Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SilentZ who wrote (759195)	12/22/2013 1:00:31 PM
From: bentway	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1577892

To me, microprocessors now don't even seem high tech. They are just commodity devices. Technical advancement for microprocessors for years meant nothing more than reducing the feature size, cramming more and more onto the same sized chips. These days it means cramming more and more cpu cores onto the same sized chips, with more on chip memory. Maybe tossing in a graphics card and cramming it onto the chip as a feature as well. Dull, grinding, completely predictable grunt work. High tech to me seems to be developments on the web, mobile computing developments, AI's like Watson, and robotic developments. The underlying chips seems pretty dull and uninteresting. There doesn't seem to be anything exciting happening there anymore.

To: SilentZ who wrote (759195)	12/22/2013 3:24:12 PM
From: combjelly	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1577892

They were important at the time. The competition drove performance to the point that it isn't relevant any more. If you set aside the Windows 8 debacle, the market was already in decline. About the only ones who get top of the line processors are the hardcore gamers and those who want bragging rights. For everyone else, it doesn't really matter any more. Realistically speaking, it probably doesn't really matter to the hardcore gamers either. Microprocessors are commodities now. Which doesn't mean they are boring, but the focus has changed. I am watching the Maker movement. It holds real promise...

To: SilentZ who wrote (759195)	12/23/2013 3:14:57 PM
From: Tenchusatsu	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1577892

Z, Don't know why he came to mind, but those were the days, eh? Looks like those boards are basically dead now, but at one point, the microprocessor wars seemed like the most important thing in the world… I met Paul Engel in person shortly after I moved to Northern California. He's enjoying the retired life now. He looks younger than I thought he would be. The x86 CPU wars are old news now. Intel basically won the x86 war over AMD, but that doesn't matter anymore in a so-called "post-PC" era. Hardware innovation has migrated to integration and power-efficiency over pure performance. Even servers need to pay attention to power-efficiency, since half the cost of running a server farm these days is related to power and cooling. This all fits into the trend of "pervasive computing," where chips get smaller and smaller and can now fit into more form factors. Smart watches and smart glasses are an example of what is possible in the near future; we'll see whether they catch on. On the other side, so-called "cloud computing" continues to grow by leaps and bounds, as the thirst for server capacity continues to increase. None of this can be measured by a bunch of fanboys having pissing contests over benchmarks anymore. Tenchusatsu