AMD Responds to NVIDIA's GPP: AIB Partners to Announce New Radeon-Exclusive Brands

[Raevenlord]

In a blog post on its gaming website, AMD has decided to put on the white gloves for a distinctive strike against NVIDIA's GPP initiative, which has seen rivers of ink and public discussion already. In the blog post, entitled "Radeon RX Graphics: A Gamer's Choice", the company is clearly putting its footing on the same stance it always finds itself positioned to by NVIDIA: the freedom of choice, and freedom of standards side of the equation.

The blog post entirely reads as an anti environment-lock manifesto, extorting the virtues of PC gaming and the open-ended building and assembly of parts from various manufacturers that it's built upon. As a move against NVIDIA's decision to enforce their GPP initiative to lock-in AIB partners towards having an NVIDIA-exclusive brand, AMD has come out of the gates saying that the simple solution is for partners to announce new, AMD-exclusive brands as well. This is logical; was to be expected; and is really AMD's only move out of this forced hand it was dealt with.





AMD's opinion is written on the walls of its blog post, though: "The freedom to tell others in the industry that they won't be boxed in to choosing proprietary solutions that come bundled with "gamer taxes" just to enjoy great experiences they should rightfully have access to." We've already seen one such brand being announced today by ASUS with its AREZ, AMD-exclusive brand. Others will follow suit, and the only thing NVIDIA will likely be left with is users' opinion on whether exactly this was a required move from the company.

AMD's blog post follows in full:

Radeon RX Graphics: A Gamer's Choice
"Our proud pastime of PC gaming has been built on the idea of freedom. Freedom to choose. How to play the game. What to do and when to do it. And specifically, what to play it on. PC gaming has a long, proud tradition of choice. Whether you build and upgrade your own PCs, or order pre-built rigs after you've customized every detail online, you know that what you're playing on is of your own making, based on your freedom to choose the components that you want. Freedom of choice is a staple of PC gaming.

Over the coming weeks, you can expect to see our add-in board partners launch new brands that carry an AMD Radeon product. AMD is pledging to reignite this freedom of choice when gamers choose an AMD Radeon RX graphics card. These brands will share the same values of openness, innovation, and inclusivity that most gamers take to heart. The freedom to tell others in the industry that they won't be boxed in to choosing proprietary solutions that come bundled with "gamer taxes" just to enjoy great experiences they should rightfully have access to. The freedom to support a brand that actively works to advance the art and science of PC gaming while expanding its reach.



The key values that brands sporting AMD Radeon products will offer are:

A dedication to open innovation
AMD works tirelessly to advance PC gaming through close collaboration with hardware standards bodies, API and game developers, making our technologies available to all to help further the industry. Through our collaboration with JEDEC on memory standards like HBM and HBM2, Microsoft on DirectX and Khronos on Vulkan, and through the GPUOpen initiative where we provide access to a comprehensive collection of visual effects, productivity tools, and other content at no cost, we're enabling the industry to the benefit of gamers.

A commitment to true transparency through industry standards
Through industry standards like AMD FreeSync technology, we're providing the PC ecosystem with technologies that significantly enhance gamers' experiences, enabling partners to adopt them at no cost to consumers, rather than penalizing gamers with proprietary technology "taxes" and limiting their choice in displays.

Real partnerships with real consistency
We work closely with all our AIB partners, so that our customers are empowered with the best, high-performance, high quality gaming products and technologies available from AMD. No anti-gamer / anti-competitive strings attached.

Expanding the PC gaming ecosystem
We create open and free game development technologies that enable the next generation of immersive gaming experiences across PC and console ecosystems. These efforts have resulted in advancements such as AMD FreeSync adoption on TVs for Xbox One S or X, integration of forward looking "Vega" architecture features and technologies into Far Cry 5 without penalizing the competition, and inclusion of open sourced AMD innovations into the Vulkan API which game developers can adopt freely.



We pledge to put premium, high-performance graphics cards in the hands of as many gamers as possible and give our partners the support they need without anti-competitive conditions. Through the support of our add-in-board partners that carry forward the AMD Radeon RX brand, we're continuing to push the industry openly, transparently and without restrictions so that gamers have access to the best immersive technologies, APIs and experiences.

We believe that freedom of choice in PC gaming isn't a privilege. It's a right."

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Xzibit]

 

[Vayra86]

Kudos to AMD! An elegant response, now let's see if they can get some AIB firepower on the line as well. Their best possible counter I'd say without creating a shitstorm.

Its a shame that Asus already announced their Arez line, I don't get the idea AMD was very close to that development. And they should be right on top of this with each and every AIB.

I like the tone of voice in this bit of marketing, especially the last sentence.

