AMD taking the guess work out of Consumer PCs

[VirusType2]

IMG: From an AMD presentation, the four task-oriented tiers in the Vision platform for notebook and desktop PCs.

"What matters most is what the end consumer wants to buy. No one knows what processor is in their TV. They don't have to know, and they don't care," Sobon continued. "No one knows what processor is in their camera, and they don't have to know, and they don't care. And no one knows what processor is in their MP3 player -- you kinda get the story here --

It's a compelling argument: Since there is no clear formula for mapping an everyday function, such as burning a homemade movie to DVD, to a number of cores or a set frequency or a cache latency figure, consumers are forced to trust salespersons' breakdowns of their respective retailers' good/better/best price/performance scale.

the difficulty only increases for customers trying to understand why the lowest classes of PC aren't just as adequate as higher classes.

'Here's what I want to do with my computer, what should I buy?' Instead of trying to calculate speeds and feeds and all these different things, it's really more about, each of these different levels delivers different kinds of experiences depending upon what you want to do."

http://www.betanews.com/article/AMD-to-combat-Intel-Inside-with-Who-cares/1273694861


Seems like a long time coming. I hope it goes smoothly, for the sake of the computer illiterate out there who spend a lot of money on a computer to find it can't play games, or do other things they'd like to do.

Hopefully they aren't dumb and haven't removed [from the retail label] the CPU/RAM and other specifications altogether.

 

[Raziaar]

As long as this doesn't make them feel like they can charge an unrealistic premium over previous offerings, I'm fine with it.

 

[Vegeta897]

So apparently, as far as required computer power goes, the ranking goes like this:

Casual Games < Mainstream Games < Online Gaming (MMO) < Cutting edge Gaming (FPS)

This makes no sense and it's stupid to even suggest that you can classify how much computer power a game will need based on whether it's "mainstream", "mmo" or "fps". Aren't most mainstream games cutting edge FPS? This is so stupid and senseless.

All PC games have a little thing called SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS, and they're a much better indication of whether you can play a game than this pointless bullshit.

 

[VirusType2]

Yeah I saw that too. Hopefully they will clear that up before this hits store shelves. The mainstream one is really the main one that raised an eyebrow. What they really mean is flash games or something?

Raz, it's not meant to affect prices, per se. It's meant to make shopping easier. Instead of looking at an AMD 3200x4 + black edition, or whatever the hell, and try to compare that to an Intel i5-750, instead, you've got good/better/best, with a brief description of what that means. It's much more mainstream consumer oriented.

Now I think that Intel will need (or want) to adopt something similar.


I don't think it matters to any of us, since we build our own systems and have studied what the parts are capable of. However, this could be a big boost to PC games. Getting "gaming capable" computers into the hands of people, instead of people trying to play Crysis on computers that were designed to do text editing and email.

 

[Raziaar]

Yeah I saw that too. Hopefully they will clear that up before this hits store shelves. The mainstream one is really the main one that raised an eyebrow. What they really mean is flash games or something?

Raz, it's not meant to affect prices, per say. It's meant to make shopping easier. Instead of looking at an AMD 3200x4 + black edition, or whatever the hell, and try to compare that to an Intel i5-750 - instead, you've got good/better/best, with a brief description of what that means. It's much more mainstream consumer oriented.

Now I think that Intel will need (or want) to adopt something similar.


I don't think it matters to any of us, since we build our own systems and have studied what the parts are capable of. However, this could be a big boost to PC games. Getting "gaming capable" computers into the hands of people, instead of people trying to play Crysis on computers that were designed to do text editing and email.

I just can't help but be reminded of Windows 7 operating system prices and capability schemes.

 

[Acepilotf14]

It's a good thing I don't buy pre-built.

However, for laptops, I hope they still have the actual system specs on the box.

 

[Asus]

This seems like something they would have on a chart off to the side with those details and then on the sticker under the PC on the shelf they have the specs (Athlon2 255, 2gb etc) along with a logo (AMD vision).

And for the most part those gaming labels are correct.
Farcry2 will demand a lot more power than an MMO. And casual is like tetris or bejeweled. Mainstream must be like Sims and not Counter-Strike.
CS would is not be mainstream from the perspective of the whole market.

It would be up to you to know that some Valve games don't need the best hardware to run or the particular game you are looking to play is an oldy but goody. This system will help out people who don't know shit.
So when the new Sims game comes out and the legions of unknowing 'gamers' come out of the wood work and visit tech stores this will help them find what will run their game. Otherwise they will go to the tech department and not know what the techs are saying (different language...really) and the customers get discouraged.