AMD and ATI: Happily Married

It's official: AMD has bought ATI for $5.4 BILLION!
While I run both of these companies products in my computer, I am slightly worried of the outcomes of this deal. Discuss!

Linky:
http://www.cbc.ca/story/business/national/2006/07/24/ati-amd.html
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&refer=&sid=aajbR.zAAw98
http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/24/amd-buying-ati-for-5-4-billion/#comments
http://hardware.slashdot.org/hardware/06/07/24/1148238.shtml

 

It could be a good thing. They never really competed with eachother price wise as it was so prices are likely to stay the same. I see more optimised CPUs and GPUs as they take the best of both their technologys and start to merge them into more efficient and faster chips.

This could ensure that the gaming option to go for in the future is an AMD/ATi powered rig which has already been true for the past year or two.

Initially it could slow the release of new products as they will likely try to incorporate their shared technologys and that will take more time.

 

I think its a good idea for both AMD and ATI. Think of it kind of like a SuperGroup. Who knows maybe someday Google will buy AMD and theyll rename their corporation to, "Bill Gates can suck our penis'" or B.G.C.S.O.P.-soft... or maybe "MicroHard".

 

Meh.

AMD probably got ATi to realize cheap chipsets and integrated video a la Intel. It's why Intel's got such a strong grip on the current office/budget desktop/notebook market because it's cheaper to get all your things (Processor, Chipet/Motherboard, Video) from one supplier. I can see why AMD want's a piece of the action because Intel is virtually the only player in there compared to AMD/ATi/SiS/ViA.

As for dedicated mid and high end GPU's, they'll probably keep doing things the way they were.

 

Prepare for some innovative products like GPUs integrated into CPUs. They aren't going to be very powerful, but will work better than integrated into chipset ones. ATI also could benefit from cutting edge manufacturing processes once AMD has capacity for them.

 

aslong as they dont try to shove a radeon down my throat i wouldnt care, and then id probly buy a intel next time

 

There was a time I can remember when technology was moving incredibly fast.

Why was it moving incredibly fast?

Competition. There were not two, but THREE companies in the CPU market, way too many in the chipset market, and an ungodly horde in the video card market!

Now, we've got what... Three companies that control Video and Central processing? Oh, and chipsets, too! That's a lot of the computer hardware market, bundled into three companies. If the market doesn't stay competetive, we're all going to get shafted.

 

I've always liked the AMD/ATI combo and hated any other combo. This could be good if AMD doesn't fuck with the prices and if they 'tweak' the RMA department a bit ( two fucking weeks to get a video card? Gimme a fucking break! )

 

Yeah, now even better when I get a new PC

 

Might be good for AMD and ATi, but it's not good for the market...

Niarbeht is right, this doesn't really look that good. What happens if, say, AMD decides it's only going to be ATi compatible? Intel sure as hell isn't going to pick up the slack in the gaming market, and NVidia will suffer. This isn't going to lead to innovation, it's simply going to lead to monopolies.

 

Yay more anti-trust law suits!

Luckily I am an AMD - ATI fan at the moment, nvidia and intels just plainly suck for gaming ^_^

 

Muhahha, that doubled ATI's company value... GG stock :p

ATI is canadian based so im happy... My "Loonie" Is 0.87 of your American dollar... a month ago it was 0.92 *shakes fist* god dang it...

 

It could be worse. AT&T could be re-building the Death Star.

Oh.

Wait.

THEY ARE.

 

I thought that was Time Warner and the MAFIAA....

 

The "Death Star" is a reference to AT&T's logo, which looked like the Death Star from Star Wars. Before AT&T got split up into the various Bell companies (Bell South, Pacific Bell) and the AT&T long-distance provider, it was referred to as the "Death Star". Then, the "Death Star" got blown up.

Now, AT&T is rebuilding the Death Star. They've already got a large number of the Bell companies merged with the long-distance carrier.

Argh.

 

Wait, so they got split up, and now they're re-merging the companies they got split into? How are they getting away with this?

Christ, I'm tired of all these communication monopolies.

 

Good question. probably because noone seems to care these days. That's definately what's happening though.

 

To be truthful, it does help to advance things when only one company is in control. It usually means the networks will be made more efficient and such. However, when there's a monopoly, prices usually get jacked through the roof. Thus, it's the responsibility of the government to wait until the monopoly's made themselves efficient, and has started jacking prices, to split them (instead of splitting them right away).

 

Well, that's a little less disheartening. I'm still really dismayed as to how much power communication lobbies have in the government, though.

 

The FTC doesn't listen to lobbies, I don't think. Only members of Congress.