Issues with tinybox AI server system and AMD Radeon graphics cards: A closer look at the ongoing dilemma

The Drama Unfolding with tinybox and AMD

It seems like the tech world is abuzz with drama as tinybox, the $15,000 AI server system powered by AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX graphics cards, is facing some serious bugs affecting its performance. The parent company, tiny corp, took to Twitter to express their frustration with AMD’s AI acceleration toolkit, even tagging AMD rivals Nvidia and Intel in their tweets.

AMD’s CEO, Lisa Su, stepped in to address the issues and assured that her team was working on fixing the bugs. However, it seems that the fixes provided were not satisfactory for tiny corp, as they fired off more frustrated tweets, demanding that AMD open source its firmware so that they could fix the issues themselves.

One tweet from tiny corp read, “If AMD open sources their firmware, I’ll fix their LLVM spilling bug and write a fuzzer for HSA. Otherwise, it’s not worth putting tons of effort into fixing bugs on a platform you don’t own.”

The situation escalated further, with Su thanking tiny corp for their collaboration and feedback, promising to find a good solution. However, there is speculation that Su may face backlash for supporting the use of consumer products in a server intended for enterprise use.

Commentators have pointed out that tinybox is using consumer cards instead of datacenter models but expecting a datacenter-level service. Some have questioned the startup’s expectations, considering they have not yet shipped any servers and are avoiding using pro GPUs.

It’s clear that tensions are running high in the tech industry, with Nvidia’s EULA forbidding the use of GeForce products for datacenter CUDA applications, making it unlikely for them to engage with tinybox in a similar situation.

As the drama unfolds, it remains to be seen how AMD and tiny corp will resolve their issues and whether open-sourcing the firmware will be the solution to the bugs plaguing the tinybox AI server system.