[H]ardOCP Editor Claims Internal Problems for AMD - Polaris Underwhelming and RTG Seeking to Leave AMD For Intel

[HKZeroFive]

4 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

Is Linus in Macau?

Yep.

 

[Master Disaster]

1 minute ago, HKZeroFive said:

Yep.

 

Damn Daniel, it looks off the hook at that event, I wonder if he took the bong from his video with him? 

[Mr.Meerkat]

Hee hee hee...sounds like some people are salty they didn't get nanos and get invited to the event...

[Briggsy]

8 hours ago, Derangel said:

He's technically a journalist and would be protected under the same laws as any journalist. So unless I understand how it works wrong he can't be compelled to reveal his sources.

If a journalist states something as being factual in a "published" article, and its damaging to a company or person, its defamation/Libel if they can't prove what they said is true. In this case, his only proof is his sources. If he ends up being right, then he's fine. Problem is, he also does a character assassination attempt on Raja, and on the reason for RTG groups existence. 

[Derangel]

15 minutes ago, Briggsy said:

If a journalist states something as being factual in a "published" article, and its damaging to a company or person, its defamation/Libel if they can't prove what they said is true. In this case, his only proof is his sources. If he ends up being right, then he's fine. Problem is, he also does a character assassination attempt on Raja, and on the reason for RTG groups existence. 

Eh, he doesn't really go too hard on Raja. Nothing he says paints Raja as a bad person, just driven to success and a little blinded by a desire to see ATI return. Getting RTG formed and himself in charge is a product of being highly ambitious. You don't get into those kinds of positions without having a ton of ambition. Kyle actually blames a lot of what he calls "backwards thinking" on Rory Read instead of Raja. Kyle is far from the first person to lay a lot of GPU division issues at Read's feet. And given the significant drop in driver quality during part of his tenure, there might be some truth to it.

[captain cactus]

2 hours ago, Trixanity said:

I'm not sure how to interpret this. Either things are going really well or everything's gone to shit. 

 

Either way, will be fun to find out once NDAs are lifted.

Well, that guy did post a  after his tweet. If it was bad stuff you wouldn't end a tweet with  and certainly not start off with "Shots being fired so hard right now".

[Trixanity]

28 minutes ago, lots of unexplainable lag said:

Well, that guy did post a  after his tweet. If it was bad stuff you wouldn't end a tweet with  and certainly not start off with "Shots being fired so hard right now".

Dunno. People takes selfies in front of a train wreck with people on fire whilst posing like idiots, so who knows? If he was witnessing an absolute wreck, the sheer awkwardness might be fun to watch.

 

But I'm guessing AMD are acting like ballers because they got a sure thing coming, so that might just be it.

[captain cactus]

14 minutes ago, Trixanity said:

Dunno. People takes selfies in front of a train wreck with people on fire whilst posing like idiots, so who knows? If he was witnessing an absolute wreck the sheer awkwardness might be fun to watch.

 

But I'm guessing AMD are acting like ballers because they got a sure thing coming, so that might just be it.

If the stuff was shit not a lot of people would be in that party. Pretty sure stuff was not shit. Heck, we got a fucking T-rex dancing around there.

[Trixanity]

1 minute ago, lots of unexplainable lag said:

If the stuff was shit not a lot of people would be in that party. Pretty sure stuff was not shit. Heck, we got a fucking T-rex dancing around there.

True, Jen-Hsun wishes it was him with a cigar watching his company blowing cash on T-rexes and strippers.

 

There have been people speculating that it's basically like the Titanic as in: shit's sinking, better play the music and pop open all the booze because this is the last opportunity, so let's go out in a blaze of glory. But of course, that's what happens when a company is keeping a strict NDA after they've scraped the bottom and are supposedly coming back in a big way: everyone is calling doom and gloom.

[RagnarokDel]

9 minutes ago, Trixanity said:

There have been people speculating that it's basically like the Titanic as in: shit's sinking, 

and by that you mean you

[Trixanity]

15 minutes ago, RagnarokDel said:

and by that you mean you

Nope. My posting history would point at the exact opposite in fact, but I was browsing /r/amd and seeing the posts there and there's of course this board including this very post. Judging from the OP, Raja is doing his "Intel is acquiring my shit"-dance.

 

Nice try though

[SurvivorNVL]

7 minutes ago, Trixanity said:

Nope. My posting history would point at the exact opposite in fact, but I was browsing /r/amd and seeing the posts there and there's of course this board including this very post. Judging from the OP, Raja is doing his "Intel is acquiring my shit"-dance.

