This is huge news. CPU manufacturer AMD (the big competitor of Intel) has bought video card giant ATI (the big competitor of nVidia) for $5.4 Billion: http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=3367&tag=nl.e622
What does this mean? Some people are thinking AMD will use ATI’s technology to make a single GPU/CPU combination chip.
GPU: Graphics Processing Unit
CPU: Central Processing Unit
Let’s expand on the history of things a little bit. AMD has been Intel’s biggest competitor for years now, but they have never investing technology in graphic processors – even basic on-board models. They simply have not bothered. Their current CPU’s are arguably the fastest and most efficient on the market. Dell has an AMD line as do just about every PC manufacturer on the market.
ATI has essentially the same reputation as AMD. They are generally treated as second in popularity when put next to nVidia’s graphic boards. Much in the same way that people think of Intel and AMD. This is despite the fact that they generally have a faster graphic board than nVidia. This is not always true, sometimes Intel and nVidia have the more powerful chipsets. The main factor is that ATI and AMD sell their chips at a lower price than Intel and nVidia, based on name recognition and being “second” to these larger companies.
So, you have two companies that are essentially thought of as the alternative to more expensive product lines – merging. I love it, and I hope our new company will hopefully not re-brand into a string of nonplus initials – I can’t imagine anything less recognizable than ATIAMD. Maybe Smartel or MoreIntel. Just an idea…
One thing that’s important to keep in mind when thinking about upgraded graphic and central processors is what drives them and why we need them. Games. Computer games are driving technology right now. Nothing pushes the limits of hardware like explosions and 3D environments. Chances are, your kid (or 31 year old) is the real reason technology is moving forward.
