# When will AMD back to market?



## Mon5t3r (May 25, 2013)

Just saw this article i know it's for a general market (PC, Server, Mobile, etc) the question is, do they still have a decent/good market in server (VPS included) environment? I haven't see any offers that come with AMD processor for a long time, well what i know MitgiB still have it but only a few CMIIW


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## Pmadd (May 25, 2013)

I think AMD's high power useage is keeping them from being competitive.


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## shovenose (May 26, 2013)

Am I the lone AMD user here?


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## D. Strout (May 26, 2013)

shovenose said:


> Am I the lone AMD user here?


I've got an AMD Phenom II 555 Black edition. Good little processor for a budget custom build. But the OP is referring to AMD's server processors.


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## HalfEatenPie (May 26, 2013)

Like what *@D. Strout* said, he's referring to servers not home built machines.  Although my home built machine does use an AMD Athlon II X4.  

I personally have a Phenom II 840 from Datashack that acts as a personal VPS and storage node.  In terms of actual VPS/production environment, I do know *@Damian* and IPXCore use AMD Opteron 4184 for a VPS Node, I believe it's named Diamond (I'm on it currently).  They run pretty well and I can't complain.  

Personally, I've found love and respect for their Opteron CPUs, although I don't know how they got the number 4184.


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## Ivan (May 26, 2013)

I think I'm just going to drop this one here because it is somewhat relevant.


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## wdq (May 26, 2013)

Maybe AMD is working to perfect their lower power FX chips found in laptops so that they can scale them up to the servers at one point. 

@Ivan Looks like AMD isn't going to have any problems making money over the next 7 years.


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## Daniel (May 26, 2013)

Still waiting for AMD to move to 22nm processors.


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## drmike (May 26, 2013)

I don't buy into the latest and greatest.  So can't say AMD is better or worse.

This sort of competition between AMD and Intel is quite old and tired though.

AMD is certainly capable and competitive.  Unsure why VPS land is so Intel-centric lately.


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## HalfEatenPie (May 26, 2013)

buffalooed said:


> AMD is certainly capable and competitive.  Unsure why VPS land is so Intel-centric lately.


 

I remember a while ago AMD CPUs were generally more expensive than Intel ones (I'm being very broad here).  Also, I remember AMD was much slower with CPU development than Intel.  I remember when Intel came out with the quad core much earlier than AMD.  I feel like AMD still hasn't caught up since then and therefore most of them are Intel-based. 

Of course this was a long long longgg time ago and this is all personal speculation.  I've done almost no research on it since then, so much could have changed.  If it has then definitely correct me.


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## willie (May 26, 2013)

AMD is quite cost competitive against low and midrange Intel processors that have about the same performance, but Intel is more power efficient, which is a big deal for servers, especially heavily loaded ones.  Small providers are doing good if they can get data center power for $20 an amp, which means that each watt going to the CPU costs about $2 a year.  So if an AMD FX8350 (125W) computes about as well as an Intel E3-1230v2 (70 W), over a 3 year hardware lifecycle Intel saves you around $300 in power bills.  Even if AMD gave you the FX8350 for free, you'd still be ahead paying retail for the E3.

For a home computer it's less of an issue: the computer is powered off or idling most of the time, so power consumption is much lower, and people are more sensitive to up-front expenditures than to monthly expenses.


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## HalfEatenPie (May 26, 2013)

*@**willie*: That makes so much more sense too.  I didn't realize it until now.  Sorry about this sleep deprived state I'm in.


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## Francisco (May 26, 2013)

AMD doesn't need the PC market.

Every single 'next gen console' is using AMD's and or some form of radeon.

Francisco


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## prometeus (May 26, 2013)

Francisco said:


> AMD doesn't need the PC market.


 

this is a bad thing. without amd competing on the server market intel will have less incentive to drop prices and innovate production lines. :-(


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## fileMEDIA (May 26, 2013)

Mon5t3r said:


> Just saw this article i know it's for a general market (PC, Server, Mobile, etc) the question is, do they still have a decent/good market in server (VPS included) environment?


AMD and server market, this does not add up. AMD has cpus with lot


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## HalfEatenPie (May 26, 2013)

fileMEDIA said:


> AMD and server market, this does not add up. AMD has cpus with lot


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## fileMEDIA (May 26, 2013)

HalfEatenPie said:


> I mean if they're single homed then that's true but if the electricity is such an expensive commodity wouldn't the prices be higher than in the US?



