Raja Koduri, Radeon Technologies Boss, leaves AMD to Join Intel

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Raja can share all the secretes he likes but Intel cannot use AMD's IP, all Intel have is nVidia's old obsolete IP, i'm sure Raja convinced Intel he can do this and that with it but even with AMD's IP portfolio his graphics tech was lack lustre.

They seemed to have forgotten that Jim Keller when he joined Tesla,not only hired some ex-AMD people,but it apparently lead to this:

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/20/tesla-building-an-ai-chip-for-its-cars-with-amd.html

AMD collaborating with Tesla on making a new chip. This probably indicates its more likely Intel will work closer with AMD,not only in licensing IP,but developing some aspects of the physical GPU development.

After all if Intel already had a decent uarch already they wouldn't be using a custom AMD chip for their high end laptop chip,so it looks like a different direction to what they were doing before.

If anything,as the chap over at HardOCP said,Intel has let go of a lot of its graphics related engineers.

So that indicates to me,they intend to either:
1.)License and use AMD base technology to implement their GPUs. AMD developes the base uarch and Intel implements their own chips based on it different to AMD.
2.)Intel buys RTG so gets all the engineers and IP.
3.)Intel buys part of RTG and shares in R and D costs.
4.)AMD developes the graphics parts of Intel CPUs.
5.)Intel developes their own base technlogy and design.

The last one has not worked as well as they probably expected,hence why the sudden change it seems.

 

[JediFragger]

This seems far more likely, the chances are AMD are licencing some of their GPU tech to Intel and Intel for their part think its a good idea to hire the guy who knows the tech behind the IP.

In that sense then let's hope it benefits both companies against their common enemy.

 

[shankly1985]

This seems far more likely, the chances are AMD are licencing some of their GPU tech to Intel and Intel for their part think its a good idea to hire the guy who knows the tech behind the IP.

This is what am thinking tbh. Intel want AMD Graphics, Raja Knows AMD Graphics... See what i'm seeing here? I think this is a joint collaboration between both companies.

 

[Martini1991]

Disagree! They released at RP Price £450 and then later want up high in price! they are now finally getting back to where they should be.

All prices have went up not just AMD, but also Nvidia! This is the market demand kicking in... AMD could not have released VEGA at a worst time for Mining crazy! And it didn't help them either with VEGA being rumored to be a Mining Monster. You even had OCUK staff releasing GPUs onto the forums early to stop miners buying them all up!

Once stock was gone, prices and demand went up!
Simple as that.

The pricing is AMD's. There was literally zero demand for Vega at the £500+ pricing and yet it didn't lower for weeks. Some SKU's went days without any sales.

Also, the packs created the higher pricing, as AMD used higher pricing to offset miners, they wanted that (It was only stand alone that was sold at the "cheap" pricing, and that's the case now.)

The pricing's still pretty crap for Vega. While I didn't mind the price I paid, I only got it because I have Freesync. Objectively I could have gotten an AIB 1080 which is a better GPU buy.

I don't know why I'm even trying to tell you. You only care for the pro AMD slant.

EDIT : The 5870 was a launch in which supply/demand was a genuine issue. They launched at £300 but the demand far far outstripped the supply, and it was constant drip feed and high prices. V64 in comparison was just sat on the shelves at prices it wasn't selling for.

EDIT 2 : Also, isn't it a big issue where at the lower prices AMD is making a loss on the cards?

 

[Martini1991]

This is what am thinking tbh. Intel want AMD Graphics, Raja Knows AMD Graphics... See what i'm seeing here? I think this is a joint collaboration between both companies.

It's far more likely that Raja got sick at RTG and Intel have given him "fat stacks".

Joint collaborating isn't the term I'd use for an employee who went on "leave" for weeks, then extended that leave, and then left permanently.

 

[spoffle]

nVidia look fine from where I'm sitting. Market leaders with their hands in various pies, all the way to their elbows....


Both of those can't be true.

The truth is that AMD's top-end perform like nV's mid-range. Hence why nV are selling mid-range for top-end money, and have invented at least two new price tiers above top-end...

Yes they can both be true. It's contextual. The Vega chip is absolutely a high end chip on paper. It's very big, complicated and expensive to make and extremely powerful. It has the hallmarks of being a high end chip, where something went wrong.

