iNiTechPC

AMD's Bulldozer Offer 50% Higher Performance than Core i7, Phenom II Chips?

The next-generation desktop central processing units (CPUs) from Advanced Micro Devices with Bulldozer micro-architecture are projected to offer around 50% higher performance compared to existing chips from AMD and Intel. While the alleged promises presumably from confidential documents seem very "promising", they should be considered as extremely rough performance estimates.

An AMD document obtained by Donanimhaber web-site claims that an eight-core Bulldozer microprocessor offers 50% higher performance compared to quad-core Intel Core i7-950 with HT microprocessor in games, rendering and multimedia applications. The web-sites does not specify which benchmarks were used. In fact, 50% higher performance versus a quad-core chip does not seem to be bad, especially in games that do not usually take advantage of multi-core chips.

The web-site claims that AMD compares performance of the Core i7-950 with performance of AMD Phenom II X6 1100T chip, which is considerably slower than its rival, according to performance tests conducted by X-bit labs. It is unclear whether AMD showed the model 1100T being slower or faster than the i7-950. Test settings were not revealed. Typically, AMD publishes so-called "simulated benchmark results".

Rumours published earlier this month suggested that AMD plans to return the FX products family with extreme performance. Indirectly, this information confirms very high performance of new microprocessors from AMD.

Engineering samples of code-named Zambezi (desktop Bulldozer) chips became available for AMD's partners for testing in December, 2010. Production candidates should be ready by February '11 and the initial production of the company's first desktop microprocessors powered by the long-awaited Bulldozer micro-architecture is scheduled to start in April next year. Probably, the launch of the chip will occur around the same timeframe.

Eight-core Zambezi features four dual-core Bulldozer modules, each of which is believed to have 2MB of shared level-two cache, that will share 8MB L3 cache. In total, the whole chip will pack in whopping 16MB of SRAM, a 77% increase from the current six-core microprocessors that have 9MB of cache in total. Clock-speeds of the chip may be as high as 3.50GHz or even higher.

The first Zambezi microprocessors to be launched are expected to be eight-core products with 95W and 125W thermal design power as well as 8MB L3 cache. Later in the second quarter of 2011 AMD, according to sources with knowledge of the company's roadmap, will release six-core chips with 8MB L3 cache and four-core products with 4MB cache. All of the processors will feature TurboCore 2.0 technology, dual-channel DDR3 memory controller with up to 1866MHz memory support and will be compatible with AM3+ mainboards.

source: www.xbitlabs.com

AMD: APUs Will Challenge Traditional Microprocessors (CPU)

Standalone central processing units (CPUs) for client computers will be challenged by accelerated processing units (APUs) with integrated graphics core, a high-ranking officer at AMD said in an interview. APUs provide better performance because of its ability to efficiently process both parallelized and serialized data.
"I think APUs will definitely challenge standalone CPUs. I believe that the future of consumer as well as commercial computing environments are characterized by the ability to present a compelling visual experience. Taking a GPU core and a CPU core and using them together on one chip will definitely challenge standalone CPUs," said Neal Robison, senior director of content and application support, in an interview with X-bit labs published on Sunday.

Accelerated processing units integrate many parallel GPU processing elements as well as several "fat" x86 CPU cores that can efficiently process typical data. Many performance-demanding applications nowadays use parallel processing and receive benefits from both multi-core CPUs as well as many-core CPUs. Nonetheless, there are loads of programs that use advanced microprocessors and have no need for GPUs.
But while APUs will confront low-cost systems, they will not challenge and will not become part of advanced personal computers with discrete graphics cards.
"I do not think that APUs will challenge discrete GPUs on anything, but on the lowest-end systems. When you look at adding a discrete GPU that enhances performance of the graphics side, it makes a huge amount of sense as it scales [performance] on a wide amount of applications because of the rich visual experience that everybody expects now when they are actually using their computing device," added Mr. Robison.
source: www.xbitlabs.com

MSI's AM3 Motherboards to Support AM3+ "Bulldozer" Microprocessors

MicroStar International (MSI), a leading maker of mainboards, on Monday said that select platforms originally designed for current-generation central processing units (CPUs) in AM3 form-factor will support the forthcoming AMD FX-series chips with Bulldozer micro-architecture in AM3+ package.

Various AM3 mainboards from MSI based on various AMD 7-series and AMD 8-series chipsets will support AM3+ microprocessors after a BIOS update. This will allow end-users, who own appropriate platforms, to upgrade to multi-core AMD FX-series CPUs code-named Zambezi once they become available in the coming months. At present MSI offers BIOS updates for three mainboards, but the list contains fourteen models and will be updated.

The maker of motherboards implied that the AM3 mainboards will support all the advanced capabilities of chips based on Bulldozer micro-architecture, including technologies that improve power efficiency as well as Turbo Core 2.0 technology that can dynamically overclock CPUs by up to 500MHz.

