DailyTech - No AMD Server Chipsets in 2007: Just NVIDIA and Broadcom

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Blog: Hardware No AMD Server Chipsets in 2007: Just NVIDIA and Broadcom
Sven Olsen (Blog) - December 14, 2006 4:21 PM

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17 comment(s) - last by brute1248.. on Jan 13 at 2:43 PM

AMD's newest roadmap reveals red flags everywhere

If you had thought that AMD would be utilizing ATI's chipset solutions for Opteron servers in 2007, or even in 2008, don't get your hopes up.

According to roadmaps disclosed to DailyTech earlier today, the company will soley rely on NVIDIA and Broadcom for server chipsets through 2008. Never mind the fact that NVIDIA is now AMD's second largest competitor.

Even before the AMD acquisition of ATI, ATI had a few years of core-logic experience (outside of GPUs and DSPs) under its belt. Some of the designs were less than stellar desktop chipsets but the company did have designs to run with nonetheless. AMD recently pulled out of the core-logic business about two years ago, relying on Broadcom and NVIDIA to produce all server chipsets for the company. In the past, this would not pose a problem -- but what now that NVIDIA and AMD are not on the same team?

Indeed, if NVIDIA decided to play nasty, a pullout of chipset support for the Opteron platform would leave AMD alone with Broadcom. Broadcom makes outstanding chipsets, but only produces high-end, low volume components. What's left of VIA, or perhaps even SiS might be an alternative -- but why not use that core-logic team that was just part of the $5.2 billon acquisition?

Unfortunately, I don't claim to have the answers here -- just red flags. Over the course of the next two years the AMD server chipset segment could be a real opening for new competitors, or it could be an Achilles’ Heel that comes back to haunt the company later.

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Interesting where...

By brute1248 on 1/13/2007 2:32:57 PM , Rating: 3

Interesting where this ATI/AMD ship is going....

RE: Interesting where...

By brute1248 on 1/13/2007 2:41:37 PM , Rating: 2

Interesting where this ATI/AMD ship is going....

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RE: Interesting where...

By brute1248 on 1/13/2007 2:42:16 PM , Rating: 2

Interesting where this ATI/AMD ship is going....

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RE: Interesting where...

By brute1248 on 1/13/2007 2:43:00 PM , Rating: 2

Second time I've seen a triple post bug...

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Only three months.

By visaris on 12/14/2006 9:12:52 PM , Rating: 4

AMD and ATI have only been the same company for _3_ months. What do you expect them to do? Pull a validated server chipset out of thin air? These things take time, and AMD is fine with nVidia and Broadcom in the near to mid future. I don't see this as a red flag at all; it is common sense.

RE: Only three months.

By peldor on 12/18/2006 10:03:56 AM , Rating: 3

The red flag is not having a chipset planned for two years. If ATI's chipset division is that useless, AMD wasted a lot of money.

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i don't see the concern

By johnsonx on 12/14/2006 4:59:26 PM , Rating: 2

Unless NVidia suddenly gets into the CPU market, NVidia has nothing to gain by being nasty and pulling chipset support from AMD. Doing so wouldn't help their GPU business at all, and would only harm their Chipset business. That harm would be both short-term, in the loss of those sales, and long-term, by forcing AMD to accelerate their own chipset development.

Companies are only 'mean' to each other when it serves their own interests.

RE: i don't see the concern

By cochy on 12/15/2006 3:52:23 AM , Rating: 2

Agreed. There's no reason why NVIDIA would not make sales of chipsets to AMD (sales = $). It's the other way around. AMD could cut NVIDIA out, if they so wished, which they apparently don't. So obviously their ATI business is not, and to my knowledge never had been, and won't in the near future be in the server chipset industry.

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RE: i don't see the concern

By phusg on 12/21/2006 12:39:01 PM , Rating: 2

Agreed, although there is a strong rumour that nVidia is doing just that, thinking of getting into the CPU business: http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=35...

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NVIDIA made AMD

By radzer0 on 12/21/2006 10:57:39 AM , Rating: 2

If it wouldnt be for nvidia and the nforce2 amd might not be what it is today. As long as nvidia puts out cost effective high performance chipsets. It makes people buy amd over intel. If there both profiting from sales nothing like that is going to happen. Even 2 or 3 years down the road. If amd starts making its own chipsets. It aint gonna cut out nvidia. Nvidia could verywell make a better performing chipset than amd that alot more people would go for. And eather way amd still sells it cpus.

RE: NVIDIA made AMD

By Spam1248 on 1/13/2007 2:34:48 PM , Rating: 3

Agree

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The analysis in this article is completely wrong.

By mlittl3 on 12/14/2006 6:10:56 PM , Rating: 3

For the very first time, someone on Dailytech has no idea what they are talking about. Using the article's logic, Intel and nVidia should have no relationship WHATSOEVER. Please think a little before posting such crap. Intel has the largest share of the video card market. Intel recently allowed liscensing of its technology to nVidia to make chipsets. By your logic, Intel should completely revoke all support to nVidia so that people can only put use Intel graphics with Intel processors. Man, that's a laugh.

There is no proof that AMD and nVidia are crazy competitors. The ATI acquisition is only part of AMD's business. Most likely the move helped nVidia (as seen by graphics marketshare gains across the board for nVidia). Plus, AMD says it has an open partner relationship with other companies. It hardly holds anything proprietary with regards to its system technology unlike Intel. AMD wants other companies to provide the chipsets, wireless chips, etc. for its system because that's the kind of open relationship AMD has pursued all these years.

AMD provided 100% of the market for the first nforce chipsets and nVidia owes them alot and AMD owes them alot. The market is fine and this attempt at conspiracy theory should end with this article.

RE: The analysis in this article is completely wrong.

By bohhad on 12/15/2006 9:41:23 AM , Rating: 1

you seem to have no idea what you're talking about. intel has no share in the video card market, but they do have a large share of the integrated graphics market

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Chipsets

By Kougar on 12/17/2006 1:36:38 AM , Rating: 2

It seems to be just that AMD wants to avoid the risk of having issues crop up on their own server chipsets after the fact. Considering that server/enterprise standards are much higher than that of consumers, it'd leave a very nasty black mark on their currently very good run in the server market, and I'm sure AMD knows it could leave a very huge impact if their own chipset undermined the credibility of their Opteron platforms.

Although, now that nVidia is having all sorts of issues with 680i, I still wouldn't feel quite so safe with them!

RE: Chipsets

By DigitalFreak on 12/22/2006 10:34:10 AM , Rating: 2

680i = Intel platform. Nvidia has always had problems with their Intel chipsets, while the AMD ones are pretty stable.

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rev for brisbane

By brisbane on 12/19/2006 11:42:55 PM , Rating: 2

This is probably not the right place for this topic, but i thought it was more likely to get a response here than an old topic. The CPU-Z utility still shows the revs for the new brisbane as rev F, whereas the AMD site shows the brisbanes to have a core revision as G1. Also, I am still unable to prove/disprove conclusively that brisbanes are a pure die shrink or there are architectural changes as well, such as the ones mentioned on www.mikeshardware.co.uk