Zambezi
Latest
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 resurrects its 'FX' brand for speed freaks, lexicon lovers
We saw AMD's old "FX" moniker repeated on a leaked price sheet recently, but we couldn't be sure of its significance. Now AMD has confirmed that it is indeed bringing back the FX brand to denote hardware aimed at gamers and graphics enthusiasts. In keeping with its penchant for complicated taxonomy, the chipmaker will use the resurrected badge not on individual products, but rather on desktop platforms that combine top-of-the-range components -- including the forthcoming Scorpius platform that will consist of a 9-series chipset, HD 6000 Series discrete graphics and an unlocked eight-core Zambezi CPU. This is all part of AMD's efforts to square up to Intel and present itself as the PC gamers' choice, and to that end the company also revealed it is partnering with more games developers to encourage use of its HD3D, Eyefinity and Dual Graphics technologies. Full PR (excessive nomenclature and all) is after the break.
AMD Llano quad-core APUs and Zambezi octa-core CPUs get priced, the former listed inside an HP dv6
Don't mistake the relative quietness from AMD on the APU front for inactivity. Ever since announcing the first shipment of its Llano Accelerated Processing Unit in April, the company's been working behind the scenes to ramp up availability to OEMs, and somewhere along the supply chain a gracious soul has been found who's leaked the bulk pricing for those chips. The new quad-core A Series processors start off at $110 for an A6-3450 and max out at $170 for an A8-3550P, but there's also mention of octa-core FX processors, which will weigh in at $320 a piece and reputedly compete with Intel's 3.4GHz Core i7-2600K. The latter are built around AMD's Bulldozer modules (wherein one module counts for two cores) and look to be the manifestation of the company's Zambezi CPUs, which could come without an integrated graphics processor as is available on the Llano and the rest of AMD's Fusion line. Just to whet appetites further, we've also come across an HP dv6 on an obscure German retail site, offering a 1.6GHz A6-3410MX APU, 6GB of RAM, and a most reasonable €590 price. There's obviously no promised delivery date, but this should be the first of many such appearances in the coming days as we build up towards Computex 2011. Something tells us AMD won't be holding back when the Taipei electronics show gets started. [Thanks, Shashwat and Vygantas]
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%
Next-gen AMD Scorpius and Lynx desktop platforms leak out, Fusion still coming in 2011
AMD had a little show and tell with Asian press to go along with those new Phenom II and Athlon II chips it just launched, and it revealed some of its next-gen plans along the way. In the short term, it looks like the plan is to launch the 45nm Leo platform we've heard about later this year to better compete with Intel's 32nm Clarkdale parts, and then to push forward to 32nm in 2011 with the Scorpius platform, which will feature a Bulldozer CPU called Zambezi with up to 8 cores and a "next-generation discrete graphics solution." Midrange desktops will get some "next-generation integrated graphics" of their own this year on the Dorado platform, while 2011 will see the Lynx platform launch with the long-delayed Fusion chip. (We were first supposed to see Fusion chips in late 2008, remember?) Fusion is also still on vapor-y track for laptops with scheduled 2011 launch of the previously-leaked Sabine platform, but AMD also tipped the new Brazos Fusion-based platform powered by the Ontario APU, which is "optimized for new form factors" -- potentially MID-sized, but we don't know for sure. Phew, that's a lot of codenames -- we'd say we can't wait, but we're clearly going to have to learn how.
AMD spells out the future: heterogeneous computing, Bulldozer and Bobcats galore
Believe it or not, it's just about time for AMD to start thinking about its future. We know -- you're still doing your best to wrap that noodle around Congos and Thubans, but now it's time to wonder how exactly Leo, Llano and Zambezi (to name a few) can fit into your already hectic schedule. At an Analyst Day event this week, the chipmaker removed the wraps on its goals for 2010 and 2011, and while it's still focusing intently on Fusion (better described as heterogeneous computing, where "workloads are divided between the CPU and GPU"), it's the forthcoming platforms that really have us worked up. For starters, AMD is looking into Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) configurations, which "represent the combined capabilities of [practically any] two separate processors." We're also told that the firm may actually introduce its Bulldozer (architecture for mainstream machines) and Bobcat (architecture for low-power, ultrathin PCs) platforms more hastily than similar ones have been rolled out in the past, which demonstrates an effort to really target the consumer market where Intel currently reigns. Frankly, we're jazzed about the possibilities, so hit the links below for a deep dive into what just might be powering your next (or next-next) PC. [Via Digitimes]
