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AMD selling graphics to the masses

AMD has countered that strategy by taking the opposite tack. It tells PC makers and consumers they can select from a wide variety of combinations using the best that third-party chipmakers have to offer for chipsets, graphics and wireless technologies. In its latest iteration, this is known as Better By Design, Shutter said.

PCs sold this year with AMD's processors will come with a sticker -- colourful, of course -- that will feature brands from different companies such as Nvidia, Broadcom, Atheros and other AMD partners alongside AMD's own brand. AMD believes that consumers will recognise the various brands affixed to the PC and make the association that the graphics or wireless performance of that PC will be better than the Intel one sitting next to it, which doesn't have any specific graphics brand, Shutter said.

However, PC buyers who recognise the message of the brands are more likely the savvier customers who will want discrete graphics cards, said Stephen Baker, an analyst with NPD Group. "Sure, it matters, but you're talking to people who are already listening to you," he said.

AMD's approach targets a narrow class of PC shoppers: the price-sensitive buyer obsessed with graphics performance, McCarron said. Shoppers with money to spend who care about graphics -- and who have made associations with Nvidia or ATI -- are going to make sure they get a dedicated graphics card for either an Intel or AMD PC.

Most buyers looking to keep costs down aren't as concerned about graphics performance, and will take the best deal from either company. AMD may have an advantage on graphics benchmarks, but the untrained eye has trouble recognising that advantage on two PCs sitting next to each other on a retail store shelf, Peddie said.

"The problem is that if you go and look at the two things together, and there's not someone there to explain it to you, and Intel has the better price, they'll get the deal," he said.

It would be one thing if Nvidia was spending tonnes of money on marketing its products to the mainstream, Baker said. In that case, the presence of Nvidia's brand might help people decide which PC to buy. Building a widely recognised brand, however, is quite a challenge for companies that lack Intel's bank account.

"I don't have $400m to go launch a new brand," AMD's Shutter said. "Where Intel has their vast amount of resources to go and do it their way, this is a guerilla tactic."

Over the last few years, AMD hasn't needed to take to the hills to compete with Intel. It simply rammed a better product down the bigger company's throat. But until AMD's quad-core products are ready in the middle of this year, the company must pick and choose its battles wisely. Analysts aren't convinced that stickers will make the difference but note that the company is better off operating from a position of strength.

"AMD has a superior part, but they don't have a vehicle for making consumers understand it," Peddie said. "It's got to be frustrating as hell."