amd-vision posts

In 2006, PC processor maker AMD made huge headlines with its acquisition of the ATI PC graphics chip and card business for $5.4 billion. Now, four years later, AMD has decided the ATI brand name has served its purpose and will phase out the use of the ATI brand name later this year.

While the ATI brand is going away, AMD will still retain the Radeon brand for its consumer graphics chips and boards. All of AMD's current graphics products will still have the ATI brand, presumably until they are phased out. According to AnandTech, AMD is also simplifying its brands across the board in 2011 with the Vision name as the only one that will be used for all of its CPU products.

Even if you are somewhat experienced with the insides of a gaming PC it can still be confusing to figure out what components you should get for your rig. Now graphics chip and processor company AMD has decided to make this process a little simpler with the launch of a new rebranding effort

This week AMD announced their new VISION branding for PCs that contain both their processors as well as their ATI graphics chips. AMD idea is that rather than throw out a bunch of numbers for products that could be confusing, you pick up a PC with one of four different VISION categories so you know the capabilities of the PC.

So what does this mean for gamers? Well, it means if you want a good gaming PC rig, you might want to avoid PCs that have AMD's standard VISION brand (for normal PC use) and AMD's VISION Premium brand (for watching movies and photo editing) and go for the AMD VISION Ultimate brand for the high end gaming level. PCs with these brands should ship to stores this fall/holiday just in time for the launch of Windows 7.

However if you want to wait a few months, AMD will have a fourth level, VISION Black, that will "enable the highest end capabilities sought by enthusiasts, primarily on desktop PCs" in the first quarter of 2010.