AMD Bulldozer
Latest
AMD rolls out two new Bulldozer chips, cuts price of the FX-8120 to celebrate
Like Hugh Hefner (probably), AMD took a good hard look at its lineup this week and decided it was high time to add a pair of models. Two new Bulldozer-powered FX CPUs will join the pantheon of world-record beating chips in the company's constant fight against the forces of Intel. The quad-core FX-4170 has a 4.2GHz CPU with 4.3GHz Turbo mode (for more on AMD's Bulldozer architecture, see here) while the six-core FX-6200 has a 3.8GHz base clock and a 4.1GHz Turbo mode. Availability will vary by region as the company shuttles out the new silicon on a rolling timeline, but we'd start keeping our eyes peeled next time you're down the shops. To celebrate, AMD is hacking down the price of the top-end FX-8150 from $245 to $185 and you should see a similar price drop from outlets filter through shortly. After the break we've got all the stats we were able to type about these slices of silicon before our palms got sweaty.
Microsoft leak reveals hotfix for underperforming Bulldozers
AMD's Bulldozer silicon is enormously powerful, but most software isn't configured to schedule threads for the faux-16 core design. Windows can only see the chip as a quad-core CPU and will randomly assign threads, which ruins the point of Bulldozer's "Turbo Core" design. Microsoft inadvertently revealed it had teamed up with the chipmaker to fix the problem when it prematurely released a hotfix for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. Initial tests showed that it could improve performance by up to seven percent, before it was pulled -- Microsoft conceding that it wasn't quite ready for prime-time.
AMD ships '16-core' Bulldozer-powered Opteron 6200
We seem to have mislaid our definition of fashionably late -- a fortnight after the promised "October" launch, systems packing AMD's Bulldozer-powered Opteron 6200 (formerly Interlagos) will commence shipping to enterprise customers. If you haven't been paying too much attention, you might just believe the claim about it having 16 cores -- Bulldozer's architecture has eight two-core modules rather than 16 independent ones. Despite the short delay and the conspicuous claims, the company reckons it's 84 percent faster, 73 percent more efficient and uses half the power of the equivalent Intel Xeon. At the same time, Sunnyvale firmed up news on the Valencia (Opteron 4200) and announced 2012's Opteron 3000 platform with the new Zurich chip -- designed to run on low-power web hosts. Enterprise customers can read the PR we've got after the break and then begin placing orders; the rest of us will have to keep waiting to see if Andre Yang can push his FX all the way to 9GHz.[Thanks, Khan]
Bulldozer world record re-broken by Andre Yang with a 8.58GHz victory lap
There you have it, folks. Floating over this text is the CPU-Z record that proves it: four days after Andre Yang broke the chip speed overclocking record with AMD's Bulldozer, he's done it again. The chip maker was eerily prescient when it said it expected others to beat the record and that unnatural confidence in the silicon has paid off. Last time, Yang managed to push only 30MHz over the previous record, this time he's found a further 123.3MHz -- making the total chip speed 8.58GHz. The secret to his success was in increasing his chip voltage (2.076v compared to 1.992 last time) and over-liberal use of liquid nitrogen. Maybe he could convince Sunnyvale to loan him a massive vat of liquid helium to get ever closer to the goal of 9GHz -- just make sure you don't pick up the check for the shipping and handling, okay?
AMD Bulldozer breaks own world record, overclocked to 8.46GHz
Advanced Micro Devices is probably feeling a bit silly right about now. To show off how powerful the Bulldozer chip really is, it drafted in the world's most elite overclockers, set them up in a room with whatever was required (including a vat of liquid helium) and broke the chip-speed world record. With a verified speed of 8.429GHz, the company collected its Guinness world record and sat back, thinking that no one could ever best it. Less than two months later and Andre Yang (who we can assume does not have his own military complex to run his experiments in) managed to get his Bulldozer running at 8.46GHz, 30MHz faster than the chip's own parent could manage. We wouldn't dare suggest that anyone stand outside AMD's Sunnyvale HQ whilst playing the sad trombone -- but if anyone deserves that chance, it'd certainly be Mr. Yang. Update: AMD got in touch to say that it's expecting others to beat the record and is excited to see how many records the chips are gonna set. So what are you waiting for?
