AMD Layoffs

[legolouman]

I've kind of been out of the loop on mobile chips lately, but have been looking at buying a new laptop... are the "APU's" the chips that contain both a process and a GPU?  And they are good?  I'm looking in the $600 or less range, but can only find integrated graphics on the Intel side with those, and decent dedicated GPUs on the AMD side.  So I like the looks of the AMD offerings on paper, but I am just concerned about the CPUs themselves - power usage, actual processing power compared to the i3/i5's, etc.  And what's the difference between A6/A8/A10?

I have a laptop with AMD A10 processor and it has an integrated graphics 6620G. A6/A8 and A10 I believe differ in what graphics card integrated into them.
My laptop also has a dedicated 6650 and what I love about amd apus is that you can crossfire them. 

Actually, each different CPU has a different integrated GPU model, not just the different series cpus.

[underminer]

Does the crossfire help?  I had more trouble than it was worth trying to get a performance boost out of the llano.  For one thing the best card that could crossfire with the apu was a 6670 (I've sold this card) but I wasn't impressed.  I like the "free" gpu though.  I can run the integrated gpu as if it were a video card all of its own but it takes up no space in the case...

[SaintDevil]

Does the crossfire help?  I had more trouble than it was worth trying to get a performance boost out of the llano.  For one thing the best card that could crossfire with the apu was a 6670 (I've sold this card) but I wasn't impressed.  I like the "free" gpu though.  I can run the integrated gpu as if it were a video card all of its own but it takes up no space in the case...

I don't know about mining performance, but for gaming it gives me quite a good boost. I was always a fan of nvidia cards for gaming, but a laptop apu with gpu feels quite powerful. And they just released their newer series of apus too. I just wish my laptop didn't have the damn 1377 resolution.

[underminer]

My friend just bought one with the new chips and it is coming in the mail anyday now.  I am going to show him how to mine in his spare time and we will see if he can make enough coin to play for plex and play eve with me, lol.  Now that he has bought this computer (his other just got stolen) he will be very poor for a long time.  Can let you guys know what kind of mhs it is and what the specs are sometime next week if anyone is interested.

[crazyates]

Newegg got the Desktop Piledrivers in stock, and also coincidentally dropped the price of the Bulldozer CPUs. I picked up a 8120 for $140, paid for with a gift card from btcbuy.info, of course. GC showed up in 12 hours, and the CPU should be here tomorrow. 

[SaintDevil]

Newegg got the Desktop Piledrivers in stock, and also coincidentally dropped the price of the Bulldozer CPUs. I picked up a 8120 for $140, paid for with a gift card from btcbuy.info, of course. GC showed up in 12 hours, and the CPU should be here tomorrow. 

Their price went ridiculously down, I wish I haven't bought my 8150 on the first day it came out.

[Lethos]

I like the Llano's for their APU and cross-fire potential all in a laptop package that was not expensive at all.
They overclock well and I expect the same from Trinity for the laptop, haven't tried it yet.

I play all the latest games I want to on mine (Llano), I admit I overclock mine, but considering it's A6 3410mx and runs most games I want on high/highest detail, with decent AA settings, I'm not complaining. Trinity apparently shows some improvements, not a lot but nice boost in already powerful graphics.

Back on topic though, it's sad that AMD has resorted to such large layoffs, but it is true they have had a mixed bag of success.
High End Desktop CPU - Not good, intel crushes them here.
APU - Excellent, AMD has done amazing here at a great price.
Server CPU - Small Improvements, but Intel has historically had this, and hasn't made much dent.

If they end up refocusing their attention to APU's and Servers, grabbing those two key markets, instead of going for all 3, they might go back to their roots of what they were remembered for. Atleast what I remember them for, Solid performer, cheaper than Intel, that overclock very well.

[underminer]

I bought a whole system with 8120, 2 x1 terabyte drives, ssd, windows, full corsair tower, gtx460, and an asus sabertooth motherboard for $600.  It was almost exactly what I would have built myself for about half the cost.  I am really happy with the sabertooth board speaking of which and want to buy the intel chip equivalent when I get the $$$.

[SgtSpike]

Back on topic though, it's sad that AMD has resorted to such large layoffs, but it is true they have had a mixed bag of success.
High End Desktop CPU - Not good, intel crushes them here.
APU - Excellent, AMD has done amazing here at a great price.
Server CPU - Small Improvements, but Intel has historically had this, and hasn't made much dent.

I'd add one more to that list:
Budget CPUs - For applications like mining or web browsing, where anything available is fast enough, the lowest cost units reign king.  And AMD has that low-end market captured quite sufficiently.

The lowest priced AMD desktop chip on Newegg is $39.99.  The lowest priced Intel chip is $48.99.  A $9 difference, which doesn't seem like much, but it is a 23% increase in the price.  Bulk order, and you start to see it add up quick.

[regular]

Investmentwise, AMD is probably near rock bottom at the moment.  Anyone buying AMD at this time?

[Desolator]

I bought a whole system with 8120, 2 x1 terabyte drives, ssd, windows, full corsair tower, gtx460, and an asus sabertooth motherboard for $600.  It was almost exactly what I would have built myself for about half the cost.  I am really happy with the sabertooth board speaking of which and want to buy the intel chip equivalent when I get the $$$.

From where?  That's not possible.  Was it all used/refurb or bought in person or something?

[underminer]

A personal computer yes, thank you craigslist.  Not really that old either I think there is even good corsair ram in in it.  I am (hopefully) buying an i5 with a sabertooth saturday for basically the same price...  We will see how it goes.  When you consider that I spent ~ twice that on my llano computer it gets a bit depressing lol!

[SaintDevil]

I bought a whole system with 8120, 2 x1 terabyte drives, ssd, windows, full corsair tower, gtx460, and an asus sabertooth motherboard for $600.  It was almost exactly what I would have built myself for about half the cost.  I am really happy with the sabertooth board speaking of which and want to buy the intel chip equivalent when I get the $$$.

From where?  That's not possible.  Was it all used/refurb or bought in person or something?

Sometimes you can find a really good deal on barbone kits, after rebates and discounts.