They absolutely will have been targeting GP102 during design, but the end result didn't meet expectations, at least in gaming performance. In everything but gaming, it's very fast.

 

[humbug]

They seemed to have forgotten that Jim Keller when he joined Tesla,not only hired some ex-AMD people,but it apparently lead to this:

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/20/tesla-building-an-ai-chip-for-its-cars-with-amd.html

AMD collaborating with Tesla on making a new chip. This probably indicates its more likely Intel will work closer with AMD,not only in licensing IP,but developing some aspects of the physical GPU development.

After all if Intel already had a decent uarch already they wouldn't be using a custom AMD chip for their high end laptop chip,so it looks like a different direction to what they were doing before.

If anything,as the chap over at HardOCP said,Intel has let go of a lot of its graphics related engineers.

So that indicates to me,they intend to either:
1.)License and use AMD base technology to implement their GPUs. AMD developes the base uarch and Intel implements their own chips based on it different to AMD.
2.)Intel buys RTG so gets all the engineers and IP.
3.)Intel buys part of RTG and shares in R and D costs.
4.)AMD developes the graphics parts of Intel CPUs.
5.)Intel developes their own base technlogy and design.

The last one has not worked as well as they probably expected,hence why the sudden change it seems.

Nice... that will help AMD

 

[opethdisciple]

Thing is, AMD making a deal with Intel to combat Nvidia is like making a deal with the devil.

Only thing here is there are two devils in the room.

 

[melmac]

The 780TI was released because the 290X was faster than the GTX Titan and i'm not "making it sound like that" its what i'm categorically saying to you, you dissagree, i don't give a #### but you are talking nonsense in your augments to assert it. nonsense like this...

The 780, GTX Titan and 780TI are all the same chip. the are all from the same Quadro chip.



They still had the same 2816 cores, they are the full chip with the compute power reduced in the BIOS, that doesn't make them a different chip.

nVidia themselves said there would be no consumer graphics card faster than the GTX Titan, until the 290X came along....

You are the one talking nonsense this whole argument. First you were adamant that the 780 was released after the 780TI until we corrected you on that mistake.

Now you are saying that the 780, GTX Titan and 780TI are all from the same Quadro chip. HAHA, really? There is no such thing as Quadro chips. Quadros are just types of cards based on whatever chip Nvidia use to make them. The Quadro K5000 was built using the GK104 chip, which is the same chip used to make the GTX 680.

But, I knew what you meant, but, it's still wrong they aren't based on the same chip. The GK110 was used to make the Titan and the first rev of the 780 cards, also the K20 Tesla cards. The GK110B was used to make the 780 Rev 2, the 780TI, The Quadro K6000 and the Titan Blacks. Those are the facts.

I never said they were a different chip because of the compute power. You made reference to the selling the cards as cut price Quadros and Nvidia would never have done it if AMD's 290x was slower than the Titan. The 780Ti was never going to be a full quadro performance, the FP64 was physically cut, it wasn't just disabled in bios or with drivers. And besides, most of the reason the Quadro cards are so expensive isn't the actual price of the card, it's the software support and specialised driver support you get. The Titan Black is the fully enabled card most like the Quadro K6000.

It was in July, when the GK110B was seen with the announcement of the K6000. It was after that the rumours and sightings of a fully enabled gaming card based on the same chip started occurring. There were pictures, arguments in the forums about performance etc, even discussions about what it would be called. Nvidia even announced the 780Ti in the middle of October, before the 290X was launched.

You just can't seem to get it into your head that the 780TI was coming anyway. They might have held it back (Or brought it forward) depending on what the 290x was like. They didn't release the card just because the 290x was faster, no matter what you say. It's no problem sourcing links to show what I have said. About the Gk110B, the rumours, the sightings etc. Have you any evidence or proof that Nvidia somehow conjured up the 780TI and got it shipped to retail in less than 3 weeks?

Nvidia totally ruined the launch of the 290x/290 cards with the perfectly timed release of the 780TI. Prices of the 780 dropped because of it's release and it was faster than the 290x and more widely available. ​

 

[opethdisciple]

Seems he's just joined Intel.

