Intel competes with AMD and Nvidia in the CPU and graphics business.
Pairing Intel or AMD chips with Nvidia's graphics chips in supercomputers (much as they are in personal computers) results in machines that are three times more efficient than ones that rely on CPUs alone.
The whole lot can be selected with dual- or quad-core chips from AMD and Intel, while select configurations are equipped with NVIDIA's GeForce GT7XXM series or AMD's Radeon HD8750 discrete graphics.
Although most of the attention in the increasingly-competitive CPU market has been focused on Intel and newcomer NVIDIA lately, AMD's still in it to win it, and it looks like it's taking some bold moves.
ENGADGET: AMD says post-Phenom CPUs will be "completely different," 100 laptops to launch with Puma
Evercore Partners analyst Patrick Wang this morning offered some cautionary comments on PC-related chip stocks, cutting his ratings on AMD and Nvidia and reducing estimates on Intel in the face of ongoing evidence of weak PC demand.
FORBES: AMD, Nvidia, Intel: Evercore Turns Wary As PC Sales Weaken
The analyst sees this as good news for ARM, but not so good for Intel, AMD, Qualcomm, Broadcom, ST-Ericsson and Nvidia.
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Nvidia faces challenges in the graphics market from players like Intel and AMD , which are increasingly providing integrated graphics chips to PC makers that reduce the need for separate (discrete) graphics cards.
AMD's touting Puma's Hybrid Graphics mode that allows the system to intelligently switch between a Radeon HD3400 and integrated graphics for max power-savings, so it'll be interesting to see how the system stacks up against Intel's Atom and VIA's Isaiah -- like NVIDIA, AMD seems to be betting that consumers care more about graphics than raw horsepower.
ENGADGET: AMD says post-Phenom CPUs will be "completely different," 100 laptops to launch with Puma
And as time goes on, other ARM customers like Nvidia, Broadcom, Marvell, Freescale and AMD, could easily pass Intel as well.
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The new version of Windows will work with processors based on the ARM architecture from Qualcomm, Nvidia, and Texas Instruments, in addition to x86 processors from Intel and AMD.
Intel is also a threat at the low end, where it competes with Nvidia and AMD to sell the cheaper integrated graphics chipsets used in budget desktop computers and many notebooks.
Spec-wise, you can trick them out with Core i7 processors, up to 8GB of RAM, Intel Wireless Display and discrete graphics (either a 2GB NVIDIA GeForce GT640M or a 2GB AMD Radeon HD 8730M).
But AMD, battle-hardened by years of combat with Intel in microprocessors and later with Nvidia in graphics chips, and with a savvy veteran of the PC wars in command, finally has a strategy that will allow it to survive and maybe even thrive.
While the slowdown in the PC market is one of the obvious factors responsible for the steep decline in orders, AMD has been far worse hit compared to other players in the market such as Intel and Nvidia.
Intel is hoping that will make it easier for developers--long used to working with Nvidia and AMD's products--to take advantage of what its products can offer.
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