AMD shows off 3.0Ghz Barcelona

[samael]

Link

If this is true ... and if AMD can get some good yields at this frequency, then maybe AMD will have a winner in K10 after all !!!

 

[turboflame]

Inquirer = take with a truckload of salt

I hope AMD does pull it off, but "tri-fire"? I think they need a better name than that. What about "ultimate crossfire" or something like that?

 

[Harrisson]

As much as I would like fast K10 speed ramping, I guess AMD have only very few hand selected cpu's working at ~3Ghz Still this is better than most expected, and gives hope in half a year or so we see such cpu's in retail.

 

[Ycon]

K8L has low 64-bit performance or when did we ever see AMD not talking 64-bit when its actually possible?

 

[ethernalite]

If AMD hadn't officially announced that launch speeds will only be 2Ghz, then I would be more likely to believe that is in fact a Barcelona chip.

More likely, it is an X2 6000+.

I wish it was a 3Ghz Barcy chip, but given the source, I have to doubt that is the case.

 

[navarone]

Actually HARDOCP is backing this up 100% with pics and hands on experience with the demo rig

lot of crow to eat round these parts

http://www.hardocp.com/news.html?news=MjcxMjcsLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdCwsLDE=


<<One machine is running Call of Juarez and the other is running Stranglehold. I have personally played stranglehold on an Agena system and watched it fully utilize all four Agena cores!

>>>

 

[turboflame]

K8L has low 64-bit performance or when did we ever see AMD not talking 64-bit when its actually possible?

What?

 

[XoLore]

Just to point out, this is NOT a barcelona. It's an Agena. That means Phenom rather than Opteron. They did say they'd get more speed from Agena as the troubles apparently had to do with the ccHT used in the chips for multi-processor systems.

 

[Mephistopheles]

I wonder if there is any reason for using a 32-bit OS instead of a 64-bit one? I think that's what Ycon was thinking....

I agree with ethernalite. This looks like good news, but I'm still not buying it. AMD themselves have stated "sub-2Ghz" clocks for Barcelona launch.

In any case, I hope 3Ghz Barcelonas/Agenas come out quickly.

We still have to consider that this 3Ghz CPU will compete against a 3.33Ghz or, who knows, even a 3.66Ghz C2D/C2Q part if their new Penryn fabrication technology (Hafnium-based dielectrics) improves on power consumption as they've stated in the past.

Thinks are getting more interesting though, that's for sure.

 

[Mephistopheles]

They did say they'd get more speed from Agena as the troubles apparently had to do with the ccHT used in the chips for multi-processor systems.

Yeah, but unfortunately, they also said Barcelona comes first, then comes Agena. AFAIK, Agena is slated for a november introduction, but "real volume" comes only in 2008.

It might be that AMD's HT tech will still give them a healthy edge when it comes to competing with Tigerton; however, I doubt that that would be the case if they don't get >2Ghz out the door.

 

[GeoMan]

Well that's the first bit of good news for the green team for ages, i really hope it's true and that they intro it at affordable prices, maybe keeping people on AMD mobo's and upgrade path at the expense of profits right now will pay off for AMD, with people upgrading to these chips instead of changing over to Intel systems and then being locked into that upgrade path. Well the end of the year should be interesting with the new Intel offerings, I'll hold off the upgrade till then and then choose the best Price/Performance rig at the time, no point it upgrading now if you're gonna get 50 more performance for the same price and possibly a quad instead of a dual core in 6 months

I love this competition, so much innovation and price cutting in such a short time

 

[Mephistopheles]

I love this competition, so much innovation and price cutting in such a short time

Yeah. Thank god P4 is dead.

 

[jeb1517]

I hope AMD does pull it off, but "tri-fire"? I think they need a better name than that. What about "ultimate crossfire" or something like that?

Cubefire, tri-fire, threegraphicscardsworkingasone-fire

 

[maximiza]

from a s939 owner I don't believe it till independant reviewers get their hands on it.

 

[leomax]

fire,literally :lol:

 

[vertigo_2000]

menage-a-trois-fire

 

[YO_KID37]

I love this competition, so much innovation and price cutting in such a short time

Yeah. Thank god P4 is dead.

Let's not Count old Rusty(Netburst) out on this one yet. PentiumQ ? or Pentium Dual-Duel

 

[Joe_The_Dragon]

They did say they'd get more speed from Agena as the troubles apparently had to do with the ccHT used in the chips for multi-processor systems.

Yeah, but unfortunately, they also said Barcelona comes first, then comes Agena. AFAIK, Agena is slated for a november introduction, but "real volume" comes only in 2008.

It might be that AMD's HT tech will still give them a healthy edge when it comes to competing with Tigerton; however, I doubt that that would be the case if they don't get >2Ghz out the door.

Being able to use DDR2 ram for 4x4 and DDR EEC for other 2+ systems is plus over FB-DIMMS and they have better chip sets with SLI and more pci-e lanes then Intel systems.

 

[Valdis]

thats a small HSF for a 3ghz cpu

 

[wolverinero79]

Considering the system in the oh so truthful inquirer is obviously intended as an extreme gaming system (although 3 2900s probably won't give the same performance as 2 8800s ), a 3.0Ghz is almost definitely an OC (possibly the max). That seemed like a lot of fans, although I don't know how many were needed for just the "Tri-fire".

Not that a 3.0Ghz wouldn't be great, but it doesn't help us at all figure out what kind of product Barcy will be (heck, the 6600 does an OC 3.2 easily with no HSF modification and more than 4.0Ghz if you know what you're doing, but that doesn't mean it's sold as a 4.0Ghz part). As always mentioned - Ghz isn't very performance telling. Please give us benchmarks! :-D

 

[wolverinero79]

I love this competition, so much innovation and price cutting in such a short time

Yeah. Thank god P4 is dead.

Note that intel is still making P4s and they are still being sold. Maybe Penryn will kill it for good .

 

[goldragon_70]

Just to point out, this is NOT a barcelona. It's an Agena. That means Phenom rather than Opteron. They did say they'd get more speed from Agena as the troubles apparently had to do with the ccHT used in the chips for multi-processor systems.

The OS is 32-bit, the possessor can be either 64 or 32 bit. (when did AMD announce that they would be making the k10 in 32 bit version?)

 

[Mephistopheles]

Being able to use DDR2 ram for 4x4 and DDR EEC for other 2+ systems is plus over FB-DIMMS and they have better chip sets with SLI and more pci-e lanes then Intel systems.

Being able to use DDR2 or Registered DDR2 over FB-DIMMs is a pretty obvious advantage, agreed. Personally, I think AMD's biggest advantage is their point-to-point system architecture (i.e. HT), which always shines in 4-socket systems or even 2-way systems in some cases.

What I meant with Tigerton is that Intel already showed off a Tigerton-based 4-way Clovertown system 9 months ago working at 2.66Ghz, and Tigerton should launch in september @ 2.93Ghz. This is a tough platform to beat, and even with AMD's platform-level superiority, we'll still have to see if the initial 2Ghz Barcelona is enough to stand its ground against Tigerton... If they can pull 3Ghz off, then Intel would have a much harder time.

Anyway, AMD's new tech will debut, like Hammer, as Opterons first, so that's why it's interesting to keep Tigerton and Clarks. Right now, it's all speculation...