Rage3D Article: AMD Rebranding - The Death of ATI

[Lupine]

AMD is completing the assimilation of ATI with their next generation Graphics product release, due later this year. This will be first generation without ATI branding, and the introduction of a fully AMD branded product line.

AMD Rebranding - The Death of ATI

[caveman-jim]

Farewell, ATI! I hope the AMD Radeon brand continues the success of the HD 5000 series when it is launched with the new product series this year. Bringing the graphics and processor branding together makes a lot of sense with FUSION APU's imminent.

[Roxen]

Meh.

[erek]

Originally Posted by SirRoxen

Meh.

you don't care?

[Lupine]

Its hard to see a brand like ATI go away, one that has such name recognition. But, the more I think about it, Radeon more than ATI is the key to that recognition. So as much as it pains me to see ATI finally retired, Radeon is still with us.

Please keep it red though. Green team vs ... green team just doesn't cut it.

[Roxen]

Originally Posted by erek

you don't care?

I think it's a pretty lame decision. I don't completely understand why they'd drop the ATi name.

[noko]

Well then it is settled then, new shift in naming, well Radeon which is actually the biggy stays, plus I do like the red better too . We don't need two green teams in graphics, except AMD is more green per se then Nvidia is on another thought. If the 6xxx is as successful or better then the 5xxx series, looks very good so far, then this shift probably will go very smooth as well with some great products making that name look even better. Probably the best way to do this with a winning product line coming down the pike at full speed +.

[caveman-jim]

Originally Posted by SirRoxen

I think it's a pretty lame decision. I don't completely understand why they'd drop the ATi name.

Did you read the article?

[Roxen]

Nope, but I don't think anything it says is going to justify it to me.

edit: caption under the ruby doll picture says "SirEirc's Ruby Doll"

[caveman-jim]

That's to see if you were reading it. If you read it, then you'll have information on the 'why' that you were missing.

[Dungeoncrawler]

Would be interesting to have the ability to sit-in on one of these board-decisions. The aquisition of Alienware by Dell is another prime example. Unlike AMD however they decided to maintain the Alienware brand. Personally, don't think AMD deserves to be associated with ati at this point anyways.

[Skynet]

Sad to see the ATI name go. But it's nostalgia more than anything, I understand why AMD is doing it, it makes sense.

What I don't understand is why the hell they would allow Radeon stickers on notebook systems without the AMD name on them. That is a colossal mistake!

[Sasquach]

Does AMD now need to update their logo?
Its been the same since i can remember....
they just pretty it up every so often.

I think Intel's updated their logo 2-3 times already.

Looks like nVidia is the last graphics card company standing from the many that existed but evaporated over the years.

I dont think anyone will really notice immediately if all the boxes still look the same. Its just that instead of a big "ATI" logo in the corner it'll be a "RADEON" logo with a small AMD logo underneath (thats assuming the ATI branded ones).

[Dyre Straits]

Originally Posted by Dungeoncrawler

...... Personally, don't think AMD deserves to be associated with ATI at this point anyways.

Pretty much sums up my own opinion of the matter. I have not liked the union between AMD and ATI from the git-go and this only gives me reason to dislike it even more.

In fact, I dislike this move so much that I may just give the green team a try on my next upgrade. And, that's from someone who has never, EVER, put a nV video card into any system I've bulit for myself since the early 1990s.

The "death" of ATI is a very, very sad affair to me.

[Roxen]

Originally Posted by caveman-jim

That's to see if you were reading it. If you read it, then you'll have information on the 'why' that you were missing.

I read it, I understood the reasons to do it before reading, but I still don't like it. Don't read into it.

[Uroboros]

Originally Posted by Dyre Straits

Pretty much sums up my own opinion of the matter. I have not liked the union between AMD and ATI from the git-go and this only gives me reason to dislike it even more.

In fact, I dislike this move so much that I may just give the green team a try on my next upgrade. And, that's from someone who has never, EVER, put a nV video card into any system I've bulit for myself since the early 1990s.

The "death" of ATI is a very, very sad affair to me.

Wow, so much drama over a name change/drop.

It's not like they've annouced that the job of designing and building video cards is being turned over to trained monkees.

Whatever ATI is today is what ATI will be after the name is dropped. People who want to buy ATI will know what to do. The rest of the general public buys whatever the salesperson convinces them to buy.

[Faceless Rebel]

The final Damn It!! in DAAMIT can finally be uttered.

[digitalwanderer]

Good read Jim. Did you go through several stages of depression while writing your thingy too?

