Game Blog

The Adventures of AMD’s Greatest Fan

By Guest Blogger, Daniel Andersson, AMD’s Greatest Fan

AMD's Greatest Fan, Daniel Andersson, visiting the AMD headquarters in Austin, Texas

The day I began researching AMD products – an endeavor that would eventually land me with my first AMD CPU – is forever etched in my mind. Fifteen years later, it has evolved from a simple purchase to an entire lifestyle. This week, it became an amazing opportunity to travel across the globe to visit the AMD headquarters in the United States!

When I first heard about AMD, I was a computer novice. I remember sitting in a friend’s apartment researching both AMD’s and Intel’s hardware offerings. AMD caught my eye because of its better performance and price. After extensively looking into both, I knew AMD was a natural fit for me. I’ve never looked back. My interest in AMD quickly shifted from a “newbie” experience to the all our “AMD’s Greatest Fan.” I know AMD products like the back of my hand and my trip to AMD in Austin, Texas has opened my eyes to the company as a whole. Being here is a dream come true. I am finally able to experience the spirit of AMD in-person and fully grasp what AMD stands for.

I use my AMD products mostly for folding in Folding@home and World Community Grid but I also play games on my PC and administrate my website AMD Forum. My best advice for people who are considering purchasing computer hardware is to ask yourself “What am I going to use my computer for?” From there, find what works for you at the right price point.

As for my trip to the US, on my first day I was picked up at my hotel by Simon Solotko, AMD’s senior manager of social media, to kick off my visit to their headquarters. I had meetings with several AMD staff members, including the opportunity to finally meet in-person with John Taylor, director of client product and software marketing, and Phil Hughes, a senior public relations manager, with whom I’ve been building relationships online over the past several months. I read about their work at AMD and reached out to them online.

Brad Burgess, AMD chief chip architect, Daniel Andersson and Roger Jennings, AMD senior design director

Not only have I met the AMD staff, but I’ve been able to see some amazing things during my stay. I’ve had the opportunity to visit the secret labs and see the “Bulldozer” and “Llano” up and and running for testing. The AMD team even let me see the successor to “Zambezi”! The team has many more activities and plans in place for this week – I am so excited!

When I’m not at AMD, I’ve been enjoying Guero’s Taco Bar for great Mexican food. The people in Austin have been kind and friendly and the city has so much to offer. It’s beautiful and very different from where I live in Sweden.

This week, I’ve been able to share my passion for AMD with the team and they’ve been able to share their passion for the company. My trip has proven just how hard the AMD team works to produce the highest-quality and cutting-edge products. That is few and far between these days!

Thanks for reading and I hope to connect with fellow AMD fans soon! Feel free to give me a shout on Twitter visit my AMD Forum for more information (though I warn you it is in Swedish). Stay tuned for more about my trip this week.

-Daniel Andersson

P.S. My absolute favorite AMD product has to be my Phenom II X6 1090T CPU!

Daniel Andersson is a fan of AMD and has been remunerated for his remarks in this blog. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites, and references to third party trademarks, are provided for convenience and illustrative purposes only. Unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such links, and no third party endorsement of AMD or any of its products is implied.