sometime soon? I've been putting off my upgrades to see how it compares to Sandy Bridge, but that Q2 2011 launch didn't exactly happen.

rkalla• 15 years ago

Same here. bulldozer got pushed out again, some folks are saying the silicon was underperforming by more than anticipated so they have to keep it I the lab and rev stuff NOW that they had planned for the refresh in 2012.

Then we have ivybridge at the end of this year promising just under 4ghz with 8 core desktop chips from intel.

I expect AMD to stay behind until 2013. They are rushing right now, and not hitting their marks BUT their tech and teams are strong. As that wobble evens our and this new platform (first redesign in like 7 or 8 years) settles down, they can shrink die, point forward and speed up.

I expect 2013-2015 to be a goddamn bloodbath between the big chip makers at the top (intel, amd) and Samsung, Qualcomm, nvidia and Apple shooting up from the bottom with ever faster and lower power multicore RISC chips.

I imagine by 2015 the landscape will be a hodgepodge of every kind of tech out there and then the acquisitions and shakeout will take us to 2020 where things get more homogenous again.

Create• 15 years ago

Strangely, AMD had almost always better technical talent/product in terms of architectural design, but always stumbled on intel's business practices (see computer history museum panel) and manufacturing weaknesses.

For the better part, they made a better x86 for their time: 386, 486, K5 (core), 3DNow (all the SIMD intel lacked, and the MMX patch in response was a joke), 64bit (which intel was late by years) etc. comes to mind. I hope it will be different this time.

r00fus2• 15 years ago

Intel wasn't just late to the game for 64bit, EMT64 == AMD64. The cross-licensing that Intel was bemoaning for years finally worked in their favor.

lyime• 15 years ago

Really? On what basis do you say AMD has always had better talent? 386 and 486 were Introduced by Intel, not AMD. Not to mention Core, USB and other history found on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel

amattn• 15 years ago

The architecture reminds me of the PS3's Cell processor, but not as insane.

Groxx• 15 years ago

I've been waiting for them to make more official announcements to this effect, and more details - there's been more than enough info to imply this is their goal for quite a while now. And I feel I must say: WANT. If this succeeds, it'll be a game-changer in almost every way.

drudru11• 15 years ago

Many interesting designs over the years appear and then faded. If they don't get distribution, nothing will happen.

As consumers are often saying today. "I don't want a tablet, I want an iPad"

AMD's master plan to topple Intel - Back to the top on a radical GPU

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