AMD close to buying ATI

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6154489.html

"As much as analysts aren't always right, they aren't always wrong, either. In May, RBC Capital Markets analysts said microprocessor manufacturer AMD was considering an acquisition of graphics-card maker ATI Technologies.

Today, Reuters is reporting that AMD is close to a deal that would see it acquire ATI for $5.5 billion, citing "a source familiar with the situation" for the info. The source said a deal could be announced as soon as Monday.

In suggesting the purchase in May, the RBC analysts noted that the idea of Intel or AMD purchasing a graphics-chip maker has been batted around for a while, and pointed out AMD's stated intent to increase its capacity in the coming years. As for ATI being chosen for acquisition instead of a rival company like Nvidia, the pair called ATI "a rare buy in the semiconductor space right now."

ATI stock has lost almost 5 percent of its value since the end of May, but shares closed up more than 5 percent today to close at $16.56. Meanwhile, AMD has been taking a beating of late, losing more than 40 percent of its share value since May. Today alone, the stock dropped almost 16 percent to close at $18.26, and is down further in after-hours trading.

Hey, if this deal works out well, maybe AMD will help ATI make Dual-Core graphics cards! :D

Maybe this would make ATi not suck.

Have you had problems with their graphics cards? I'm quite pleased with my Radeon X1300 Pro.

caco_killer said:

Have you had problems with their graphics cards? I'm quite pleased with my Radeon X1300 Pro.

Quite pleased with my:

8500
9800
x800xtpe

and

x1900xt (getting here tomorrow)

caco_killer said:

Have you had problems with their graphics cards? I'm quite pleased with my Radeon X1300 Pro.

Yes, both my 7600 and my 9800 were really shitty cards. The only good ATi card I ever had wad my Rage Pro way back when.

Rage Pro? Are you insane? That was the card that put me off ATI in the first place.

Maybe they can help improve ATi sucky drivers. Damn you Catalyst!

Arioch said:

Quite pleased with my:

8500
9800
x800xtpe

and

x1900xt (getting here tomorrow)

Quite pleased with my:

8500
9800
X1600

XXoXX said:

Maybe they can help improve ATi sucky drivers. Damn you Catalyst!

You could try using Omega Drivers. They're supposedly better then ATI's drivers, but I didn't see much of a difference when I used them with my Radeon 9200 on my other computer.

http://www.omegadrivers.net/

I love NVIDIA and all, I've used the a lot in the past, but there backwards support really sucks now a days which is a no go for us old and new schoolers. :)

ati cards can't render inprecise geometry properly, Nvidia cards have slow Shaders and anti-aliasing, ATI drivers have no desktop tools, Nvidia lacks a few extensions, ATI cards have problems with low resolution modes!

so, now a company with a reputation of overheating and crashing combines with another company to compete with...SGI?



dual core graphics cards? wow, that'd make that gayass physics card look stupid.

Dual core isn't a new thing. 3dfx did the same thing, even a quad core v5 6000 but that never got out due to a bios corruption

XDelusion said:

I love NVIDIA and all, I've used the a lot in the past, but there backwards support really sucks now a days which is a no go for us old and new schoolers. :)

That's what oldschool LAN rigs in the basement are for. Serves you right for not holding on to your Voodoo3 or Matrox. Hell, I still have an HCGA card around here somewhere...

Bucket said:

That's what oldschool LAN rigs in the basement are for.

YES, my Voodoo2 SLI setup is awesome for old Quake2 matches.

XDelusion said:
I love NVIDIA and all, I've used the a lot in the past, but there backwards support really sucks now a days which is a no go for us old and new schoolers. :)

Any specific games or programs you're referring to? I'm asking because I have a 6800 Ultra and all of my games, old and new are fine; my oldest games are DOS Doom and Quake btw.

there goes my crossfire and conroe system.

back to waiting for NVIDIA to release a nice mobo for conroe... :(

HobbsTiger1 said:

Maybe this would make ATi not suck.

Well, they're the only choice until nVidia actually releases a card as good as the Radeon 9500 ASC...

Aside of the slave labour taken advantage of to make all there crap...

...this is pretty cool!

My 9600xt refurb has been just fine since I got it 2003.

ATI may have had a past history of buggy drivers and cards, yet for several years now it has produced decent, competitive cards. I've been happy with all recent ATI cards that I've had.

The only ATI chip I've ever owned was an onboard 4mb Rage Pro on my Pentium II and it's far superior than my mum's 32mb S3 Savage.

My old 9700 pro was great, but the increasingly shitty catalyst drivers drove down its performance. i now have an x700 pro and it does a lot better but this catalyst stuff still gets worse and worse and pisses me off. my next computer will have an Nvidia card in it.

It's official, AMD has bought ATI. I would post a link, but I'm lazy.

Long story short, we're moving toward motherboards (or chipsets) with integrated high-end video, and AMD has the advantage.

I care 0 though.

i have never really had an issue with ATI, other than linux/BSD compatibility issues.

this has got me curious about the things we will be seeing in the future from both ATI and AMD.

last i heard it did happen

AndrewB said:

Long story short, we're moving toward motherboards (or chipsets) with integrated high-end video, and AMD has the advantage.

About fucking time. Intel has done enough damage with their 25 cent integrated graphic solutions. It's not about their incapacity to play today's games, or yesterday's games...hell, they can't even render several animated gifs at the correct framerate.

kristus said:

Rage Pro? Are you insane? That was the card that put me off ATI in the first place.

AndrewB said:

we're moving toward motherboards (or chipsets) with integrated high-end video

The problem is, AMD makes neither motherboards nor chipsets, and they do not have the manufacturing capacities to make either.

With capacity added by ATI, they will be able to produce chipsets, but motherboards will still likely be out of reach.

XDelusion said:

Aside of the slave labour taken advantage of to make all there crap...

...