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It's probably not surprising that cheaper options sacrifice some level of software or hardware support - that's why they're cheaper. Software support is why the

by kimixa 3y ago

It's probably not surprising that cheaper options sacrifice some level of software or hardware support - that's why they're cheaper. Software support is why the "pro" versions exist as separate (more expensive) SKUs, after all. Of course you'll get a better service if you pay more. Expecting a high performance, easy, turnkey solution for a low price is expecting to have your cake and eat it. It's never happened on any other technology with this level of demand, and expecting it now seems naive at best. There's too much money (and hype) sloshing around in the sector, and limited supply. Enthusiasts and experimenters have always traded their time for cost - if only because their time investment and learning (and maybe fun) is the whole point, not the end results of their experiments. If you expect financial returns due to your incredible idea, you should be looking for investors not old hardware.

brucethemoose2 3y ago
AMD Instinct cards are very expensive Pro products. The thing is, they are more geared towards HPC/Scientific computing. The only thing that really makes them appealing for ML is that they have somewhat more price depreciation than Nvidia cards and M1 Maxes, for the moment. > Expecting a high performance, easy, turnkey solution for a low price is expecting to have your cake and eat it. But I don't agree with this. This is not a normal "premium" hardware market, its a greedy pseudo monopoly that also dramatically supply constrained at the moment, until maybe next year (as the article points out). Business can pay a premium, but that's different than a lack of competition and supply.
PeterisP 3y ago
Your arguments are technically valid, and explain why AMD is doing this, but the eventual outcome is that for the (many!) non-corporate users of would-be-ML-hwardware you get better service by avoiding AMD/ROCm and buying nVidia hardware instead, because there you do get appropriate software support also for old cards, gaming cards, and old gaming cards And afterwards the AMD community is wondering why researchers and toolmakers have limited support their ecosystem - this is why.

by kimixa 3y ago

brucethemoose2 3y ago

AMD Instinct cards are very expensive Pro products. The thing is, they are more geared towards HPC/Scientific computing. The only thing that really makes them appealing for ML is that they have somewhat more price depreciation than Nvidia cards and M1 Maxes, for the moment. > Expecting a high performance, easy, turnkey solution for a low price is expecting to have your cake and eat it. But I don't agree with this. This is not a normal "premium" hardware market, its a greedy pseudo monopoly that also dramatically supply constrained at the moment, until maybe next year (as the article points out). Business can pay a premium, but that's different than a lack of competition and supply.

PeterisP 3y ago

Your arguments are technically valid, and explain why AMD is doing this, but the eventual outcome is that for the (many!) non-corporate users of would-be-ML-hwardware you get better service by avoiding AMD/ROCm and buying nVidia hardware instead, because there you do get appropriate software support also for old cards, gaming cards, and old gaming cards And afterwards the AMD community is wondering why researchers and toolmakers have limited support their ecosystem - this is why.