AMD's New Road Map 31Oct09

http://translate.google.com/transl [...] ry_state0= Doi Kentarou seminar that AMD's brother @ DIY PC Expo 2009
[Akiba] We have a roadmap with all details, not just CPU, but GPU, IGP, Chipset and entire platforms from AMD all the way till 2011 - for both Desktop and Notebooks.

First up is the Desktop Roadmap. We are in 2009, and it is worth noting that for GPU, ATI's 7xx series (HD 4000) is listed as 40nm. In fact, the HD 4000 series is largely 55nm, except for RV740, which is 40nm.

Moving on to 2010, there are no surprises. Leo platform comes in Q2 with 6-core Thuban CPUs, along with 800 series chipsets. In terms of GPU, we have Evergreen all the way through 2010, though the next-gen has been rumoured to hit retail in second half of 2010. (Just as Evergreen - it only shows up on the Roadmap for 2010, when it is already shipping) Interestingly, no fab process has been mentioned for Evergreen. This might indicate the possibility of a 32nm shrink in 2010.

Talking of next-gen GPU, this is our first big news - it is indeed codenamed Northern Islands. We will wait and see if this puts to rest rumours of a rather amusing codename of Hecatonchires (try pronouncing that!). Northern Islands, manufactured at 32nm, is ATI's next-gen GPU, and finds it's way into AMD's Scorpius and Lynx platforms, both scheduled for 2011.

Scorpius is powered by >4 core, 32nm, Bulldozer CPU, based on AMD's much anticipated next-gen architecture. Lynx finally sees AMD Fusion come to light. The Llano APU will consist of a 32nm shrink of the STARS core (currenly present in Phenom II X4) and a 32nm integrated GPU - both included on the same die. Details about the GPU are not mentioned, but it is rumoured to be based on Evergreen.

Moving on to the Notebook side,

AMD's soon to be launched Netbook platform, Congo, is now renamed to simply "2nd Gen UT". With 2010, we have the Danube platform, with AMD's first notebook quad-core CPU. In terms of GPU, 2009 is listed as ATI M9x, which is Mobility HD 4000 series. Once again, it is listed as 40nm, though the only 40nm GPU is RV740.

The biggest surprise is the 2010 GPU. The rumoured codenames were Park, Madison and Broadway. These happen to be famous avenues in Manhattan, so the Manhattan family codename fits in well. However, notice the fab process - 32nm! Manhattan was widely rumoured to be straight derivates of desktop 40nm Evergreen GPUs. Even more surprising is that it appears the DX10.1 from M9x carries on into Manhattan. Barring typos and confusing slide designs, these are both major surprises. It would appear Manhattan is not a 40nm Evergreen based GPU, but rather a 32nm M9x shrink, something that seems very unlikely. We will look out for clarification on this information.

Moving on to 2011, and Fusion hits notebooks. Sabine platform is based around the same Llano APU found in desktops. Brazos is the low-voltage platform, which seems to be manufactured at 40nm - for the complete APU.

GPU for notebooks remains next-gen Northern Islands at 32nm. The 2011 platforms increases battery life (battery life being a constant criticism for AMD's notebook platforms) by a significant amount.

In the end, we get some confirmations, some surprises, and AMD's very latest roadmap. It is only a rough guide, and we can expect further changes and more precise dates in the future. From AMD's point of view, they sure must hope 2011 comes in early.

In addition to the roadmaps, a few slides about Evergreen and Eyefinity are also published at the link below.
http://translate.google.com/transl [...] ry_state0=




http://www.mushkin.com/mushkin.com [...] 3c71cc.swf

elsewhere in the news:
AMD Readies “Thuban” Six-Core Desktop Processor.
Six-Core Desktop Processor Incoming from AMD – Sources
09/01/2009
by Anton Shilov

AMD’s processor code-named Thuban is the company’s first desktop processor with six processing engines. The microprocessors will be compatible with socket AM3 infrastructure and will have integrated dual-channel PC3-10600 (DDR3 1333MHz) memory controller. It is very likely that Thuban processors will retain AMD Phenom II brand name as well as design of the code-named Istanbul chips for servers, thus, will feature 3MB L2 cache (512KB per core) and 6MB of L3 cache. The chips will be made using 45nm SOI fabrication process.

Thuban is a star in the constellation of Draco and it also means “dragon” in Arabian language. The new six-core chip should be compatible with existing AM3 infrastructure (and, quite possibly, even with AM2+ infrastructure with split power plane), it remains to be seen whether Thuban becomes a part of AMD’s current high-end desktop platform called Dragon, or will power the company’s next-generation Leo platform.

AMD’s Leo platform will be based on the AMD 890FX and 890GX core-logic sets. The new chipsets will offer better performance and functionality, e.g., they will support Serial ATA-600, 14 Serial ATA 2.0 ports and so on, but both will only hit mass production in April, 2010, and will be formally released in May next year, according to market sources.

Provided that AMD has its Thuban processors ready before May 2010, the company is likely to start shipping them as soon as possible so that to be able to compete for the high-end desktop segment. In fact, it is somewhat surprising that AMD will only be able to offer six-core desktop chip about a year after it started to ship six-core chips for servers. Nevertheless, based on currently available information, AMD Thuban is due only in Q3 2010.

