Is AMD doomed? It's a question on many people's lips, but is it a likely outcome or just the boiling pot of the internet leaping to a catastrophic conclusion? There's no doubt right now that AMD is trailing the competition in terms of finances, but there is still plenty of wiggle room and time for AMD to turn its ship around.
As many of you may know already, AMD took a huge $33 million hit last week in order to cancel production of of its upcoming 20nm processor designs. Focus is instead shifting to the future, with 14nm and 16nm FinFET production coming to the fore. With just over $800 million in the bank, AMD is treading a financial tightrope. $800 million might seem like plenty, but with the sort of cash being thrown around in the CPU and GPU markets, it's a drop in the sea. This, coupled with the flagship Radeon R9 Fury X benchmarks dropping shy of Nvidia's GeForce GTX 980 Ti, and it stands to reason that some people truly see AMD being bought by Microsoft as a very likely move.
While it's early days yet, it seems the more budget-oriented Radeon R9 Fury is generating a little more buzz, aided by its $549 price point and GTX 980-beating performance. This, combined with greater quality and more regular driver updates could see AMD gain crucial ground. It could make the Fury X more competitive against the GTX 980 Ti. We're seeing the early fruits of AMD's labour already with the Catalyst 15.7 drivers, but the hope is that this can continue in the coming months and years.
The elephant in the room for Nvidia is the High Bandwidth Memory on the Fiji GPU in the Fury models. AMD has got at least a year's head-start over Nvidia's introduction of HBM with Pascal, which could prove absolutely lethal to Nvidia if they unlocked the Fury X’s memory BIOS for enthusiast level overclocking.
Contemplating AMD's future and detailing its current product range is all well and good, but it's important to highlight just why it's important AMD remains a force in both of its markets. AMD's presence keeps the graphics and microprocessor markets competitive, forcing both Intel and Nvidia to offer prices that will fare at least as well against AMD’s offerings for the right price point (usually a slightly higher price). Without AMD to keep the other pair in check, we could see market stagnation accompanied by rising prices - lose/lose for everybody.
What do you think will happen? Microsoft does not seem like it will be willing to let AMD peter out, especially with AMD powering both Sony's PlayStation 4 and Microsoft’s own Xbox One. However, AMD as we know it could be changed forever if it were to accept Microsoft’s offer. It's difficult to ascertain the outcome, whether for better or for worse.
I personally don’t see it happening because AMD has proven it's a company of fierce independence, capable of extreme innovation despite losses. I also believe that its decision to roll out High Bandwidth Memory was a tactic to specifically regain them a stable foothold in the graphics market, while Zen will hopefully prove a boon in the processor market.
AMD's in tricky territory then, and a big question mark remains over the future of the company as a whole and its CPU and processor departments. It’s a valid question to GD'ers in particular. We're a community involved in all things PC gaming and technology. Your opinion can widely shape not just where your own money goes on your upgrade decisions but also recommendations to friends, family and acquaintances looking for their own PCs. It's a spiralling effect borne from consumer perception.
What do you think AMD's future holds in store? Would a Microsoft buyout be the best move? It's up for debate below!
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i personally think amd should of just stuck with cpu and never bought out ati back in the days they were good at cpus thats what they did now there into phones consoles making gpu now and there all over the place where nvidia is focusing on less areas and there keeping ahead because of that
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dude they are still good at CPUs... the fact that they have one architecture, which was really optimization dependent failed, does NOT mean they can NOT produce high-end architectures. The mistake of bulldozer is that it came out when mainstream software only used and BENEFITED from 1-2 cores and still does to this day. Games under DX11 do NOT benefit or barely benefit from more than 2 cores, AMD and Microsoft said it themselves.
They chose to make a lot of cores instead of stronger cores.
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Yea well business go down and up all the time besides don't they make the hardware for both consoles
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the graphic in the wii u is amd as well
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Well, let them release more bullsh¡t CPUs and it's clear where they're headed.
Their latest GPU is what...R9 Fury X? Outperformed by nVidia in PRICE, PERFORMANCE AND VRAM. Seriously,where do you expect this company to go with that?
Everyone was praising AMD for providing nearly equal-performing hardware for a lower price - look what they've done with Fury X and you'll see what's next for CPUs
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the first FX series was absolutely the greatest for a modest consumer. Intel had hardly nothing to counter that and the OC possibilities made them even more interesting. The last GPU is the Fury non X, ATM better than 980 for a few more bucks. Don't be so hasty in comments. "Mistakes" were made, but accomplishments too
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BS CPUS? are you sure not drunk at all? Because their CPU are equivelent of I5 and when people compare the FX 8xxx series cpus with I5 and tell us stories on how shiitied they get over but an average i5 never bottlenecks? How can this even make any sense to begin with?! Fanboyism always leads to false accusations and Intel just got a better Q2 2015 results then expected why is that happening because people blinded with lies always try to go with the wrong side and as for Fury GPUs they are more innovative with HBM then the efficient architecture ofNvidia
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tbh i'd like to think that nvidia released 980ti to compete with amd at cost therefore the price was quite low. So we should thank amd for maintaining competition in the market.
