AMD has been beating Intel on discrete GPU performance for a while now, this doesn't come as a huge shock. It's one of the few things AMD can hang their hat on (other than being better chips for the price/performance ratio... but even there Intel is catching up).

I just built a rig for my sister with one of those Trinity APU chips (A8-5600K) and was really impressed with it. Had smooth framerates at high settings on modern games, could multitask really well and it runs really cool even with the stock heatsink... all for $99 (on sale). I could've upgraded to Intel but the prices were just too high for her budget.

If AMD keeps making incremental improvements they will always have more than enough power to plough through at a respectable rate.  

Most of my machines are running 965 Black Edition and I see no reason to change them.

Though the 3750K in my sons machine is pretty awesome.

Raise a glass to both these fine companies.  Raise another for Stardock of course.  

And then as you as you are staggering toward the door make sure you have a designated cpu driver. 

I wouldn't exactly say suck eggs to Intel, but I am pleased for AMD.  This PS4 deal will do a lot for the company, not just in terms of sales but also in raising its corporate and public profiles.  I read recently that AMD hired a couple of power players, one with massive portable experience and the other a chipset specialist, so sunnier days for AMD may be just around the corner.

What in the haven's name are you talking about? AMD is in huge financial problems, they even scaled down their CPU production. Their CPUs are losing battle with the latest Intel architecture performance-wise, and their latest GPU chips just cannot compete with Nvidia's Kepler architecture. This PS4 deal looks like their last chance, and it's the same way on Sony's side considering their own financial situation. Sony even had to sell their headquarters building.

However, big question about the potential ability to succeed on the market of next gen consoles remains, because new mobile devices and tablets are stealing their market share. Wii U is a minor disaster and so was PS Vita. 

The development studios and publishers are bankrupting left and right, so I wonder how will Sony ensure there are games attractive enough (and exclusive) for PS4 on launch to convince people to buy a new console. Lack of good new games was exactly what crippled the PS Vita start. 

That may be true of the GPUs [I wouldn't know as I use Nvidia] but the gap is closing in CPU performance with the latest FX series, and AMD's lower price point, more bang for the buck, will help keep them in the hunt.  And then there's the high profile players they recently snared from Apple, IBM and Microsoft. 

I really hope AMD turns its fortunes around and, with the help of its new employees, becomes a force in both the CPU and GPU markets.  Why... because I've been using AMD CPU's for a number of years now, they've always been reliable and I like the product.  The FX8350 x8 4Ghz is a more than just decent CPU and is quite zippy in my Win 8 machine, so yeah, I want to see AMD survive and prosper so it can develop more on its latest series of CPU's... to make its GPU's more competitive.

Yeah you did mean to say that the Will U was made by Nintendo right?

I've always liked AMD.  Am still using an old AMN athlo II X2 processor, 3000 Mhz, 2 core.  Just fine for this old mans needs.

I like AMD too, but, they need a boost in their sales.

PC market is contracting, and if they don't enter tablets phones market, and dominate consoles they will go...

Unfortunately, MS and Sony don't pay too much of a premium for the huge orders...

Ill keep my fingers crossed.

Intel is hugely overexpensive.

as to GFX cards, I had both GeForces and similar generation Radeon cards (similar in speed and tests)

Radeons were always cooler and multipicture and TV picture was significantly better then geforce.

on laptops I owned (4 so far) I had 3 M GeForce cards and once ati/amd card. GeForce ones were after warranty passed overheating heavily.

I dont remember having ATI's mobile card in laptop turning its fan ever unless in a 3d game. (and I could play it, not turn it off after an hour of playing due to overheating).

laps were presario lines x2, acer x1, last of the thinkpads.

That's why they snaffled a wizz kid in mobile tech from Apple, and a chip wizard from IBM... to take on the phone and tablet markets.  I was also reading that the AMD x8 FX8350 fared well in benchmark tests against comparable Intel CPU's... as in considerably better than its predessessor the, FX8150.  So yes, there is hope for AMD and the future.

As for the PC market contracting, well I have to wonder about that.  Smartphones and tablets are relatively new, and people are purchasing them to remain connected while on the run, but once the mainstream has caught up, it could well be that we see a level playing field again and PC sales improve markedly from the current trend.  I know that in my own household, purchasing phones and tablets took priority over PC related purchases for a while, simply because we didn't have them, but now that we do, focus has shifted back to our PC's. 

It's like any other fad, everybody has to get one because it's the 'in' thing, but once everything settles down it will all go back to normal.  And people aren't just going to forget their PC's.  I know that within my own family and circle of friends, while the smartphones and tablets have been useful tools, we often find them wanting and return to our PC's to achieve what couldn't be done on the less powerful mobile devices. 

For mine, the press and so-called tech experts have latched ont the phone ad tablet fad like leeches, making it out to be the best thing since sliced bread, but once all the singing ad dancing is over, or another fad takes its place, things will settle down and those sales will be in decline.  As it is, Apple has canceled parts shipments due to weaker than expected sales of iPhone 5 and the iPad Mini. 

Yup, the old tried and true [desktop PC] will be around for a long time yet.

Sorry, I meant to say integrated GPU performance. The A-10 hands-down beats out the Intel competition, the Ivy Bridge HD4000 Graphics. For CPU performance, Intel is clearly in the lead (as long as you don't take price into account).

Which is why AMD will always have a place in the market... Intel factors price on how much it thinks the market can bear.  Right now, economies worldwide are suffering, so Intel's price are a little better that if they were good.  However, AMD has adjusted similarly and still beat Intel on price for comparable products.  Thing is, when the world economy picks up again, Intel will be back to charging premium prices again.  AMD's prices may rise some, but nowhere near as sharply as Intel's. 

I'm not going to complain about AMD's latest series of CPU's because I'm more than happy with my FX8350 and its performance, but I really hope that future development brings AMD much closer, if not beyond Intel's best.... cos I'd like to see the underdog take the crown.

Kaveri, Kabini and Temash (their new architectures) are due this year.  I plan to get Kaveri.

They've already got a better proc than Intel for cheaper x86 tablets in the current stuff (since it has proper SATA and USB3 on it) but the resolution is pretty low and I imagine that'll be fixed in the new parts.

But that's wrong, while Intel has many more high-end CPUs than AMD, the FX-8530 can go toe to toe with the i7-3770K and i5-3570 quite well. To say that AMD doesn't have any high performing chips simply isn't true.

Eh, no...

If all were multi-threaded to perfection, the 8530 would be awesome, but it's an 8 core processor that matches up well with Intel's hot 4 core processors.  The cores themselves are much, much faster, at significantly lower clock speeds.

It's an outstanding value processor, but it's not high performance for the typical application.  For playing Sins, my 2500k is almost 20% faster, it was and still is a little over $200.  Intel has two years on them, with bargain processors.  They've got such a commanding lead in processor performance that AMD needs twice as many cores just to stay in competition.

AMD is an absolute dog for single thread performance right now, they've got some great values, but they're way behind in power.  A mid range current gen i7 can get you 50% better performance over the best AMD has to offer.  They've made very little in the way of gains over the last few years.  Their GPU integration is excellent though, not surprising since they bought ATI.  Intel has been sucking at integrated graphics for over a decade, it was miraculous that they did so well with the new stuff in the first place.

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/singleThread.html