Ethic-wise, has AMD done anything wrong?

Discussion in 'General Hardware' started by Espionage724, Nov 4, 2013.

  1. Espionage724

    Espionage724 Guest

    I have a brand-preference towards AMD mostly because I don't approve of most of the "shenanigans" NVIDIA and Intel pulled. However, I've heard of very little on AMD's side. I also like AMD's "open" approach with software, instead of more proprietary options.

    So I'm curious, has AMD pulled any publicly-known shenanigans?

    As for some examples of these shenanigans (do feel free to correct or add information and more examples if I'm wrong please):

    NVIDIA
    - Going out of their way to disable Hybrid PhysX (reverse gravity)
    - "Tier 0" Program (Origin PC)
    - Keeping CPU-accelerated PhysX limited (x87)
    - Linux driver cripple to match Windows (Basemosaic)
    - Limiting SLI only to Intel-based motherboards
    - Silently dropping Hybrid SLI support
    - Crysis 2's DX11 patch delayed to arrive around the same time as the GTX580
    - Restricted use of Anti-Aliasing with Batman: Arkham Asylum on AMD/ATI hardware

    Intel
    - Intentionally restrict 10-user conference calls on Skype on non-Intel processors
    - Don't approve of people improving their graphics drivers/pointing out flaws with their graphics driver (their advertised Vertex Shader 3.0 support on their older GMA chips is bull, and when a group I'm with made modified drivers to fix it to an extent, Intel threatened to sue)
    - "Cripple AMD" compiler "feature"

    AMD
    - Restricting the use of audio over non-certified HDMI adapters (could be a HDCP thing, not 100% sure on this)
    - Cheating on benchmarks (no source)
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 7, 2013
  2. ---TK---

    ---TK--- Guest

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    Released 290x with inadequate stock fan. Not shenanigans but not very smart.
     
  3. Pill Monster

    Pill Monster Banned

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    Recycling old video cards, i.e. 7xxx----->2xx

    Both camps do it every few years, but with Nvidia it's just expected.
    AMD has more of a reputation to uphold, by stooping to the same low level they just look like complete hypocrites, not to mention losing a lot of public sympathy.

    Oh, AMD's version of 3D Vision is pretty shyt too, since it uses proprietary hardware and 3rd party drivers which can be hard to find.
     
    Last edited: Nov 4, 2013
  4. nhlkoho

    nhlkoho Guest

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    They were also caught cheating on 3DMark benchmarks a while back.

    edit: I guess technically that was ATI but still
     

  5. Loophole35

    Loophole35 Guest

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    990FX chipset supports SLI the reason old AMD chipsets were not SLI compliant was AMD did not want to buy the license. There were nvidia chipset AMD motherboards that supported SLI my friend has one with a 965BE and 570 SLI.

    Don't they still do that (disable tesslation and watch your score skyrocket)?
     
  6. mbk1969

    mbk1969 Ancient Guru

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    Can you describe in details what do you mean by that?
     
  7. thatguy91

    thatguy91 Guest

    On the Nvidia side of things, you forgot about the restriction of Directx 10.1 support in titles since Nvidia hardware at the time only supported Directx 10. Directx 10.1 gave a distinct performance advantage to AMD. A prime example of this is the dropping of Directx 10.1 support from the original Bioshock (an Nvidia title).
     
  8. Espionage724

    Espionage724 Guest

    AMD from what I've seen promotes the use of OpenCL, and TressFX in-particular uses DirectCompute (both OpenCL and DirectCompute usable on AMD and NVIDIA hardware, along with the ability for CPU-acceleration where applicable).

    NVIDIA on the other hand seems to only promote the use of CUDA, and Tegra on the Android-side (both only usable on NVIDIA hardware).
     
  9. Pill Monster

    Pill Monster Banned

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    Those Nvidia SLI chipsets were made by Nvidia, not AMD.

    Nvidia was a huge player in the mobo chipset industry until late 2000's. Did you ever heard the name nForce? That's Nvidia's mobo chipset.

    The last platform they released was the nForce9, by that time their boards were ****e...a far cry from the mighty nForce 2 and nForce 4 platforms..