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the fury doesn't have vram it has hbm which is superior and more expensive to make so that is why the fury is so much. also the fx processors are still really good.. a i5 is $200 while a fx8320 is $150 and the performance is similar
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yeah, the i5 is slightly better but is 50 bucks more
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LOL! Yes it has VRAM. It just has HBM VRAM instead of GDDR5 VRAM. However it seems funny to me that nVidia can beat AMD's new tech with their old tech. nVidia's 980ti which is 384-bit 6GB GDDR5 VRAM GPU is still beating AMD's Fury X which is 4096-bit 4GB HBM VRAM GPU.
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fx 4350, fx 6300 and fx 83xx all have the same gaming performance.
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I don't really think that AMD can overcome Intel on the Cpu market seeing as Intel's cpu's are better optimised for games than Amd's .To change this it would require help from game developers.
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PCSX2 doesn't even like AMD CPUs, even the octacore ones. Hahaha
I'm a PCSX2 user BTW
Games just favor Intel CPUs.
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PCSX2 uses 2 cores.... even if you had 100000 cores it would NOT matter.
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what do you mean PCSX2 doesnt like AMD cause if by PCSX2 you mean the Playstation emulator why is that my pc runs all game played on it better then even the real thing what you might want to make sure is that your using the right plugins
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my computer run pcsx2 really well too. i don't struggle to play it
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Sorry, but anyone thinking that AMD is ever going to gain control of both GC's and CPU's is certified nuts. Just keeping it real.
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You don't believe that AMD has ever had the edge technically speaking? In terms of technology, they have always been a terrific competitor for intel and nvidia. Plus, don't forget that this is also a matter of business strategy which play a bigger part than we'd like to believe.
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And please, refrain from calling people "nuts" for expressing their opinion, they all have their argument, and valid ones for most I believe, just as I think you do for your own point of view.
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I am just pointing out the what fanboys refuse to see. I run an AMD card and I would like to see AMD do better, but I stick to my opinion. Anyone who truly believes that AMD can REgain (that makes you happier?) BOTH CPU and GC's is NUTS.
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And I think "nuts" is a pretty harmless word. No need to get all preachy about it.
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Brother Bookripper lost faith ?
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lol that is enough to make me listen to it in a loop
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I think he misread my article. It's not that AMD should or could or would ever control their markets more formidably, I was writing about its woes and how in the past AMD always crawled out of the most horrible financial situations with innovation and inventiveness on both CPU, GPU, APU and Server markets. Can they do it again?
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with HBM possibly
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AMD will rise . You just wait and see.
And when they do they`re gonna rule everything.
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funny, my muslim friends say the same thing :p
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your muslim friend said AMD will rise and rule the world?
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they think AMD will become a bird and fly all over the world
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Says a man with an intel CPU and an Nvidia GPU. :D
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says another man with an AMD rig
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Well, you can't rise if you haven't fallen.
AMD clearly hasn't fallen, YET.
They've just released Rx-300 series.
Let's just see how these goes.
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Well it hasn't really helped their stock price. It's just dropping since the release of the 300 series cards so from an investors point, it doesn't look too good for AMD. That's not me saying that, it's from an investors point of view.
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my article got this many views? Holy crap!!!!
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Because you're article is a debate. Hahahaha!!
I still have my HD 7790, haven't touched it since I bought my GTX 760.
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haha very true xD
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Cause controversy.
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i think there gona make a comback whit there new ZEN cpu's
In my eyes nvidia has better drivers / support for the games so i think Nvidia has crontrolled the gpu market
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Just asking. If i want to build a PC from abroad not in my country. Something like game-debate builder pc is it save it building a pc from gd? Will the parts delivered will not be broken? Will be there a guarantee?
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i know nothing about the delivery but there should be guarantee
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If AMD fails, PC gaming will fail
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If AMD fails there is no competetion for gpu and cpu
that means : no price drops to beat a other factory in price / quality
: Intel and Nvidia dont have reasons to make parts whit more performance to beat some one
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Yep, that was my point. But the upside is that there's always someone to fill up the empy market place
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If AMD fails...so depressing!
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https://youtu.be/fEJT-2pxFJQ?t=1h11m3s
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If you want AMD to survive then buy some AMD products and stop whining with your blue and green rigs
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why would they buy something they don't want?
