Ahead of its most significant processor redesign since 2003, AMD is talking about its Bulldozer and Bobcat architectures, both of which are expected in 2011. Will AMD be able to catch up, or even surpass Intel's lead? The future looks interesting, indeed.
Seven years have passed since AMD first launched its K8 “Hammer” microarchitecture, which was updated three years ago by K10. Brand new, the Athlon 64 processors based on K8 kicked ass and took names, flying past Intel’s Pentium 4 processors to become enthusiast favorites.
But the performance landscape changes quickly, and Intel is notorious for feverish comebacks when it’s in second position. The company’s Core microarchitecture shifted favor back toward Intel in 2006, and that is where it has remained for the past four years.
Sure, AMD still sells attractive CPUs. Its Athlon II lineup consistently headlines our monthly Best Gaming CPUs For The Money column, thanks to respectable performance and entry-level pricing. The dual-core Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition is unbeatable under $100. And AMD’s Thuban-based offerings actually make hexa-core computing viable under $200.
Clock-for-clock, though, nobody will deny that AMD’s portfolio trails Intel’s. And Intel, as always, has a sizable manufacturing technology advantage with its newest chips centering on a 32 nm process. Meanwhile, AMD is forced to engineer its six-core CPUs into a 130 W TDP using 45 nm lithography.
Heavy Machinery Is On The Way
AMD hopes that its K10 design won’t have to stave off Intel’s Westmere microarchitecture for long, though. Last year, at one of its Financial Analyst Days, AMD gave a first look at the “modules” that will come to define how its next-generation processors will be put together. Though detail was sparse, company representatives made it clear that this is the most significant redesign seen since K8.
We already know that there will be two x86 cores based on this new architecture, each facilitating competitive functionality in a handful of different markets. Bulldozer is intended for deployment in everything from mainstream clients (including desktops and notebooks) to servers. Bobcat is supposed to be the more flexible design, enabling the low power and small dies needed in netbooks and cloud-optimized clients.
Bear in mind that, as with any generational leap, there are a number of new internally-referenced names to keep straight. AMD is really only discussing Bulldozer and Bobcat at Hot Chips 22 (the IEEE-sponsored symposium on performance processors). However, it’s probably worth going into a little more depth on where you’ll see these CPU designs crop up, if only to prevent code-name confusion. If you're a little lost on the nomenclature, use the last page of this piece as a reference to AMD's plans for 2011.


Really? Here I was thinking that's exactly what AMD was building.
By the way, just who the hell comes up with these ridiculous names? I personally think manufacturers would sell more units if they weren't so confusing.
Put it in a mac, the sheeple will eat this Sh1t up.
By the way, just who the hell comes up with these ridiculous names? I personally think manufacturers would sell more units if they weren't so confusing.
I'd have to say I partially agree with you. I see way more Intel commercials (many) than AMD (none). My next build: Bulldozer
Not quite, the out of order execution WILL enable a performance advantage compared to Atom, + the added bonus that the AMD GPU on the Ontario platform (if similar or better in performance to the ION) WILL again make for a better platform as a hole.
On the Bulldozer side, Power Gating and Turbo for modules, TST > SMT should be something to look forward.
PS: On the commercials side I'm looking forward to something like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK0hU0OYvCI
I totaly agree on the commersial bit.
Yeh but Intel also has its new 2011 line-up in the works. I really want AMD to do well but Intel has one hell of a lead in terms of clock-vs-clock performance. But i'm still hopeful...so go AMD!
Really? Here I was thinking that's exactly what AMD was building.
Intel will need to buy a decent Graphics design team to keep up.
Goodby NVidia ... your about to be assimilated into the collective.
Chris, I might have predicted this a few times before ...and got it wrong too.
Great article btw.
It's good to see they got away from having ports with both AGUs and ALUs. Hopefully they copied more from Intel than that.
AM2+ user
From the looks of it Zambezi sounds like it would outperform the i7 920 if it just used 4 cores except that it will have 8 cores (4 modules).It looks like it might even match or maybe outperform the 6 core i7-980X Gulftown monster.That is if AMD can really execute this properly.
Will Intel have faster CPU's by then? Probably.
The real question is will software catch up with this new hardware?
PC Gaming will be great really great with high FPS with new GPU's