 

[xkm1948]

Nah should be more like "Radeon RX: A Miner's Choice" They don't give 2 cents crap about gamers. The VR stuttering/down-clocking issue I reported 2 months ago is not even acknowledged in their release notes. Their GPU are not that great for gaming to begin with: hot, slow, power hungry. RTG brought this kinda GPP crap onto themselves. Don't blame your own failure on other company's technological superiority. If RTG had any decent GPU then the market will positively respond to it. I have been given my money exclusively to RTG for every generation of GPU since ATi 9700 days, and I can't even stand the way they operate now. Wake the F up, RTG, start by innovating and properly treat your customers who used their hard earnerd dollars to support you.

 

[Imsochobo]

Nah should be more like "Radeon RX: A Miner's Choice" They don't give 2 cents crap about gamers. The VR stuttering/down-clocking issue I reported 2 months ago is not even acknowledged in their release notes. Their GPU are not that great for gaming to begin with: hot, slow, power hungry. RTG brought this kinda GPP crap onto themselves. Don't blame your own failure on other company's technological superiority. If RTG had any decent GPU then the market will positively respond to it. I have been given my money exclusively to RTG for every generation of GPU since ATi 9700 days, and I can't even stand the way they operate now. Wake the F up, RTG, start by innovating and properly treat your customers who used their hard earnerd dollars to support you.

Shut up... please.

GPP is a monopoly process, it's not "we have superior gpu's" kinda deal.

Reclocking issues, I do not have different issues from my maxwell on vega.
I do have ineffecient design vs pascal, Yes!
I do not find my vega hardware to be WOW, This is great.
But at the price which was 1070~TI price it's hard to beat, Freesync and I'm a happy camper despite not liking the hardware.

Rx580 isn't bad, rx570 isn't bad, the product doesn't suck.
Tons of reasons to buy a desktop AMD GPU.

I will however say that AMD in laptops do indeed suck apart from the new apu's, and yes outright suck!

 

[evernessince]

Nah should be more like "Radeon RX: A Miner's Choice" They don't give 2 cents crap about gamers. The VR stuttering/down-clocking issue I reported 2 months ago is not even acknowledged in their release notes. Their GPU are not that great for gaming to begin with: hot, slow, power hungry. RTG brought this kinda GPP crap onto themselves. Don't blame your own failure on other company's technological superiority. If RTG had any decent GPU then the market will positively respond to it. I have been given my money exclusively to RTG for every generation of GPU since ATi 9700 days, and I can't even stand the way they operate now. Wake the F up, RTG, start by innovating and properly treat your customers who used their hard earnerd dollars to support you.

You do realize that there was litteraly a black screen issue on Nvidia cards for VR right? So great, you have stuttering issues in VR, I couldn't even see the game. This isn't an uncommen issue either, many Rift owners had it. I would know, I experienced it with my 1080 Ti multiple times. Why does there always gotta be people like you in the comments "but AMD doesn't care!". You comment is nothing but a bunch of excuses and doesn't add anything to the conversation.

 

[qubit]

NVIDIA make great high end graphics cards, but why do they have to be such douchebags about it with this anti-competitive crap? Forcing AMD to make a statement like this in response isn't what competition is about.

We really, really need AMD to be competitive again like they're doing with CPUs. Just look at how it's putting the wind up Intel.

 

[Recus]

Soooo boycott AMD?

 

[Fluffmeister]

Soooo boycott AMD?

Yeah freedom of choice and exclusive brands don't go together, lets be honest most of the die-hards pick their brand of choice regardless. In the real world Joe Pub try to make informed choices but it all boils down to budget and availabilty.

Equally AMD don't want freedom of choice, they want everyone to buy their products, well at least their shareholders and investors do. Maybe the rest are hippies and are all freelove.

 

[dj-electric]

"Hi, we're losing to our competitor. Here's a video about a post apocalyptic future. Also, a bunch of minorities looking at the camera and an inspiring piano song"


I love you guys, but i'm not buying it, AMD.
Just hope the whole gpp thing will be sorted out.

 

[Dave65]

Good on AMD...F YOU, NVIDIA!

 

[T4C Fantasy]

Why though xD

https://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/b5805/arez-hd-6450-silent-low-profile-1-gb

https://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/b5806/arez-r5-230-silent-low-profile

https://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/b5807/arez-r5-230-silent-low-profile-2-gb

https://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/b5808/arez-r7-240-low-profile

https://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/b5809/arez-r7-240-low-profile-oc-4-gb

https://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/b5811/arez-r7-240-low-profile

https://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/b5810/arez-r7-240-low-profile-oc-4-gb

 

[dj-electric]

How do you pronounce AREZ?
Aye-res? Uh-res?