Electricity in data centers costs between 0.25


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## HalfEatenPie (May 26, 2013)

fileMEDIA said:


> Electricity in data centers costs between 0.25


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## willie (May 26, 2013)

Re OVH and Hetzner: a VPS host with a few colocated boxes is in a much different position regarding power costs than someone who owns a huge data center full of their own servers.  The colo customer is a captive market for a commodity that might be expensive in the first place (utility power in someplace like Los Angeles) and then is marked up by the DC and possibly a chain of middlemen, before the VPS host gets to use it.  So the VPS host pays several times residential rates (backup generator access is part of this cost though, admittedly). 

OVH and Hetzner

1) site their DC's in places where electricity is cheap, like OVH Beauharnois is at the site of an old aluminum smelting plant (near Quebec Hydro and with insane amounts of transmission capacity already in place); OVH France (Roubaix) and Hetzner (Germany) are out in the boondocks of their respective countries and I bet power costs had something to do with their choice of locations;

2) deal directly with electric utilities and get good rates as large industrial customers;

3) pay only for power actually used--a colo customer buying a 20 amp circuit will AIUI usually get charged for all 20 amps even if their servers aren't fully loaded most of the time.  They have to budget for full loads because they don't have 1000's of servers with differing workloads to average across;

4) in some cases, DC operators can recoup some electricity costs through cogeneration, i.e. using the DC's waste heat to warm up homes or offices.  Where I used to work, my boss once got seriously interested in farming tilapia (warmwater fish) using our DC's exhaust heat.  I don't think anything came of it though.  A colo customer will usually not receive any of these savings/profits.


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## A Jump From Let (May 26, 2013)

Francisco said:


> AMD doesn't need the PC market.
> 
> 
> Every single 'next gen console' is using AMD's and or some form of radeon.
> ...


Agreed, buying ATI which is now AMD Radeon gave them a great push.

Intel are also increasing their embedded graphic chips power mainly starting from 2nd and 3rd generation of i processors.

I also wonder why AMD processors are not much utilized in that industry, mainly in LEB and vps market since they seem more common in dedicated server market, even though AMD were known for budget prices.


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## Mun (May 26, 2013)

I have AMD as well 1090t here.


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## Coastercraze (May 26, 2013)

I still have a Dual AMD Opteron 265 box in colo running OpenVZ. Quite a nice box, though I'm probably going to replace it sooner with something a bit "newer-ish".


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## concerto49 (May 26, 2013)

Like never. AMD's solution to solve the problem of finance and their troubles was to fire engineers and researcheres to cut cost. This killed their new products. It got delayed again and again. Sure, they're stepping up again, but it's very late. Glofo also seems to have enormous problems producing chips and has also added to AMD's issues by large.

AMD has shifted focus right now from high end CPUs and server stuff to low end APU type chips. They're trying to corner a market Intel hasn't gotten into yet.

Unless Glofo steps up the game quickly, AMD will find it hard to compete.


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## VPN.SH (May 26, 2013)

I haven't used AMD in a long time :/. Hopefully they'll be able to figure something out over the next couple of years though and provide some real tough competition


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## shovenose (May 27, 2013)

Mun said:


> I have AMD as well 1090t here.


We have something in common, yay!


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## dmmcintyre3 (May 27, 2013)

Mun said:


> I have AMD as well 1090t here.


Same here. It's a great desktop CPU. I ended up paying only $400 for the mobo/cpu/ram/case/psu and threw in a few hard drives that were laying around the house and pulled a GPU from my brother's dead P4 desktop.


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## dmmcintyre3 (May 27, 2013)

fileMEDIA said:


> Electricity in data centers costs between 0.25


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## Reece-DM (May 27, 2013)

Wow one of my first ever VPS Nodes was a AMD Phenom x4   Used to perform pretty alright back then overselling wasn't an option.

Oh the days....

I'd like to see AMD return to the market with some serious server hardware, but ti depends on your needs.


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## Mon5t3r (Jun 16, 2013)

Reece said:


> Wow one of my first ever VPS Nodes was a AMD Phenom x4


 my first (LEB) VPS was Phenom x4 too, it was from Curlhost (deadpool already)


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## drmike (Jun 16, 2013)

A Jump From Let said:


> 2) deal directly with electric utilities and get good rates as large industrial customers;


Data centers with any sense are besting large industrial customer rates.  Industrial rates are lower than consumer, but often not by a great enough margin.

KwH rates have stayed high and even with reduced demand and great availability of commodity generation fuels are still increasing on nearly annual basis.

Cogeneration of electric at large datacenters is going to be the next logical step. Gives more options, probably allows for wholesales/generator type rates and depending on placement might allow for local/regional direct piped fuel in the case of natural gas with all the shale development.


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## DaringHost (Jun 17, 2013)

shovenose said:


> Am I the lone AMD user here?


I'm glad to see I'm not the only AMD user!


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