When we think about AMD, we normally think of a company that makes some decent CPUs and some really quite powerful Graphics Cards for those that enjoy high-end gaming on their PCs. AMD are also powering the new PS4 and are said to be behind the next Xbox. PC users will think of AMD in one of two ways, Nvidia vs AMD or Intel vs AMD. AMD Chips have seen their gaming dominance shrink a little at the hands of Intel but, when it comes to Graphics Cards, AMD are still very much alive. It’s interesting then, to see that the age-old Nvidia vs AMD battle might well be going mobile, with AMD looking to get into the ARM game.
Nvidia have been pushing their Tegra line of ARM chips that combine a GeForce GPU for some time now and they’ve shown off a combination of ARM based chips with their Kepler GPU architecture that’s powering GeForce 600 graphics cards. AMD today announced a new low-power x86 chip, the G-Series X, which is to be an embedded chip. It’s pretty powerful in that in comes with four Jaguar cores – that will be in the PS4 – and a Radeon 8000 series GPU.
Of course, there’s nothing too interesting in yet another low-power x86 chip but, what is interesting is the little tidbit that AMD dropped when they announced this new chip:
“Ultimately, we’re going to have x86 and ARM in our product portfolio.”
AMD are getting ready to bring ARM-based chips to their product portfolio in with the A series of chips which will bring together ARM and AMD’s Radeon GPU together. Such a pairing could mean big things for the mobile market. While the Exynos and Qualcomm chips currently rule the roost, their graphics processors aren’t exactly household names – what’s a Mali? What’s an Adreno? Oh, Radeon, they make kick-ass graphics cards! That’s the sort of thing that could bring AMD big fame in the ARM market, being able to sell chips that bring the low-power benefits of ARM but, stunning graphics from the Radeon chip. It’d also give Nvidia something to think about.
What do you think? Can AMD become a big name in the mobile market, or is it too late for them?
[Source: Engadget]