At present AMD does not position its six-core Opteron processors even for single-socket workstations and recommends its customers among makers of dual-socket workstations to stick to quad-core chips due to their higher clock-speeds compared to existing six-core central processing units. At present AMD’s highest-performance six-core chips operate at 2.80GHz, meanwhile, the fastest quad-core CPUs function at 3.40GHz.

With six physical cores AMD will be able to demonstrate rather high performance in multi-tasking and applications that need to execute numerous threads at once. Moreover, as future video games that rely on DirectX 11 start to arrive, the advantages provided by six-core Thuban and Istanbul processors will be even more apparent.

Intel Corp., the larger rival of AMD, plans to unveil its six-core code-named Gulftown chips for desktops in Q2 2010.

AMD did not comment on the story. Xbit labs http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/cpu/d [...] essor.html

beyond elsewhere and continuing on in the news today:


Quote:
Some of the key components that make up AMD Leo platform are the upcoming AMD 890FX and 890GX chipset, companion SB800 series southbridge chips, and members of AMD's Evergreen family of DirectX 11 compliant graphics processors. On the software front, AMD will give its Fusion and Overdrive utilities some big updates. The SB800 series southbridge chips will feature native support for SATA 6 Gb/s and USB 3.0; connectivity is further enhanced by integrated Broadcom MAC Ethernet interfaces.
http://www.techpowerup.com/img/09-09-01/53b.jpg

Thanks to:

02Nov09
On the heels of yesterday's news the notice of a new CPU release has been posted.

For one or the other reason, AMD's current desktop flagship CPU, that is the Deneb core-based Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition has had some power issues. Whereas every other AMD processor is rated at or below 125W TDP, the '965 Black Edition with its unlocked multipliers for core and North Bridge has been rated at 140W, enough to raise more than one eyebrow in the evermore energy conscious world. From a misconceptual point of view, the biggest issue is that TDP does not mean that the processor will actually draw that much power, rather the TDP acronym has undergone so many permutations that it is no longer really clear what it stands for. To sync everybody back to the same page, it is the thermal design power, that is the power requirement that has to be met by the voltage regulator module and the heatsink in order to warrant save operation of the CPU under any and all conditions - as long as they are reasonable.

With the samples we had in our test labs, we never got even close to the 140W, in fact, we struggled to hit the 110W benchmark even if power was measured before the VRM which, given an efficacy in the order of 75-80% translates into maximum CPU power in the area of some 90W. It is self-understood that there have to be margins, especially when dealing with Taiwanese or Chinese motherboard manufacturers, at the same time, that 140W number has made the rounds and not helped AMD's reputation for power efficiency.

Reason enough to introduce a new revision of the Phenom II with a few small but nonetheless important differences under the metal layers .....
AMD's Phenom II X4 965 BE C3 Revision - LostCircuits: http://www.lostcircuits.com/mambo/ [...] 8&Itemid=1

AMD Phenom II X4 965 - Revision C2 vs C3 comparison : to be announced on 04Nov09 because of NDA

"Hi guys and sorry for the inconvenience. It seems that the NDA for the new stepping has been moved to 4th of November, so AMD kindly asked us to remove the information regarding the new C3 stepping. All the info will be right back up on the 4th of November. Untill then, you can see what this CPU can do here, where SF3D and Macci benched it under LN2 a while ago. http://www.xtremesystems.org/forum [...] stcount=22 "

04Nov09

EXCLUSIVE: AMD Phenom X4 II 965 - Revision C2 Vs. C3
It speaks of something for a new revision of the core Deneb to improve memory controller (often limited to around 1700MHz) and reduce TDP's. So, although we are more than 2 weeks before at the official launch of this new revision (C3) we decided to introduce yet present my test results.

AMD Phenom X4 965 II launched initially (Revision C2) was actually a Phenom X4 II 955 that received the extra 200MHz and an increase of 0.05v (process called overclocking). So if it was not true Phenom X4 II 965, where is he? II 965 Phenom X4 is true with the release revision C3 core Deneb when TDP's fall from 140W to 125W, making a value more appropriate for a quad-core top of 2009.

Besides the TDP, the memory controller has been improved to support higher frequencies and the system C1E change between different states of the processor became faster (preventing loss of performance). Although AMD Phenom X4 II BE 965 is the first processor to be launched in the new review C3, by the end of May will launch another 4 processors using the revision. Below is a list of all processors that will be launched using the revision C3 core Deneb:
AMD Phenom ™ X4 965 HDZ965FBK4DGM II 3400Mhz 125W
AMD Phenom ™ X4 955 HDX955FBK4DGM II 3200Mhz 125W
AMD Phenom ™ X4 945 HDX945WFK4DGM II 3000MHz 95W
AMD Phenom ™ X4 925 HDX925WFK4DGM II 2800MHz 95W
AMD Phenom ™ X4 II 910e HD910EOCK4DGM 2600mhz 65W

System test:

MOBO: ASUS M4A79T Deluxe
COOLER: Cooler Master Z600 + 2 x Nanoxia FX12 1200rpm (push-pull)
RAM: 2x2GB Kingston DDR3-1600 CL8 (Elpida BBSE)
HDD: WD2500AAKS
VGA: Gigabyte HD5870 1GB GDDR5
PSU: Cooler Master Real Power Pro 1250W
OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 32bit

The Benchmarks: Monstru here: http://lab501.ro/forum/showthread. [...] #post10439 scroll to top

yup... agree but I did scoop a 5870 just in case