"Chief architect of a newly formed team called the "Core and Visual Computing Group" and will also act as General Manager"

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Nvidia even announced the 780Ti in the middle of October, before the 290X was launched.​

https://www.anandtech.com/show/7433/nvidia-announces-geforce-gtx-780-ti

Although AMD’s forthcoming Radeon R9 290X has yet to launch, NVIDIA has seemingly decided to go ahead and announce their 290X counter product ahead of time. With that in mind, as the final announcement of NVIIDA’s Montreal game showcase NVIDIA has briefly announced their upcoming high-end gaming card, the GeForce GTX 780 Ti.

https://www.techpowerup.com/192789/nvidia-announces-geforce-gtx-780-ti-to-counter-radeon-r9-290x

https://www.anandtech.com/show/7465...-gtx-780770-price-cuts-gtx-780-ti-launch-date


https://www.extremetech.com/gaming/...deep-price-cuts-in-response-to-amd-r9-barrage

Every single news outlet mentioned the GTX780TI was a pre-emptive strike on the R9 290X.

The GTX780 price cuts also happened after the R9 290X launched and before the R9 290 itself launched(they were launched within a few weeks of each other). Since Nvidia dropped the price of the GTX780 so quickly(and it even had some games included),the R9 290 then undercut the new GTX780 price.

Edit!!

From the TH review of the GTX780TI:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/geforce-gtx-780-ti-review-benchmarks,review-32820.html

Competition has a way of altering perspective, though. AMD’s Radeon R9 290X launch wasn’t perfect. However, it taught us that the Hawaii GPU, properly cooled, can humble Nvidia’s mighty Titan at a much lower price point.

Not to be caught off-guard, Nvidia was already binning its GK110B GPUs, which have been shipping since this summer on GeForce GTX 780 and Titan cards. The company won’t get specific about what it was looking for, but we have to imagine it set aside flawless processors with the lowest power leakage to create a spiritual successor for GeForce GTX 580. Today, those fully-functional GPUs drop into Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 780 Ti.

 

[Kaapstad]

I fail to see what Raja Koduri gains by joining intel.

He had a good job at AMD, what ever happened to things like loyalty.

 

[mid_gen]

I fail to see what Raja Koduri gains by joining intel.

He had a good job at AMD, what ever happened to things like loyalty.

A lot of money, I would imagine.

I can only see Intel licensing AMD tech....taking on a competitors tech leader and then trying to keep away the lawsuits is a nightmare that I'm sure Intel doesn't need. Pretty sure he's going to be integrating AMD ip into Intel kit.

I hope (and so does my AMD stock :S)

 

[jubei]

I just can't imagine why Intel would want to hire this guy after Vega :/ like throwing money down the drain.

 

[Hotwired]

I just can't imagine why Intel would want to hire this guy after Vega :/ like throwing money down the drain.

Are you really thinking that because Vega wasn't good enough to satisfy gamers that everyone involved was incompetent?

Because that's not how it works.

 

[mid_gen]

Are you really thinking that because Vega wasn't good enough to satisfy gamers that everyone involved was incompetent?

Because that's not how it works.

Indeed. Intel isn't getting into GPUs for the gaming market, it's getting into it for the machine learning and other commercial applications market, before nVidia squeezes them out.

 

[4K8KW10]

Both of those can't be true.

The truth is that AMD's top-end perform like nV's mid-range. Hence why nV are selling mid-range for top-end money, and have invented at least two new price tiers above top-end...

You just repeated what I said !!

 

[ubersonic]

But how has VEGA been underwhelming?

It hasn't been, however some people were expecting 1080ti performance for 1070 money and 1050ti power draw so ended up really disappointed, they then blamed their disappointment on AMD not their outlandish expectations, then became so tunnel visioned on the hate they couldn't see any of the positive points or how it's not just a good card but the better card for a large number of buyers.

Are you really thinking that because Vega wasn't good enough to satisfy gamers that everyone involved was incompetent?

Because that's not how it works.

If it was then Nvidia would have sacked Jensen 10 times over by now XD

 

[4K8KW10]

If it was then Nvidia would have sacked Jensen 10 times over by now XD

He is a co-founder, owner, president and CEO of the business unit. They can't do that.

Even more, once upon a time, AMD approached Nvidia first in order to ask them if those would like to sell their business. The aforementioned guy put some unacceptable conditions like becoming the new CEO of AMD... and AMD were forced to buy ATi...

 

[mid_gen]

He is a co-founder, owner, president and CEO of the business unit. They can't do that.

The shareholders can do whatever they want, doesn't matter how many titles he has.