AMD has been making tons of noise in the CPU and GPU markets with the introduction of its new Ryzen processors based on the Zen architecture, and the Radeon Vega line. Proving the point that sometimes competitors find good reason to partner up, AMD also struck a deal with Intel to mate its Radeon Vega M GPUs with Intel CPUs to create the Kaby Lake-G solution for high-performance mobile computing.
Mark Papermaster, AMD’s Chief Technology Officer, stopped by the Digital Trends booth and spent some time discussing all of the company’s efforts to gain market share and increased relevancy. According to Papermaster, AMD is making some progress on both accounts, whether we’re talking about the consumer market or the enterprise.
Of most pressing concern, Papermaster provided some background on the recent speculative execution exploits that have rocked the computing world. If you’ve been looking for a clear and concise explanation of the exploit variants, why they’re important, and how they’re being addressed, then you’ll definitely want to give the video a watch.
It likely doesn’t hurt Papermaster’s presentation that AMD is not as affected by all of the exploits as is Intel. Of the two exploit types, Meltdown and Spectre, AMD processors are only affected by the later variants. As Papermaster outlines, the company spent months working with other industry members to address the exploits through software and firmware patches.
Of course, Papermaster gave plenty of attention to AMD’s newest products. Kaby Lake-G was discussed, including a description of why AMD partnered with Intel. He also covered AMD’s newest Ryzen CPUs for mobile and the new low-end Ryzen 3-series chips. Of particular interest for notebook buyers will be the upcoming accelerated processing units (APUs) combine Ryzen CPUs and Radeon RX Vega GPUs. According to Papermaster, that will afford buyers a significantly more competitive offering compared to Intel’s eighth-generation processors with Integrated HD graphics.
If you want to know what AMD has coming soon, then this is the video for you. Whether it’s the budget market, premium notebooks, gaming systems, or virtual reality (VR) systems, AMD has something available now or coming soon that should be of interest to every PC user.
