Giuseppe Amato, AMD Technical Director for sales and marketing for EMEA

Driver Heaven: Hi Giuseppe, thanks for taking the time to talk to us today, can you explain your duties within AMD on a daily basis?

Giuseppe: I am responsible for the ‘Value Proposition Department’, a newly created division within AMD with the mission of creating and delivering AMD’s enhanced client proposition to our customers, end-users and shareholders. Since the acquisition of ATI, we’ve been redefining the way our customers are served and addressed, now that we are able to provide not only components but also distinct platforms that deliver outstanding user experience with maximum performance-per-watt-per-dollar. My team, made up of technical and product marketing, PR and system architects, is responsible for ensuring AMD puts forth a winning proposition in the marketplace. On a daily basis, I work with my teams across EMEAI to drive product, platform and technology leadership for AMD.

Driver Heaven: Since the release of the Core 2 Duo platform Intel has been doing really well in the enthusiast and mobile processor market. Do you see yourself creating a killer product in the near future that could do the same for you?

Giuseppe: In the mobile space AMD had a very strong 2007 and we have our sights set even higher for 2008 with the release of the Puma platform in 1H 2008.  Puma will raise the bar in platform performance per watt with more visual computing performance than any other mobile platform.

In the desktop segment we will continue to work to increase the frequency and performance of Phenom but the focus is really on the platform proposition.  While our competitor would prefer to keep the performance argument on CPU Ghz we would challenge users to look at the complete picture with technologies like CrossFireX that allow you to significantly scale enthusiast gaming performance for an incremental GPU investment.  While the CPU is an important part of the equation the GPU is really what defines the experience in the high-resolution HD gaming world.

Driver Heaven: Due to the delays in launching Phenom did AMD consider skipping the DDR2 version in favour of the DDR3 based chips?

Giuseppe: We have not changed our plans in relation to Phenom and DDR2 and continue to look at DDR3 as a 2009 transition.

Driver Heaven: Many would say that AMD has been trying to catch up with Intel for the last year or two. Your latest platform, although good, simply can't overtake Intel's offerings and as such users don't have much reason to switch to your side, save for perhaps brand loyalty.  With Intel pushing out new products all the time, do you see yourself beating them at their own game before the next generation of processors?

Giuseppe: AMD and Intel are taking different paths in how we deliver new value to our customers. Our competitor is choosing to copy a number of our strategies and previous technology innovations and trying to keep the argument focused on nanometers and Ghz.  Our focus at AMD is on delivering integrated platforms for the client segment that leverage our collective CPU, GPU and chipset technology to innovate for our customers.  You will see examples of this with our upcoming Puma, Hardcastle and Cartwheel platforms.  I am sure you are all too familiar with Intel’s poor pedigree in graphics performance and compatibility and we will continue to leverage our collective skill set to innovate for our customers. 

With respect to the enthusiast segment I think I’ve addressed that area in the first question. 

Driver Heaven: Discrete graphics cards are slowly being pushed out by integrated chipsets, at least in the low end market. You recently announced that your newest crossfire solution would allow for a discrete graphics card to work in tandem with an integrated chip. Do you believe that this move can tip the scale in your favor for the low end gaming market?

Giuseppe: We have very high expectations for CrossFire in 2008.  Hybrid Graphics offers a compelling proposition for users of integrated chipsets.  Now for a nominal investment of $50-$75 users can enjoy the latest DirectX 10 games at playable frame rates.  We also see this as being a strong proposition for the mobile market as well.  This technology is unique to AMD platforms and something our competitor just can’t deliver today.

Driver Heaven: Quad-crossfire is great on paper, but putting 4 graphics cards together is just asking for trouble both from the developers as well as the users standpoint. Why should users spend money on 4 graphics cards instead of just 2 higher end solutions?

Giuseppe: What it’s going to come down to us users are going to have more choice and upgradeability than ever before on their platforms.  Is there work that we need to do with developers……..absolutely there is.  With new single-board multi-GPU architectures like the one in our upcoming R680, we believe that this technology will make more inroads in the developer community.  In addition, as the DriverHeaven team knows, we have a pretty talented driver development team. 

Driver Heaven: Currently high end AM2+ motherboards such as Gigabytes GA-MA790FX-DQ6 retail for a similar amount to the processors themselves. Is this a situation AMD are happy with or would you prefer to see cheaper enthusiast related boards available?

Giuseppe: We expect 790 boards to be offered at a range of price points depending on the configurations.   The 790FX is a premium motherboard designed for enthusiasts and overclockers with four GPU slots. Customers will have lower priced dual-slot motherboard options with the 790X in early 2008.

Driver Heaven: What do you feel is the number one reason that someone should choose a Phenom over the comparable (price) Intel part? (e.g. Phenom 9500 vs Q6600 95w)

Giuseppe: As I mentioned earlier it comes down to the platform experience.  By choosing an AMD Phenom processor, 790-based chipset and ATI Radeon HD 3000 series GPUs customers will have more customization, upgradeability and scalable performance than anywhere else.  The reality is that unless you are a professional benchmarker you will have a comparable user experience on AMD Phenom quad-core processors versus similarly priced competitive products.  We believe the AMD platform experience offers our customers more performance options and investment protection for our customers.

Driver Heaven: How do AMD see the Triple core chips changing the marketplace? Which do AMD expect to sell more of, quad core or triple core?

Giuseppe: We see triple-core as a great complement to our quad core portfolio and one that fills a key gap in the market that our competition cannot fill.  You need to remember that game developers also have a lot of experience on triple core as the Xbox 360 uses a triple-core CPU as well.

Driver Heaven: The new 790 chipset has a new option within memory configuration. Ganged or Unganged. Which do AMD currently suggest is best for day to day use? (Tasks such as audio/video conversion, photoshop etc) Will this recommendation remain the same or is that likely to change with time/application development?

Giuseppe: Ganged and unganged memory mode describes two different settings available on *Phenom*, not the 790 FX chipset.  Ganged memory mode is when all 128 bits of the system memory interface behave as a single large memory channel.  This was the case in the previous K8 architecture.  Unganged memory mode is a new feature supported by Phenom processors that splits the 128 bit memory interface into two independent 64 bit memory channels.  

Ganged mode will yield some slightly higher bandwidth numbers when running some *single* threaded applications or benchmarks.  For all other cases, unganged mode is the optimal choice.  This is especially true as the thread count and workload increases. 

We recommend that unganged mode be used as the default mode of operation as it offers the best all around performance considering Phenom is a multi-core CPU and will likely be used in a manner that exercises more than one core (i.e. multi threaded environment).  Some motherboard partners have chosen to allow users to select whichever mode they want via CMOS options.  This provides versatility to the end user in the event that their specific workload benefits from running one memory mode vs the other.

We would like to thank Giuseppe for taking the time to talk to us today and we wish AMD all the best for 2008