How do you feel about AMD?

[orcinhell]

So I debated even starting this thread as it can easily get out of hand. People are passionate and tempers flair. But I still felt there was worth attempting it.

 

I want peoples opinions about AMD as a company, specifically the GPU side, and even how that effects their view of the company as a whole. Some pretty worrying news is starting to emerge about the 300 series being simply a driver update. The fury having very restricted access for reviewers, 10 total units for the whole of the EU.

 

AMD has also been very quick to lash out at the whole Nvidia 3.5 fiasco and also always being wronged at every turn with drivers and gameworks... These new drivers for the 300 series seems to be handling games older 200 series card "struggle on" games that AMD have come out and blamed outside sources, yet they had drivers ready to go.

 

That aside the 300 series is also a rebrand. Fury being the only new architecture that has some really exciting stuff that has caught Nvidia a little of guard... such as the new memory.I will admit this so far has had a negative tone to it... but lets face it the current news facing AMD does not really bode well.

 

Without comparing to any other brand and looking at AMD by itself. How do you currently feel about AMD? What does AMD need to do with this release to impress/get you interested? If already interested why?... How do you feel about another rebrand especially if it turns out the only real difference is drivers.? And looking into the future how do you feel about future AMD products?

 

Me personally I want AMD to kick ass, I really do but I find it hard to stomach a possible rebrand that only has drivers effecting its improved performance... if it turns out true which I pray to go it doesn't, fury won't matter. I am excited about its release, but could not support them in anyway. If it turns out false, Fury will have my full attention and even though I recently upgraded I will be looking to team red next time as I do generally like AMD. AMD new direction is great, I support them trying to become a "performance" company over a budget. I also don't mind paying more as long as they produce the goods. But with that I want to see the amount of rebranding that is going on shrink in relation to them as they grow.

 

 

EDIT: My bad I have like 20 tabs open when I am on LTT forums and posted this in Graphics card section somewhat inappropriate and meant it for general.

[Aytex]

[C0LL0SS0S]

Its kinda funny how people are actually running those 300series drivers on 200 cards, I don't know why but I just have a higher trust level for NVIDIA, still recommend both because its a personal thing, and as long AMD keeps crushing titans I can get the cards that I prefer cheaper, so we should atleast appreciate AMD for trying 

[kipper]

Waiting for ZEN.

[Godlygamer23]

Quite frankly, AMD needs to step up their game. I understand that they have don't have as much money as Intel or NVIDIA, but whining about stuff is not going to get them anywhere. They're re-branded cards for the third time, and it's not just different cards being re-branded. The 7870 was re-branded three times - it became the R9 270, and now it's the R7 370. Come on AMD.

Edited June 20, 2015 by Godlygamer23

[nhatduy1611]

I kinda think because amd is "losing" that is my opinion since nvidia has the lead right now in term of gpu they tend to bash nvidia mistake or nvidia in general. I don't really have a side i just pick what ever is best at the time in my price range and i have used both nvidia and amd gpu. I want some competition so i hope amd will continue to do well so nvidia have to keep their game up and vice versa.

[Blebekblebek]

just look at their driver pages, last official driver is 2014 september, and how about today? what day is today? what year?

 

Rx 200 series has been out since when? last 2 years?
yes they do have beta driver

 

but even so, I really hate them with their driver support

eversince they shutdown HD4000 series and below I really having problem trusting them again.

[orcinhell]

I had a 7970 before this, best card I have ever owned, it rocked the whole time I had it, and drivers were pretty great... I only just got the Nvidia card and already the last 2 releases have been buggy... for many people.

 

But the 7970 days seems like a distant memory now. If they hit out like that again I would support them in a second... this launch is failing to capture me.

[Sakkura]

Quite frankly, AMD needs to step up their game. I understand that they have don't have as much money as Intel or NVIDIA, but whining about stuff is not going to get them anywhere. They're re-branded cards for the third time, and it's not just different cards being re-branded. The 7850 was re-branded three times - it became the R9 270, and now it's the R7 370. Come on AMD.

 

The 7850 did not become the R9 270. Come on.

[ImBleu]

The R9 300 series was a let down, I might pick up a Fury X if it truly does "give titan x performance for $650" and I have little interest in upgrading to AMD Zen, but hope someone gives intel a run for it's money sometime soon.

[SirRoderick]

The 390 review on PCper sums it up for me: http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphics-Cards/Sapphire-Nitro-Radeon-R9-390-8GB-Review

 

It's a good enough card that ekes out better performance and makes sense for the price. I have no complaints about where it's positioned when taken seperately. But when considering AMD's need to a WIN to get those sales up it's not that amazing, it's about what you'd expect so far.

 

The Fury is what can make the difference, if that thing lives up to the numbers that are trickling in it will, together with the Nano version, absolutely be able to nail down a section of the market. Even though I bought a 980 some time ago, I still want to see these cards win out and push the development on both sides.

[veimiK]

I kind of don't like their passive aggresive style of marketing, at least on polish FB page. They keep attacking NVIDIA, I mean, it makes sense because as far as I know they are losing quite a lot of money.

I'm pretty much neutral.

[Bogica]

Honestly, I used Nvidia cards for the past 8 years, I recently got an R9 270 because I was on a tight budget, for the same amount of money I could have gotten a GTX 750, which performs much worse. I think I got the best bang for my buck, playing the Witcher 3 at 1080p on high settings is a blast. I still haven't ran into a game it can't handle at 1080p on high settings and 40+ fps. I love the card, it was so cheap and offers so much!

