Well, I did say "I think" and "I bet" to denote that it was opinion and not fact.
My original comment was how sales of consoles has been pretty demanding, and AMD may not have foreseen such a demand. That could have caused a supply issue, where it meant that PC products could not be produced.
For example, Sony used GDDR5 for their system, this could have caused a lack of supply for the GPUs they make for PCs.
Or, GF is cranking out console chips at a priority over PC chips, as requested by AMD.
It could be multiple issue, and my opinion was posted as a possibility that I felt was likely.
I do admit that your proposal is interesting: AMD supply the new consoles has effected their ability to meet their PC demand. BUT-
But a gddr5 shortage? This should have a much bigger impact. It would be hard for Nvidia to be growing in both sales and market share if their was a ddr5 shortage. Perhaps its just AMDs ration of DDR5 being used up, that there is only so much to go around. i dont know but you would think there has to be something keeping AMD from having supply. There is no two ways about it, AMD is missing out on real money by not having enough supply in their upper tier GPU segments. This is very unfortunate. These are typically high margin products, nothing to kid around about. And here we are, months into a very high demand that AMD hasnt been able to serve.
And perhaps we could take this a little deeper. If this is because of their console commitments then obviously they have made decisions to sacrifice. Perhaps there is deeper reasons as to why Nvidia opted out this round, firmly stating: we were not gonna do it at the price those guys were willing to pay. There is always trade offs and the choices you make must be made carefully.
And perhaps AMD knew the risk and the trade off. Short term, for sure. And maybe this is where mantle came from. They bite the bullet short term but attempt to leverage the consoles long term to balance it out.
It is an interesting prospect. But it doesnt have to be DDR5. It could be any component AMD uses for their graphics. The obligation to do consoles has got to be huge. Millions of millions of GPUs. Too bad there are slim margins. But you would think that its not really bad cause they are still making money. True true. But everything you do as a company has a cost. If you put time in it, it has a dollar cost. But it doesnt end there. Every minute you put in one thing is a minute gone, it is spent. So you have to be careful where you put your time and energy. You'll want to put it on the things that have the most pay off, in the end. This is a given.
But i t is not always so simple. Your decision may also cause collateral damage to other things, like deciding to go drinking instead of going to work. Of course you would loose your chance of earning your pay that day, but what if your drinking causes you to run off and wreck your car? Your car is busted and you go to jail. You cannot be reckless, it just doesnt pay.
But the point is, you have to weigh your decisions. A low margin console win is one thing but it also takes you resources away from something else. But now if it consequentially prevents sales of your high margin GPU segments, it is a much more serious issue. A big gamble. And perhaps AMD thought they would use mantle as justification? I dont know.
If these shortages are a result of their console obligations, then i would seriously question AMDs decision making. Seems awfully risky to me. A gamble. I am not sure AMD should be rolling the dice.
When your cards are in short supply, you are losing sales. That is money lost. Money on large margin parts. Not only that but people who set out to buy an AMD card would buy an Nvidia card because of inflated prices. Some of their core user base now pushed straight into their competitions hands. And possibly lost to nvidia forever as most people already prefer their products. AMD is pushing their customers to Nvidia. And this cannot be good. But......it doesnt stop
In the meantime..... nvidia has decided that they would enable mining capabilities on their Maxwell GPUs. The lowest GM107 is extremely efficient at mining, really nothing close to it. And the chances of it catching on really seem to be high. If the AMD shortage is caused by their console obligations, Nvidia is completely freed from such. They would be able to supply the chips in truck loads.
one thing leads to another....to another.....to another....
This is why i say your proposal is interesting. Decisions your company make have a domino effect. The truth is, regardless of how the shortage exist, it does. It is pushing more gamers to Nvidia, gamers that wouldnt even be in the market for an Nvidia GPU. Also, at the same time Maxwell is readying rolling out and mining will no longer be an AMD only thing. The GM107 is hands down the most efficient GPU mining card there is. Nothing close. So this market is quickly moving while AMD shortages exist. There are opportunities being lost forever and you suggest it might be all at the hand of AMD themselves. Interesting