AMD ships 16-core Bulldozer chips for servers, makes consumers wait their turn
AMD's Interlagos, its server-styled Bulldozer chip -- Mr. Opteron 6200 to you and me -- is being pushed out to retailers and OEMs ready for an October launch. AMD is calling it the first 16-core x86 processor, although as we know from the required reading, it has eight two-core shared modules rather than 16 independent ones. The chips are compatible with Socket G34 motherboards, but most of this first production run will go straight into supercomputer projects. AMD remains mute on progress of the consumer-level Zambezi, but rumors are that the company can't clock it fast enough to compete with Intel's Core i7 -- the very class that Bulldozer was designed to bury. [Thanks, Sebastian]
More details emerge on AMDs Bulldozer for high-end desktops
AMDs Bulldozer is the company's anticipated high-power rival to Intel's Core i7 and the company just released a slew of new information about its internals. Now, pay attention 007 -- the "Zambezi for Socket AM3+" chips will include four modules, each with two cores and 2MB of L2 cache. Operating above these is a single Northbridge with 8MB of L3 cache to direct data between two 72-bit DDR3 channels and 4 x 16-bit receive / transmit HyperTransport links. Finally, the "Turbo Core" increases the whole chip's click speed when taxed or kills power to idle cores when it's not. Hustle on down to the source link to see the slides yourself. [Thanks, Bertrandsbox]
AMD confirms tablet-friendly Z-series APU, next-gen Trinity APU for bigger devices
AMD likes to take its time before stepping inside the ring, but it's turned up at Computex with its gown off and mouthguard in. Its much-leaked Z-series Fusion APU (aka "Desna") for tablet devices is now official and could well steal some of ARM's thunder. Whereas ARM chips will get along with the next version of Windows, AMD's Z-series is already tuned into the here-and-now. Its integrated dual 1Ghz Bobcat chips and Radeon HD 6250 graphics should allow the full Windows 7 experience on a tablet, from USB peripheral compatibility right down to XBOX 360 Media Extender functionality. What's more, it drinks less than 6W of power so is significantly leaner than the 9W Ontario APU powering Acer's Iconia W500 Windows 7 tablet. Additionally, AMD claims MSI has already made that leap with its new WindPad 110w (though we can't be sure if the pre-release device we just handled was carrying a Z-series chip). Meanwhile, AMD left any traces of shyness far behind as it went on to confirm plans for a range of A-series and E-series chips with which it hopes to tackle Intel's dominance in the laptop and desktop spheres -- right up to the level of the Core i7. This includes the leaked high-end quad-core A8 and, more surprisingly, a new Trinity APU. Looking way into the future, AMD intends Trinity to be a successor to the mid-range A-series Llano, which isn't even out yet but is expected imminently. Unfortunately we have no concrete specs for the Trinity -- AMD thought it was sufficient to wave the thing around at the press conference and declare it "2012's best APU". Depending on how you look at it, that's either fighting talk or plain posturing.
AMD's Bobcat and Bulldozer, 2011 flagship CPU cores, detailed today
One of these days AMD is gonna have to stop talking about its Atom-killing Bobcat and Xeon-ending Bulldozer cores and finally release them. But, until that happy moment arrives in 2011 (fingers crossed), we'll have to content ourselves with more presentation slides. First up, the Bobcat core is AMD's long overdue play for the netbook/ultrathin market. Pitched as having 90 percent of the performance of current-gen, K8-based mainstream chips, AMD's new mobility core will require "less than half the area and a fraction of the power" of its predecessors. That sounds like just the recipe to make the company relevant in laptop purchasing decisions again, while a touted ability for the core to run on less than one watt of power (by lowering operating frequencies and voltages, and therefore performance) could see it appear in even smaller form factors, such as MIDs. The Bobcat's now all set to become the centerpiece of the Ontario APU -- AMD's first Fusion chip, ahead of Llano -- which will be ramping up production late this year, in time for an early 2011 arrival. The Bulldozer also has a future in the Fusion line, but it's earliest role will be as a standalone CPU product for servers and high-end consumer markets. The crafty thing about its architecture is that every one Bulldozer module will be counted as two cores. This is because AMD has split its internal processing pipelines into two (while sharing as many internal components as possible), resulting in a sort of multicore-within-the-core arrangement. The way the company puts it, it's multithreading done right. Interlagos is the codename of the first Opteron chips to sport this new core, showing up at some point next year in a 16-core arrangement (that's 8 Bulldozers, if you're keeping score at home) and promising 50 percent better performance than the current Magny-Cours flagship. Big words, AMD. Now let's see you stick to a schedule for once.%Gallery-100088%