While on the CPU side. I used AMD CPUs until the Phenom II. My last AMD cpu was a Phenom II x4 820. After that I got an i5 2500k and haven't looked back. However, on budget rigs, I'll always go with AMD. My dads office PC uses AMD, the APUs are great bang for the buck. Sure the chipset and boards are outdated, but they are still great for the amount of money you are investing.

And I'm hoping Zen put up some serious fight, because Intel needs competition, they've been lazy for WAY too long.

[ind3x]

The R9 300 series was a let down, I might pick up a Fury X if it truly does "give titan x performance for $650" and I have little interest in upgrading to AMD Zen, but hope someone gives intel a run for it's money sometime soon.

The 980ti gives titan X performance at 650$, so the fury is not 30% better price/performance than the 980ti. (the fury x and titan shouldn't be compared. the fury x and the 980ti should be compared)

The fury x2 will be cool though, and i'm quite frankly excited for it.

[LegacyStijncat]

FIRST OF ALL, YES. I AM TEAM GREEN. BUT I WILL TREAT AMD AS FAIRLY AS POSSIBLE.

I don't like everything AMD does. But, I like some things.

AMD does an AMAZING job in raw power. I do believe they are loved in the mining industry for this. They will do ANYTHING, extra power consumption or heat, to get extra power.

But, this brings problems, of course. As I said, power consumption and heat, and even though there are exceptions, the biggest parts suffer from this.

And, their drivers are lacking in my opinion. They're not the scum of the universe, but they do play a strange game sometimes.

And than, their advertising. Allot from their advertising has been just to f*** with Nvidia. 4GB Vram, no really and defeating titans. I understand you are concurrents, but please, have some honour.

[Humbug]

Awesome GPU company that never fails to deliver stellar graphics cards. And have been doing so for over a decade. From high end to budget solutions.

Lost their way as a CPU company. Hasn't competed with Intel for a long time.

[Manny Calavera]

intel has basicly monopoly now, so amd is not helping cpu industry

similar on gpu side. r9 280 is same price as was 2 years before lol

[Maheshvara]

Hmmm, my thoughts would be conflicted. On the one hand, i like that AMD open sources their tech (Mantle, HBM), but that clearly isn't enough.

 

I really expected them to kill it with this new GPU line-up.

 

They could've just as easily created a GPU with a lower clock, TDP, less cores and 4Gb of HBM and call it 380(x). I expected something new on all the fronts...

 

Well, i think that they're a good company, and in the end, only performance is important to me, nothing else. If when buying a GPU, 380 is the same price as 960 (here it is at the least, hell, a PCS+ powercolor version costs less than 960...), i'm getting that!

 

As for Zen, i'm going to wait, but i'm less hyped after this re-brand/fresh thing with their 3xx lineup. We'll see.

 

All in all, i have a positive opinion about them, simply because it seems that they treat others (competitors, consumers... the whole industry in general) better than nVidia ever has.

[Manny Calavera]

Awesome GPU company that never fails to deliver stellar graphics cards. And have been doing so for over a decade. From high end to budget solutions.

Lost their way as a CPU company. Hasn't competed with Intel for a long time.

u sure? budget solution? when was last time they released anything new lol.

[Tacitus]

I think the GPU division is fine.

I admit I was disappointed the 300 series is all rebrands, but the higher-end models remain relevant and the lower end remain great value.

If Fiji can beat the Titan then that'll be great, and if the cut-down versions offer 980-beating performance and in the cheapest version cost less than the 980 then it'll take the high end value position the 290 had.

Time shall tell.

[Sauron]

I don't care who's making the product if I feel it's good for the price. Right now the fiji chip seems to be absolutely fantastic, and if it performs as well as amd says it does the 980ti just got killed (at least at its current price point) bringing the titan x with it. The 980 never made any sense and if the air cooled fury is as fast as the water cooled one it will be worthless. They hit the spot with fiji. As for the 300 series, I'm not a great fan of them being largely rebrands, but since the 390x does seem to perform a decent bit better than the 290x (thanks perhaps to better memory) I can forgive the high power consumption if the price is right.

 

AMD cpus are very good for the price at the low end of the spectrum (meaning athlon IIs and APUs) but the FX lineup certainly isn't amazing. I hope zen is awesome, if nothing else so that intel gets a kick in their complacent butts and stop giving us the same quad core in half the space with an igpu I couldn't care less about.

[Humbug]

u sure? budget solution? when was last time they released anything new lol.

Yes I'm sure.

What do you mean when you say budget solution and released anything new? are you talking about CPUs or GPUs?

[Manny Calavera]

Yes I'm sure.

What do you mean when you say budget solution and released anything new? are you talking about CPUs or GPUs?

You are sure in something u even dont know.

 

They are selling 7850 for how many years now? 3 Generations of gpus.

This is not competitive at all. We dont get better gpu for money at new gen. 10$ maybe down, nothing else

[Godlygamer23]

The 7850 did not become the R9 270. Come on.

I meant 7870.

[Humbug]

You are sure in something u even dont know.

They are selling 7850 for how many years now? 3 Generations of gpus.

This is not competitive at all. We dont get better gpu for money at new gen. 10$ maybe down, nothing else

I am sure about my post.

Understand that AMD does not need anything more than these old GPUs in order to beat NVIDIA lower midrange on performance. That's why they rebrand. An old midrange GPU like the 7870 is all that AMD needs to outperform the 750ti Maxwell.