 

[Thimblewad]

How do you pronounce AREZ?
Aye-res? Uh-res?

"Aries", the Greek god of war - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ares

Maybe they were announcing it?

 

[B-Real]

Nah should be more like "Radeon RX: A Miner's Choice" They don't give 2 cents crap about gamers. The VR stuttering/down-clocking issue I reported 2 months ago is not even acknowledged in their release notes. Their GPU are not that great for gaming to begin with: hot, slow, power hungry. RTG brought this kinda GPP crap onto themselves. Don't blame your own failure on other company's technological superiority. If RTG had any decent GPU then the market will positively respond to it. I have been given my money exclusively to RTG for every generation of GPU since ATi 9700 days, and I can't even stand the way they operate now. Wake the F up, RTG, start by innovating and properly treat your customers who used their hard earnerd dollars to support you.

"hot, slow, power hungry"

I didn't know everybody plays with a GTX 1080 Ti. Oh wait... RX 480/580 was a better performance/value choice than GTX 1060, Vega 56 is ~10% faster than a 1070. Vega 64 performs as a 1080. Are they more power hungry than an NV? Yes. Are they slower? No. 1080 Ti is a different story.

 

[champsilva]

So... wheres our freedom of choice for

Vegas custom coolers
What about old gen 295X2 and others dual GPU cards only been sold with reference design with a branded box...

RTG, not so free after all

 

[dj-electric]

So... wheres our freedom of choice for

You are free to choose between a 450$ RX 580 and a 800$ Vega 56

 

[Vya Domus]

I will however say that AMD in laptops do indeed suck apart from the new apu's, and yes outright suck!

Those 1500$ laptops with R7 1700s and RX 580s are an absolute steal , way better than anything you can find around that price with Intel/Nvidia.

I didn't know everybody plays with a GTX 1080 Ti.

Well most Nvidia keyboard warriors like to boast how Nvidia has the fastest card and how AMD can't compete with them because of that... and then they proceed to buy a 1050

 

[champsilva]

You are free to choose between a 450$ RX 580 and a 800$ Vega 56

 

[Space Lynx]

Those 1500$ laptops with R7 1700s and RX 580s are an absolute steal , way better than anything you can find around that price with Intel/Nvidia.

I paid $1,360 free ship from cyberpower pc for my gtx 1070 100hz IPS gsync 17.3" 7700HQ laptop. albeit, I removed the OS option to save some money since I already had my OS... also this was 1 year ago

 

[Vya Domus]

I paid $1,360 free ship from cyberpower pc for my gtx 1070 100hz IPS gsync 17.3" 7700HQ laptop. albeit, I removed the OS option to save some money since I already had my OS... also this was 1 year ago

Yeah but most never even think about custom laptops. The point was if you want to buy something with an AMD CPU/GPU from a store you can find some pretty compelling choices , unlike popular belief.

 

[John Naylor]

A lot of fluff but doesn't really saying anything other than "We can't compete in these performance niches so we'll spout platitudes instead ." Since the subject came up, all I can remember is the commercial for Burger King with the old granny muttering "Where's the beef ?". When nVidia came out w/ PhysX, AMD could have a) produced a competing technology or b) licensed it. When nVidia came out w/ G-Sync, they could have a) produced a competing technology or b) licensed it ...instead they chose c) Create a name similar to G-Sync, only provide a part of the technology and sell the lesser featured package at reduced price. AMD could have included a hardware module in the Freesync monitors, but they chose not to ... some Freesync monitor manufacturers did include such a MBR module but they were not well recived because when the Freesync monitors were able to offer motion blur reduction buy adding the necessary hardware, they no longer had that big price advantage... and AMD never jumped on the MBR bandwagon cause they chose instead to sell on price.

nVidia has been taking more and more control from it's board partners legally, driver wise and physically with successive generations. Now it is willing to give 3rd party vendors a boost by partnering with them to create high performance model lines that customers are willing to pay for. We will write our drivers so as to allow higher clocks, if during the install it detects PCBs that meet certain criteria with regard to voltage control, cooling, etc.

And if they do so, all they are saying that if you are using what we give you to increase mindshare and generate high margins, you can't allow our competitor to take advantage of the branding ***we*** helped you build. This is business as usual in America ... newsflash .... America is a capitalist dog eat dog country... deal with it. If you own a pizza joint, Coca Cola will give you a refrigerator to hold its products... you want to put Pepsi in there, you violate the licensing agreement and we take back OUR fridge.