 

Nice try though

If Intel acquired Radeon, not only would that be incredibly healthy for everyone, because that'd set up nVidia to buyout the CPU division, snag AMD64, and get that x86 license back from Intel, but god damn - just imagine Intel + Radeon APU's.  And Volta + nVidia CPU(or Zen, if they reworked it).  Just imagine the competition *_*  And the immense pressure it puts on the enterprise market, because Intel would have some really, really formidable GPU technology.  

[Notional]

2 minutes ago, SurvivorNVL said:

If Intel acquired Radeon, not only would that be incredibly healthy for everyone, because that'd set up nVidia to buyout the CPU division, snag AMD64, and get that x86 license back from Intel, but god damn - just imagine Intel + Radeon APU's.  And Volta + nVidia CPU(or Zen, if they reworked it).  Just imagine the competition *_*  And the immense pressure it puts on the enterprise market, because Intel would have some really, really formidable GPU technology.  

In that scenario, NVidia would be destroyed in two years and Intel would end up with a de facto monopoly.

[Trixanity]

1 minute ago, SurvivorNVL said:

If Intel acquired Radeon, not only would that be incredibly healthy for everyone, because that'd set up nVidia to buyout the CPU division, snag AMD64, and get that x86 license back from Intel, but god damn - just imagine Intel + Radeon APU's.  And Volta + nVidia CPU(or Zen, if they reworked it).  Just imagine the competition *_*  And the immense pressure it puts on the enterprise market, because Intel would have some really, really formidable GPU technology.  

Yeah, that fairy tale would be a nightmare in a real world scenario.

 

This new Nvidia company would be the new AMD: Steamrolled by Intel on the CPU front and eventually steamrolled by Intel in GPUs.

[SurvivorNVL]

2 minutes ago, Notional said:

In that scenario, NVidia would be destroyed in two years and Intel would end up with a de facto monopoly.

nVidia would survive.  Both companies would take time to properly integrate, and nVidia and Intel would chug along merrily.  Though an alternate scenario would be the eventuality of Intel trying to acquire nVidia and then AMD being left alone to fight that kind of giant.  There's a better chance with Intel + Radeon and nVidia + AMD, at least there would be some violent competition for a good long while, and then one company would end up a monopoly and then VIA would appear out of nowhere with a 1nm process and GPU tech to run 12K at 60fps.

[Derangel]

45 minutes ago, lots of unexplainable lag said:

If the stuff was shit not a lot of people would be in that party. Pretty sure stuff was not shit. Heck, we got a fucking T-rex dancing around there.

The only thing the party proves is that AMD is throwing money around to impress their guests and giving them a good time. It also means they're pretty confident either in what they've shown or in their ability to woo the crowd. Speculation beyond that is pure guesswork.

[Briggsy]

I took the liberty of breaking down the article and attempting to prove the validity of each statement, while removing most of the writers opinions (about 95% of the article).

 

Quote

Let’s start with where we are currently. Full disclosure - HardOCP was not invited to this weekend’s launch in Macau as AMD PR has made a decision to no longer brief this site with the rest of the industry.

This is true, straight from the horses mouth. 

 

Quote

What HardOCP knows from sources inside and outside the company, AMD has a problem on its hands, as both these products have come up significantly short of where these were supposed to land. 

According to a two year old article, AMD have been quite aware of a decrease in discrete GPU sales:

 

"Both AMD and Nvidia perpetually try and out-do each other in the GPU board market, but as JPR’s most recent report shows demand is slackening. Gamers no longer require the top cards from either company... Because of slack demand for actual high-end gaming cards, AMD and Nvidia are left producing vanity cards such as the Radeon R9 295X2, and the Nvidia Titan Z. Neither card serves a practical use, but neither company really cares as both want to compete for the honor of having the fastest card on the market.

While these tactics may serve to please investors in the short-term, AMD will have to accelerate its transition to be less reliant on add-in boards and more reliant on divisions with proven profitability." (i.e. mainstream products)

 

Quote

AMD will simply send Chris Hook out to fall on the sword and tell a story of that was the plan all along....to produce brand new parts much slower than its last high end GPUs

Spoiler

AMD's stated goal is to be as efficient as possible with Polaris. Performance is speculation until we have real benchmarks (the current "leak" 3dmark score puts Polaris 10 in the Fury Range of performance, maybe higher if overclocked).

 

Quote

In the simplest terms AMD has created a product that runs hotter and slower than its competition's new architecture by a potentially significant margin.

Pascal is Nvidia's hottest running architecture since Fermi. Given the process shrink and die size vs. density, one would expect both AMD and Nvidia chips to be running hot this time. Speculation until we see the actual numbers for Polaris.