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Because you will want green and blue in the future
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i want AMD to survive,but i will not buy something from AMD when there's something better with a similar price,it's not my fault they're having trouble,it's theirs from not putting out competitive products,and i will not buy something that isn't good just to support a company,if they want my money,they need to earn it.
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That's the problem they need money but they can't earn along with the way they are pinned down. I know they have to come out with a product that they deserve to earn income but at this rate they are not going to make it
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Well it's kind of a balance I think.
You should lean towards AMD because it's better for everyone, but not to the point of being ripped off.
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i hope they will make a brave move like price cut down ..
it will make the GPU "price to performace" better and at least it will reduce their losses ..
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You're right, as of now AMD looks like the skinny kid who will starve to death and Nvidia/Intel look like the fat kids who bully AMD
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I support AMD :P 3 of 4 pc's/laptops i have are from AMD
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Me too my father has one amd desktop/latop also my mother has a amd gpu in her laptop while my brother has full on amd laptop
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I hope so, i doubt ANYONE wants Intel/Nvidia as an only option ! Actually i would like to see 3rd competitor in CPU/GFX market, who do you think would be good 3rd player in this market ?
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some new african company m8
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IBM can be good they already got 7nm chips....
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And they are not x86, so they can NOT.
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during the late 90s Intel tried to get in the GPU business, but it was NOT profitable and they sustained it with their huge CPU profits, but when amd released the Athlon XP and Athlon x64 and intel started losing market share and money, they just made their GPUs integrated in the motherboards and that's how it all ended.
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AMD can, if the will
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Good it would be for us the consumers to see head to head race between amd and intel/nvidia... but unfortunately they are since few years running behind without catching up... and intel as nvidia are chilled and preparing for any surprise amd can come up with, intel/nvidia have the best position to always outplay amd.
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i wouldnt say that Nvidias position is ultra chilled.
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I would considering that nVidia has the drivers & software to make a 384-bit 6GB GDDR5 GPU perform as well as AMD's 4096-bit 4GB HBM GPU.
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plz stop posting we get it your a nvidia fanboy enough already grow up
how about i start listing all the shameful acts your nvidia company has bullied there way to become in the postion they are in
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Ah, if it isn't Alizeehibye once again complaining.. Seriously, all you do is complain. No wonder your reputation is -15 now.
Does it matter if he prefers Nvidia over Intel/AMD? You're telling him to grow up when in reality, you need to
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What? I used only AMD for many years until I realized that they are not worth the money saved. AMD is cheaper for a good reason & it isn't because they are trying to be nice to their customers
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Has AMD ever been above Intel or Nvidia in performance? The only thing they have is lower price cause they're not as good as Nvidia or Intel.
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Actually AMD did that quite often for their size.
die you ever here about Pentium 4 or Geforce Fx,
and Nvidia actually lost the fight aginst the 7000 (7970Ghz vs 680) and the 200 series (290x/290 vs 780Ti, te 780Ti solved that and got it back to tie)
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AMD was the way to go a decade back, both for CPU and GPU.
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A decade in this business might as well be in ancient Rome.
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I can't vote on this because to me it is all a big maybe. AMD has the potential to pull ahead next year with Zen CPUs & Greenland GPUs, but Intel & nVidia will be right on AMD's heels with their own new products to beat AMD's new stuff within just a few months of AMD's launch of new technology. As it is right now AMD is not in a good position yet, but they could be soon if their new tech is good.
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you do realize that Nvidia will only be able to keep the rate of improvement up for the next 7 years after that point the money they have to throw into their R&D deparment will be forced to shrink by 266% due to the limits place upon them
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You do realize that everything you just said is a total load of crap. It must be nice living on fantasy island.
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then of cause... theres the amd gpu drivers... nvidia gameworks... all those snags... its just really hard to make up ones mind when it comes to choosing the best hardware for the best rig... in this case... its rarely amd... :(
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it actually seems that Nvidias drivers are lagging in the last months and right now
380 beats 960,
390 beats 970,
390x beats 970 and comes REALLY close to the 980,
Fury beats the 980
980Ti beats Fury X
Fury X cf beats 980Ti sli
and below 200€/$ i also would suggest AMD CPUs in many cases.
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Out of the last 10 drivers from nVidia I have only had 1 that hurt my performance. However at least nVidia had another driver out to fix those issues within just a couple weeks. How long do AMD users have to wait for a new driver to fix issues introduced by the last? 3 months? 6 months?
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the following game driver updates after game released
GTA 5 AMD 35hrs vs nivdia 73 hrs but broken
Witcher 3 47 hrs but only cause nivdia held back access to hairwork source code VS niviada's 38hour then agian its a nvidia game
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sry but i cant say that i ever had any isue with AMD-drivers, not with the 290x nor with the A10, and i defenetly cant say that about Nvidias drivers.
Furthermore there were enoughh other problems , randome craches with chrome on every 900 card or the 980Ti with its microstutters.