Where's the beef ? If Asus calls the nVidia line Strix and their Radeon line Arez, so what ? If AMD says that Asus can't not sell an AMD based card called Arez, would there be such a steenk ? Buger King can sell a 1/4 pound burger but thye can not call it "the quarter pounder" There is nothing anti-competitive; nothing more sinister limiting the use of the name then there is about not putting our competitor's products in the free fridge we gave you. In the end, all AMD is saying ... "well we gonna offer free fridges too"... and now when we buy pizza, we'll see two fridges ...one with AMD stuff inside and one with nVidia ... great EXACTLY what I wanted ... a way to read the logo on top of the fridge telling me this is where I can find an nVidia product inside and here's where I can find and AMD product inside. Nothing anti competitive, more like truth in advertising. The nVidia Strix products of recent generations are overclocking by 14 - 31%. The AMD cards are in single digits for the most part. The only thing AMD loses by the name limiting partnership agreement is that no one will be purchasing a product thinking that because their nVidia Strix OC's 25%, their AMD Strix is capable of doing the same.

I hope Intel soon does the same as I am frustrated by confused users sending me proposed 8700k builds with X370 MoBos cause they think X370 is a cheaper version of the Z370.

 

[Space Lynx]

You are right John, it is a capitalist country. I know me and some other buddies have all decided to go all AMD in recent months for our gaming rigs. I will be selling my 1080 ti as soon as Vega 2 comes out and is MSRP. Let the free markets reign, and lets see what the markets look like 2-3 years from now.

The free markets usually find the companies that treat the consumer like crap, and knock them down a notch. Nvidia had no reason to bully in this manner, they control 80% of market share.

 

[Casecutter]

DEVO!

 

[xkm1948]

A lot of fluff but doesn't really saying anything other than "We can't compete in these performance niches so we'll spout platitudes instead ." Since the subject came up, all I can remember is the commercial for Burger King with the old granny muttering "Where's the beef ?". When nVidia came out w/ PhysX, AMD could have a) produced a competing technology or b) licensed it. When nVidia came out w/ G-Sync, they could have a) produced a competing technology or b) licensed it ...instead they chose c) Create a name similar to G-Sync, only provide a part of the technology and sell the lesser featured package at reduced price. AMD could have included a hardware module in the Freesync monitors, but they chose not to ... some Freesync monitor manufacturers did include such a MBR module but they were not well recived because when the Freesync monitors were able to offer motion blur reduction buy adding the necessary hardware, they no longer had that big price advantage... and AMD never jumped on the MBR bandwagon cause they chose instead to sell on price.

nVidia has been taking more and more control from it's board partners legally, driver wise and physically with successive generations. Now it is willing to give 3rd party vendors a boost by partnering with them to create high performance model lines that customers are willing to pay for. We will write our drivers so as to allow higher clocks, if during the install it detects PCBs that meet certain criteria with regard to voltage control, cooling, etc.

And if they do so, all they are saying that if you are using what we give you to increase mindshare and generate high margins, you can't allow our competitor to take advantage of the branding ***we*** helped you build. This is business as usual in America ... newsflash .... America is a capitalist dog eat dog country... deal with it. If you own a pizza joint, Coca Cola will give you a refrigerator to hold its products... you want to put Pepsi in there, you violate the licensing agreement and we take back OUR fridge.

Where's the beef ? If Asus calls the nVidia line Strix and their Radeon line Arez, so what ? If AMD says that Asus can't not sell an AMD based card called Arez, would there be such a steenk ? Buger King can sell a 1/4 pound burger but thye can not call it "the quarter pounder" There is nothing anti-competitive; nothing more sinister limiting the use of the name then there is about not putting our competitor's products in the free fridge we gave you. In the end, all AMD is saying ... "well we gonna offer free fridges too"... and now when we buy pizza, we'll see two fridges ...one with AMD stuff inside and one with nVidia ... great EXACTLY what I wanted ... a way to read the logo on top of the fridge telling me this is where I can find an nVidia product inside and here's where I can find and AMD product inside. Nothing anti competitive, more like truth in advertising. The nVidia Strix products of recent generations are overclocking by 14 - 31%. The AMD cards are in single digits for the most part. The only thing AMD loses by the name limiting partnership agreement is that no one will be purchasing a product thinking that because their nVidia Strix OC's 25%, their AMD Strix is capable of doing the same.

I hope Intel soon does the same as I am frustrated by confused users sending me proposed 8700k builds with X370 MoBos cause they think X370 is a cheaper version of the Z370.

This ^^^.

Plus it always seems to be easier to rush in and defend the "little guy" or the "brave revolution RTG" against big bad green nVidia.

Quoting AdoredTV's latest video, around 18:00. AMD's fan base is some of the most toxic fan base in hardware forum.