Extremetech posted a possible roadmap for AMD’s 2014-2015 planned processors which further spell out the problems the desktop PC market is having.
image: Extremetech
One thing you’ll notice is the total lack of clarity regarding the future of the AM3+ chipset. Extremetech reads this as the end of AMD’s high-end x86 chip segment. There’s some good reasons for AMD to do this. Primarily AMD has spent a great deal of time and funds competing with Intel on this end and losing. Performance enthusiasts typically look at pure performance first and cost second, and while AMD’s FX chips have done very well and usually cost significantly less than Intel’s they just haven’t been the best. However AMD has had some great gains in the integrated/embedded chip market with it’s APU’s. The choice of AMD for the XBox One and Playstation 4 was a huge win over not only Intel but NVidia.
From the chart above you can see that 2014-2015 will see a focus on these APU’s using the existing desktop-friendly FM2+ chipset as well as ones based on the Jaguar core, which is used in the XBox One and PS4.
It looks as if AMD will continue support for the desktop-focused AM3+ chipset for the foreseeable future, but R&D will be focused on APU’s rather than x86 architecture. The company will probably release newer and faster AM3+ processors at a rate just enough to keep people interested and it’s name on the boards, but don’t expect great leaps forward in that department.
This seems to be a smart move for AMD as computing is done more and more on smaller platforms and mobile devices. Intel has done worse in these markets, so AMD could really pull ahead of the giant if its plan works out.