[Pepsin]

It makes sense and I'm surprised it didn't happen earlier. The 4800 series GPUs did extremely well at a time when AMDs CPU division was really struggling. Putting an AMD logo on video card boxes might have improved AMDs reputation overall?

Too bad AMD won't be allowed to display their logo on Intel systems with Radeon graphics. That would have been great advertising Instead they've had to create an ugly, minimalist badge that only says "Radeon Graphics".

[caveman-jim]

Originally Posted by Skynet

What I don't understand is why the hell they would allow Radeon stickers on notebook systems without the AMD name on them. That is a colossal mistake!

AMD aren't particularly pleased about it either, but the option is to continue as they do now with no branding on systems with their hardware inside, or at least have the Radeon or FirePro branding. While the 800lb Gorilla is currently in chains, OEM partners remember that Kong escaped eventually and remembered those who turned on him. Similarly, Intel's FTC overseers won't be there in 6 years time, and anyone who wants to continue to enjoy a tier 1 relationship with Intel at that time - when they have integrated GPU, SoC management solutions, products from consumer through enterprise grade networking, computing, storage and management - will be reticent to stick the knife in now.

Originally Posted by Dyre Straits

Pretty much sums up my own opinion of the matter. I have not liked the union between AMD and ATI from the git-go and this only gives me reason to dislike it even more.

In fact, I dislike this move so much that I may just give the green team a try on my next upgrade. And, that's from someone who has never, EVER, put a nV video card into any system I've bulit for myself since the early 1990s.

The "death" of ATI is a very, very sad affair to me.

Of all the reasons to switch graphics card brands, that is the most asinine I have encountered. The only reasons to purchase should be based on performance, price, warranty and features. The sticker on the cards should be irrelevant.

Originally Posted by digitalwanderer

Good read Jim. Did you go through several stages of depression while writing your thingy too?

Thanks digi. Not really, I've been waiting for this since I saw that this was how ATI gets to be an integral part of AMD, being in FUSION. This is not the dismissal of ATI, but the full on acceptance of it with their core technologies and resources being key to the company's continued success.

My favorite part of the article is the interview with Terry and Eric

[SIrPauly]

imho,

It's time to move forward considering the vision and future may be Fusion. Radeon is a strong brand name and a testament and legacy of ATI.

[Sound_Card]

I guess it was a matter of time. I hope they know what they are doing. ATi is a very powerful name in graphics. Couple things though...
1) Get rid of Green. Seriously. It's an ugly sea green for one, and two, Nvidia is green. Make the company color red.
2) Radeon is powerful and I'm glad they are pushing it's name instead of just ATi Premium graphics. That always seemed silly to me. However, why no AMD under or over Radeon?

[caveman-jim]

[caveman-jim]

Got an email from AMD's, Dave Erskine, thought I'd share:

Hi James,



Good article, very detailed. I know it is tough to watch the ATI name go by the wayside but I also think that it will help in terms of creating more awareness for AMD graphics.



Best regards,



Dave

[Sweetz]

I may be misunderstanding or I skimmed over something important - but I'm looking at the chart at the end that shows that all AMD CPUs (except Opterons) are going to be branded as "Vision".

What's up with that? They're going to rename all their CPUs to "Vision"? Or is that basically just showing there will be a single case badge and they'll (presumably) still maintain their individual CPU names?

I like the existing CPU badges "Vision" as a branding for a processor is kind of lame, IMHO - sounds kind of like something I'd expect to see on a Mac not a PC, which is to say it seems pretentious and more like a name for a fashion line instead of a processor line

[caveman-jim]

Read more about VISION here and here

[Treeckcold57]

As long as they keeping the Radeon name and red color. That's fine with me. But I do like ATI name. Because its sound a cool name.

[Lupine]

Originally Posted by Treeckcold57

As long as they keeping the Radeon name and red color. That's fine with me. But I do like ATI name. Because its sound a cool name.

Yeah, I agree, but that's nostalgia talking, for me. From a marketing standpoint, I think it was more than a little confusing. Do we call it AMD ATI Radeon? AMD Radeon? ATI Radeon? We've had this discussion more than once, in regard to how best to write it in reviews, and there are generally as many opinions as people. In the end, the common thread is - Radeon. That's the key label, along with the color, and the product name that people recognize.

[CATALYST maker]

THIS SUCKS!!!!

How did Eric get a Japanese Ruby and I didnt??????

GRRRRR

[Sweetz]

Originally Posted by caveman-jim

Read more about VISION here and here

This is so anal retentive, but it bugs me that they're calling it VISION, but the logo actually says VISIOn.

Especially because RADEON still has a normal captial N.