    AMD didn't start making motherboards until about 2007/8/9...I can't remember exactly the year,
     
    Last edited: Nov 4, 2013
  10. nhlkoho

    nhlkoho Guest

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    How is this different from what AMD is doing with Mantle?
     

  11. Pill Monster

    Pill Monster Banned

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    I don't think Mantle is propriety, I believe Nvidia can use it also.....however I could def be wrong that's just what I heard.

    To be really honest I haven't been interested in Mantle, so I know sweet fa about it. lol
     
  12. yasamoka

    yasamoka Ancient Guru

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    I'd say perhaps the main difference is that developers (allegedly) requested such a low-level API. Such an API has to be architecture-dependent by definition.
     
  13. nhlkoho

    nhlkoho Guest

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    Same thing with CUDA. Nvidia has been open to allow AMD to use the technology. AMD refused.
     
  14. Loophole35

    Loophole35 Guest

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    That's what the last part of my post stated. My 790FX chipset did not support SLI but I could have got a nForce board if I wanted to go SLI. My friend has one.
     
  15. thatguy91

    thatguy91 Guest

    Comparing CUDA and Mantle is a little different. AMD would have had to pay Nvidia to use CUDA, and CUDA isn't revolutionary, it's supplementary (to OpenCL etc). On the other hand, Mantle is revolutionary, and on top of that it is also open/going to be open, so you can't really compare the two.
     

  16. Espionage724

    Espionage724 Guest

    The AMD motherboard I have (ASRock 970 Extreme3) advertises AMD Crossfire compatibility only, with mentions from other people of no SLI support.

    NVIDIA may have offered to allow AMD's use of it, but at a price.

    To my knowledge, there hasn't been any information as to whether it would cost other vendors to use Mantle. If AMD insists on a cost, then it could be similar to CUDA.
     
  17. Pill Monster

    Pill Monster Banned

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    I have a feeling Nvidia would make AMD pay dearly though, just like AMD had to pay Nvidia for SLI "certification" on AMD chipsets.

    Without the "certification" AMD boards couldn't run SLI (without hax ;))


    When will these corporations learn that the propriety road does not work, it never has....OK maybe with Apple but they are in there own world.

    They have some dream where if they can just come up with that one magical device that only they posses, e.g. PhysX, e.g, SLI. e.g, Gay Sync.... - it will somehow turn brand apathetic consumers into legions of loyal followers (like Apple) lol

    All it does is make life really difficult for us....like with cellphone carriers.
     
  18. DSparil

    DSparil Guest

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    Yes they have, its unethical to not have released Steamroller on AM3+ yet, and to leave us hanging by keeping the whole thing quiet.
     
    Last edited: Nov 4, 2013
  19. sykozis

    sykozis Ancient Guru

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    I bolded the parts that are wrong.

    NVidia had nothing to do with PhysX using x87. Ageia developed PhysX using x87 (knowing it was deprecated and lacked a licensing requirement), then sold PhysX to NVidia. NVidia has reportedly been working on updating PhysX to bring it up to date with currently supported instruction sets.

    NVidia has been caught doing the same thing. It's nothing new.

    AMD stated at the Hawaii GPU14 event that Mantle is not proprietary and that NVidia is free to implement it on their GPUs if they wish.
     
  20. Pill Monster

    Pill Monster Banned

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    Oh right I see wat u mean. It was well before the SLI proprietary thing happened though.
    Nvidia could not pull that stunt while they were in the motherboard business as they relied on AMD to proved CPU support on Nvidia chipsets.

    After Nvidia started supplying GPU's for Intel, the dynamic duo realized they shared a common bond; a mutual hate of AMD. That's when things got really, really, nasty.

    Intel publicly said they wanted to see AMD die, SLI became proprietary on Intel motherboards.
    Nvidia would not allow SLI on AMD platforms...later amended to "certification required", Intel had paid OEM's millions and millions to keep AMD CPU's out of enterprise systems.....it goes on and on.

    AMD's CPU division was already struggling and all Intel/Nvidia wanted was for AMD's GPU side to go the same way. They really tried to shut AMD out of both the GPU and CPU market.
     
    Last edited: Nov 4, 2013

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