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LMAO! Boy you guys are really grasping at straws trying to come up with any crazy made up crap you can. Your imaginationsite won't change the facts though
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totally made up:
https://www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/comments/36hrd4/35286_driver_kernel_crash_with_chrome/
https://www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/comments/3c8spt/msi_980_ti_driver_issues/
just google it if you dont believe me.
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https://www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/comments/3d8okb/question_about_980ti_driver/
https://www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/comments/3d7xtc/amyone_else_getting_driver_crashes/
it seems the drivers still arent supperior.
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You are posting stuff from reddit as fact. LMAO!!!
You can post all of the links you want, but it doesn't change the reality that nVidia can do more with less. A nVidia 384-bit GDDR5 GPU keeping up with an AMD 4096-bit HBM GPU says it all. That is the power of good drivers compared to a lack of good drivers.
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strange that the whole Nvidia subreddit is lieng about bad drivers and neraly every second post is question how to fix that, sry but if a comunity of over 9000 people is reporting about bad drivers in 40% of their post than the drivers are bad.
its right that Fury X is equal oor a bit worse than the 980 Ti, but a) its completly new technology somethin Nvidia hasnt done for ages.
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look up who had the first Gddr5 card, who had the first Gddr4 card, who had the first 28nm card, who had the first 40nm card and so on. Nvidia basically never did that first jump, and look how they improved over time.
IMHO Fury X will get better over time, and even if it doesnt in Multi-GPU Fury X beats 980Ti, so ultra-high-end its AMD.
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Wow... You are trying way too hard. I went to some of those links & there were only a few people reporting those problems & with a bunch of people not having any problems at all trying to help those few figure out their problems. Also who goes first doesn't matter as much as who does it better. AMD is going first now & still can't keep up. What are they going to do when Pascal launches?
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umm... i remember the athlon days... then intell brought in hyperthreading... well... honestly i tried sticking with the amd cpu but... here in south africa its hard to go out and buy an amd cpu... retailers hardly/if ever stock amd cpus
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HT on Pentium 4 was a failure imho, it lowered the performance on quite a bit of occasions. Their was a reason the C2D/Q didn't have HT anymore, and Intel brought a more optimized version on Lynfield
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Sick and tried of people that pick on AMD for being not as good as intel or Nvidia
do none of you people understand that AMD is a Single company that is produceing 3 companys worth of products you try to better intel sure as hell cant
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No, people do not even get this. AMD does CPUs, GPUs, APUs, servers and more. And for this diversity in their company they are as a result, being attacked from every single side for each of the markets they have even a small hand in. AMD has made it very far and the competition has not been honest against them. People ought to read about how Intel and Nvidia alone had dealt some serious blows to AMD that was pretty underhanded. I'm not an AMD fanboy but I feel for them. I always felt like they were an honest at least and I was always bothered by Nvidia's marketing tactics and Intel prices
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Yeah, like when Nvidia purposely made it so that gameworks would reduce performance on AMD GPUs. Quite passive aggressive of them.
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Why do people say that? nVidia builds software & drivers that works best with their hardware. That is all there is to it. No different than when AMD created the Mantle API for their GPUs & CPUs. Both companies do it, but only as an innovation, & not as a way to hurt the other party.
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sry but compare it directly with TressFX, there is no performance difference between AMD and Nvidia, but with every Nvidia software there is.
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Tress FX hits nVidia cards harder than it does AMD cards. I know because I do have Tomb Raider. Nice try though
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show me,
all i found is the exact opposite:
https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/36afjt/what_is_the_difference_between_amd_tressfx_and/
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?p=37552642
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You want the reason why AMD performs better at Higher resolution? Their Drivers have more CPU overhead on DX11 causing their performance to be more CPU at lower resolutions.
Both AMD and Nvidia have good drivers these days, altough Nvidia does a bit better job at some things
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Show you what? Again you can't rely on reddit. Damn... you are so funny. :D
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sry but you cant show any evidence that this could be wrong,and both comunitys share this opinion, show me one unbiased comunity that say something else. unless that its about 170 opinions that say that Nvidia does that with hairworks and that AMD doesnt do that with Tress FX.
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Again show me something, a benchmark would be the best, using the most up to date drivers and the newest vesions of both technologies and lets see what does hit performance more on what card , sadly i havent seen something like that, just these Discussions,where Nvidia seems to be the bad guy, and many posts about how badly hairworks runs over all and exspecially on AMD cards...
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Tress FX drops about 20fps on my rig when playing Tomb Raider. I go from 75+FPS with it off to 55+FPS with it on. This is with FXAA. If you want to see my benchmarks then search through my screenshots on Steam. My user name is the same there as here. I am not going to waste my time going through them all just for you. I have everything set to public so knock yourself out