 

Quote

Koduri was able to wrestle control of the graphics division away during AMD’s last leadership transition after threatening to leave the ship and take a role at Intel, something he's not shy about telling his AMD colleagues. Lisa Su caved and Koduri got the job.

A lot of the turmoil occurred in late 2015, with Fiji being a hail Mary attempt to push HBM out far too soon before it was really useful, and no clear leadership was present on the graphic side to get drivers out quickly enough, to focus on game developers and software development. 

 

Quote

the real focus is on trying to become the GPU technology supplier of choice to none other than Intel. While this was speculated some time ago I can tell you with certainty that a deal is in the works with Intel and Koduri and his team of marauders working overtime to get the deal pulled into port ASAP. 

Koduri Answers directly to Lisa Su. If this is the plan, then it would be coming from the top. Deals like this don't go unnoticed behind a CEO's back.

 

Quote

This editorial is based on what I hear throughout the industry from insiders that know what is going on inside of AMD... there is no shortage of current and recently departed employees that are eager to share their take on what's going on. 

Because the best and most accurate information comes from people who lost their job, or have no loyalty.

[suicidalfranco]

2 hours ago, SurvivorNVL said:

If Intel acquired Radeon, not only would that be incredibly healthy for everyone, because that'd set up nVidia to buyout the CPU division, snag AMD64, and get that x86 license back from Intel, but god damn - just imagine Intel + Radeon APU's.  And Volta + nVidia CPU(or Zen, if they reworked it).  Just imagine the competition *_*  And the immense pressure it puts on the enterprise market, because Intel would have some really, really formidable GPU technology.  

a duopoly is just as bad as a monopoly

[Energycore]

I think HarcOCP will either lose a bit of my respect (if rumor's true) or all of it.

[Energycore]

7 hours ago, suicidalfranco said:

a duopoly is just as bad as a monopoly

We already have duopolies on each side of things, and while it's not as good for the consumer as a market with more competitors, it really isn't fair to say that it's just as bad. It's easier to mine out price gouging shenanigans when they're done between two companies than it is when it's just one.

 

It's still bad, but at least we have board partners softening [edited] the "I don't like this brand I'd rather go to another" problem.

[Prysin]

if HARDOCP is wrong, it would not suprise me if AMD sued them into oblivion. Both personally (from Rajas side) or as a corporation. Rumors like these are damaging.

 

Rumors like these are also damaging to any business deal, it creates false expectations and puts pressure on the participants to keep things quiet, it also causes people to "chase" evidence, rather then discover it. Which can lead to false reports or in worst case malicious reports. Which can be damaging to the stocks of the company

[Prysin]

1 minute ago, ONOTech said:

Good luck with that. Suing based on libel and slander is near impossible and a waste of time and money. There's no point and I'd be surprised if they did go through with it.

for a large corporation, it can be worth it aslong as you can prove these rumors are all bullshit. In that case, it is mere heresay, posted to generate views/readers rather then inform the public. 

[Energycore]

3 minutes ago, ONOTech said:

That wouldn't be enough in court. They would need to prove that Kyle's intentions are malicious. What he wrote is an editorial, meaning he's voicing his opinion. He can easily claim these rumors as his theories, and thus were not malicious in intent. There are several other AMD rumors that prove to be detrimental to the company's figure. What about those?

 

It's an uphill battle suing them. It's best to drop it and cut ties from [H] altogether or make-up. Taking legal action is the worst choice IMO

And on the consumers' side, we can add [H] to the black list, to forever rot with the likes of techspot.

[Curufinwe_wins]

Wow. Read (as in I read the book yesterday) the article...  Someone got super freaking scorned.

 

I mean we do already know Polaris won't compete with gp104 let along p100/gp102, and we also know AMD abruptly moved Vega up by 6 months in response to the Pascal launch so sure, there is at least grains of truth to the idea that AMD was caught off guard, but wow. 

 

I haven't seen this sort of anger since the Fiji review sample fiasco. 

 

It's too bad really, hocp does a great job with pushing samples but I think objectivity has completely flown the coup this time. 

[Energycore]

3 minutes ago, Curufinwe_wins said:

I mean we do already know Polaris won't compete with gp104 let along p100/gp102

GTX 1070 (aka 3/4s GP104) and 100% Polaris 10 have similar processing cores numbers and die sizes. Whether one performs better will depend on architecture nuances but that marks them as a very clear "will compete" pair.

5 minutes ago, Curufinwe_wins said:

AMD abruptly moved Vega up by 6 months in response to the Pascal launch

I heard that this rumor might be debunked? That perhaps we're seeing Vega in Q1 2017 after all.  Video cites the source. Start at 11 min.