Earlier on Monday Gigabyte became the first company in the world to release mainboards with AM3+ socket, which support the next-generation 32nm chips offficially. Meanwhile, Asustek Computer - just like MSI - claims that even its AM3 motherboards will fully support AMD FX-series "Zambezi" processors with Bulldozer micro-architecture.

The first breed of AMD FX8000, FX6000 and FX4000 currently known under Zambezi code-name will completely support all the advantages that the Bulldozer micro-architecture is supposed to bring, including new Flex FP floating point processing unit. The new chips in maximum eight-core configurations are projected - by AMD's internal documents - to offer roughly 50% performance improvement over Phenom II-series microprocessors in multimedia applications.

The Sunnyvale, California-based chip designer plans to introduce AMD 900-series chipsets compatible with Zambezi processors in Q2 2011. The Bulldozer processors, Radeon HD 6000 "Northern Islands" discrete graphics cards and AMD 900-series core-logic sets will power AMD's next-generation enthusiast-class platform code-named Scorpius.

source:xbitlabs.com

Four AMD's FX "Bulldozer"s Approaching, Set to Consume 125W, 95W

The initial family of AMD's FX-series microprocessors based on Bulldozer micro-architecture will include four models with eight, six or four cores and 95W or 125W thermal design power (TDP).

The intrigue remains about exact clock-speed of Bulldozer chips. Based on estimations, frequencies of such chips may be as high as 3.50GHz. What should be noted is that modern CPUs can include units that work at different clock-speeds and the highest one will hardly determine actual performance.
Four chips are not a large number and they will hardly be able to properly compete against rather huge Intel Core i7-series microprocessors, which includes quad-core and six-core offerings. But this - initial offering by AMD - may not be the "army" to attack Intel, but rather than a lineup to show what AMD is capable of: creation of a competitive high-end microprocessor. The second breed of Bulldozer-based chips due in Q4 is supposed to really improve AMD's positions on the market of expensive central processing units. By the end of the year AMD, based on a document seen by X-bit labs, expects approximately 10% of its CPUs to be FX-series in AM3+ form-factor.

AMD FX-series of Microprocessors Due in 2011
Model	FX-8130P	FX-8110	FX-6110	FX-4110
Cores	8	8	6	4
L2 Cache	8MB	8MB	6MB	4MB
L3 Cache	Up to 8MB	Up to 8MB	Up to 8MB	Up to 8MB
TDP	125W	95W	95W	95W
Memory	1866MHz	1866MHz	1866MHz	1866MHz
Black Edition	+	+	+	+
Turbo Core	+	+	+	+
Packaging	AM3+	AM3+	AM3+	AM3+
Process Technology	32nm SOI	32nm SOI	32nm SOI	32nm SOI

AMD Orochi design is the company's next-generation processor for high-end desktop (Zambezi) and server (Valencia) markets. The chip will feature eight processing engines, but since it is based on Bulldozer micro-architecture, those cores will be packed into four modules. Every module which will have two independent integer cores (that will share fetch, decode and L2 functionality) with dedicated schedulers, one "Flex FP" floating point unit with two 128-bit FMAC pipes with one FP scheduler. The chip will have shared L3 cache, new dual-channel DDR3 memory controller and will use HyperTransport 3.1 bus. The Zambezi chips will use new AM3+ form-factor and will require brand new platforms.
The Sunnyvale, California-based chip designer plans to introduce AMD 900-series chipsets compatible with Zambezi processors in Q2 2011. The Bulldozer processors, Radeon HD 6000 "Northern Islands" discrete graphics cards and AMD 900-series core-logic sets will power AMD's next-generation enthusiast-class platform code-named Scorpius.
AMD did not comment on the news-story.
source:www.xbitlabs.com

Gigabyte Announce Mainboards for Future AMD FX "Bulldozer" Microprocessors.

Gigabyte Technology, one of the largest makers of mainboards in the world, on Monday unveiled a lineup of mainboards with AM3+ socket designed for AMD FX-series microprocessors code-named Zambezi and powered by AMD's next-generation Bulldozer micro-architecture.

Gigabyte AM3+ "Black Socket" mainboards are powered by AMD's current-generation core-logic sets, including AMD 7-series and AMD 8-series. The new motherboards - which feature a black CPU socket - fully support AMD's next-generation FX-series microprocessors with up to eight cores and made using 32nm process technology. the platforms also support existing AMD Athlon II and AMD Phenom II chips in AM3 form-factor with dual-channel DDR3 memory controllers.

Gigabyte is the first company in the world to release mainboards with AM3+ socket. Meanwhile, Asustek Computer claims that even its AM3 motherboards will support AMD FX-series "Zambezi" processors with Bulldozer micro-architecture.

source: www.xbitlabs.com