{"id":228,"date":"2007-06-11T13:21:00","date_gmt":"2007-06-11T11:21:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-06-06T11:48:15","modified_gmt":"2011-06-06T09:48:15","slug":"the-chips-are-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/hardware\/228-the-chips-are-down.html","title":{"rendered":"The chips are down"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the two main protagonists fighting a very public battle over which product was the faster and whether the amount of GHz each chip ran at was an accurate reflection of the true performance of the computer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Luckily that madness has subsided to such a point that for almost every computer buyer – outside high-end gamers and those who edit graphics and films for a living and people decoding the human genome – the debate on which processor to get is largely over.<\/span><\/p>\n

What’s now driving the performance of computers is largely the amount of memory on the machine (RAM), the size of its hard drives and the capabilities of its graphics processor.<\/span><\/p>\n

Visiting SA on a whirlwind trip earlier this month, AMD CEO Hector Ruiz explained that the current move away from an obsession with speed has opened the door for PC manufacturers to focus the attention of consumers more on the functions of the system rather than its specifications.<\/span><\/p>\n

Says Ruiz: “In the sector of the market for what we call ‘all you need computing’ the focus for the consumer is on the use of the computer, not its actual specifications.” That’s the scenario someone looking to play computer games will look for – one that’s designed for that purpose. Someone with lots of music and films would be looking for adequate storage space and someone with space constraints would focus on a specific form factor, such as a notebook or something similar to Apple’s iMac.<\/span><\/p>\n

“We’re interested in making people feel good about their computers, but we rely on the PC manufacturers – original equipment manufacturers in industry parlance – to bring the innovation to the table,” Ruiz says.<\/span><\/p>\n

He hit out at larger rival Intel, accusing it of putting its brand above that of its partners. He added that from an AMD perspective the focus wasn’t on building AMD as the brand of choice but rather allowing the manufacturer to take centre stage.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ruiz explained that from a processor perspective AMD is going to continue to integrate more functionality into the chip. That will enable the company’s partners to further cut the cost of the systems they manufacture.<\/span><\/p>\n

An existing example of that is how AMD had built the memory controller into its current range of processors. The memory controller is the part of a system that regulates how and when the processor, which is the brain of the computer, talks to the memory.<\/span><\/p>\n

Traditionally, that’s been a separate chip in the computer – and still is on Intel systems. However, by integrating that capability the company has been able to add performance but also to cut costs for its manufacturing partners. <\/span><\/p>\n

The next step, says Ruiz, is to build a chip with built-in graphics capabilities. Most computers sold currently generate the images you see on the screen through a graphics processor that’s built into the computer, as opposed to a separate graphics card that can be upgraded at will and be more expensive than the rest of the computer. Ruiz says that building those capabilities directly into the CPU will enable users to get very realistic images on their computers without having to cough up for an expensive graphics card. AMD’s acquisition of graphics card manufacturer ATI last year puts it in pole position to deliver that kind of integration. <\/span><\/p>\n

The net effect for consumers is that they’ll continue to see lower prices for computers able to increasingly provide more functions. <\/span><\/p>\n

AMD has an uphill battle in SA, because Intel has spent the past 10 years wooing local users and manufacturers over to its side. However, AMD is establishing a stronger presence in SA and is looking to grow its market share by 1% per quarter from its current 10%.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Comments<\/a><\/p>\n

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IF YOU WERE in the market for a personal computer just a few years ago you could have spent many sleepless nights agonising over exactly which one you should buy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hardware"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}