EggXpert

Hey Eggxperts,

Just like we have done with Nvidia and Intel, we have been in contact with AMD and they are ready to answer your questions! From now until June 15th feel free to post any questions you may have for them and we will compile the list from this thread to send to them for answering. For this particular Q&A, please only post questions related to AMD Graphics. So if you have any questions in mind for them, feel free to post them up!

Enjoy

SJ & Your Eggxpert Team

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How much of a performance increase are we looking at for the 4870 gddr5 over the HD 3870? Will two 3870 , which retail for about 170$ each, perform better then a single 4870 gddr5? Basically, would it be better to buy a single 4870 for about the same price as two 3870s or go with the xfire?

Also, with hybrid crossfire, will there be the ability to crossfire a 4870 with a 3870? 

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I'd like some more details on why your stream processors in your GPUs are so great in numbers, but are clocked not only half as much as NVIDIA's GPUs, but also result in your GPUs tending to have less performance...Why does AMD Graphics have GPUs with 320 stream processors, exactly?

Also, doesn't having such a large number of stream processors result in the GPU using having a large amount of energy usage?

I'll have more questions later, as they pop into my head...

Respectfully,

PROACEX1

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By Anonymous, 1929: "See the happy Moron. He doesn't give a d***. I wish I were a Moron-My word! Perhaps I am..."
By Mazer Rackham: "Early to bed and early to rise," Mazer Intoned, "makes a man stupid and blind in the eyes."

(Statement) As someone who interviewed AMD as well as Ati  at Comdex as well as E-3 and CES in the early and mid 2000's. I personally noted a level of arrogance during those interviews as well as a tendency to bash Intel and/or NVIDIA. When I interviewed these other companies Ati or AMD were never mentioned so the competitor bashing was not recriprical.

(Question 1) Do you think that perhaps you got overly complaicent and perhaps that is why you seem to be behind the 8 ball now? I say this as someone who wants you to be competitive as we need competition to drive inovation and keep costs and prices reasonable.

(Question 2) My second question is, What have you done with regards to testing to minimize the reliability reductions that come with the RoHS initiative wherby lead free solder in fact requires significently higher assembly temperatures (shortening chip and capacitor as well as substrate life) , reduces ductility and incures dendridic tin wisker issues. Have you increased testing and tightned down on your EMS companies to overcome the above as well as other lead free reliability issues?

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Asus Commando, QX6700@2.93, 4GB Corsair PC28500 Dom, Tt Armor case, BFG 1KW PSU, BFG 8800GTX OC, 2 Raptors in RAID 0 for OS and Apps & 2 Raptors in SATA for music and graphic files and a WD7500AAKS (.75Tb) for large files, video files and back up, X-Fi, 2 Samsung monitors 245t and 244t's @ 1920 X 1200, Plextor opticals, Aerocool, Zalman, Etc. Vista Ultimate SP-1

I want to know what is the real benefit of acquiring ATI.

if it is a strategy , when will AMD/ATI release (CPU+GPU)?

Is the future of high-end graphics beyond the capabilities of expansion cards? (e.g. GPU sockets on motherboards, GDDR slots on motherboards)

How is it that I look at an AMD graphics card and see so many cool things (GDDR4, fast core speed, many core processors, higher bit level, DX10.1), yet most of AMD's cards are inferior to Nvidia's. I don't pretend to understand how graphics cards work, but why don't you run the memory and shader speeds faster? Even Nvidia's lowest cards are running at  much higher memory and shader speeds than AMD's cards, and it shows in the performance. What are they doing that you guys can't/won't do?

One difference between other processors and AMD processors is the core clock. Does AMD plan on increasing core clock from 200MHz any time soon?

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Does AMD plan on stepping up their multi-core CPU's? and if so, when will we be seeing any information on these?

 Straying from the hardware, does DAAMIT plan to keep affiliating Ruby with their GPUs? will we see another character any time soon?

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http://steamcommunity.com/groups/Broke

If and/or when you (AMD) release a CPU with a built in GPU will the said GPU have a set of dedicated GDDR Ram or will it run for off the general machine ram?

I ask this question because there are some first look pictures of what is to be an Intel Nehalem motherboard on the web right now that show a CPU socket with what seems to be GDDR around it.  This would leave me to speculate that intel will include dedicated GDDR ram with whatever integrated GPU setup they plan to include with Nehalem. This realization has called into question what I have always though a GPU integrated into a CPU capable of. I have always envisioned a GPU integrated into a CPU to more or less the same kind of video processor that you would find in a northbridge chipset that has integrated graphics.

So now my question for you AMD is want are your ambitions for the hardware design your fusion processor?

Does AMD expect their fusion processor to be something that will interest the enthusiast market (like a dedicated graphics card) or the value/bussiness market (like the on board chipset graphics)?

Also would the a fusion processor with an integrated GPU be able to work with other dedicated graphics cards or even Crossfire to continue to build on the computers over all graphical power or even work like Nvidia's Hybrid SLI which would allow a computer to save power and just run of the Fusion GPU when thats all you need? Or will a computer only be allowed to run one or the other and no parallel processing?

Reactor89 

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Those that say they know everything, may lose everything they know.

Are there any plans to support open source operating systems (Linux)? Soon after I switched to Linux I had to buy a nvidia card due to the lack of driver support from ATI. I have never bought a computer with ATI card or a separate ATI card since  then. I think the Linux community is growing and it consists of many enthusiast computer users. Making drives is not such a big ask in my opinion. It prevents users from hacking drivers and trying to get things to work and when they do not, the company gets bad rep.

My second question is similar to what others have asked. What are the plans for future Phenoms? will AMD be looking at the Intel 'skulltrail' like application with two quad core processors on a motherboard? why do AMD processors have lower L2/L3 cache than the corresponding Intel ones. I may sound naiive but having good numbers at least on papers helps drive sales.

Two part question but both are related: 

Why when you are about to release a new car do you over hype it so much it is a disappointment after the card is tested?  Also why is the initial pricing of your newly released cards not in line with what is currently on the market for equal performance?

It seems to me if you set proper expectations for your products you would have more sales when they are released, and less disappointment.  (I know other companies over hype as well, that is not a reason to do it) 

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If i buy 2 4870x2, can I Crossfire them together ? or the motherboard only support 4GPUs only?

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A nuke wasn't enough, metador is even better

I really liked the 780G/SB700 mobos, and so have my clients, will there be an HD4XXX integrated video? Knowing the HD3200 was built from the HD2400, will a discrete 3XXX level be implemented in the next chipset, or dare I say, skipped up to the 4XXX (LOL). It would also be advantageous to widen the bridge on the discrete card that can be added for hybird crossfire, beyond a low-profile. This will help bridge the gap between Gaming and HTPC boxes. yes, some of us want the best of both worlds. 

So, beyond what I'd like to see in my dream board, will there be a higher performing mobo coming - and if so - when? And will any of these incorporate a bit or piece or two of my dream board?

Penewah!

My question has to do with the drivers since that seams to be most people's complaint (including mine) when it comes to your video cards.

The drivers are huge,  buggy, include or force inclusion of things it shouldn't (.Net).  Does AMD even recognize or see this as a problem and what is being done to correct this?