psychologist

New AMD CPU based Bulldozer just a minute. AMD has said the release of Zambezi CPU will happen in Q3, which begins in less than 24 hours so we can expect the release as soon as within a few weeks. We know enough about this CPU already but at least there's one thing we do not know until now and may end up being a big thing in the server market. AMD's John Fruehe has published an interesting where it is revealed that the upcoming Server AMD CPU, Opteron, will feature a user-configuration of TDP.

Let's start with a brief Bulldozer. This is just the first AMD's K10 micro-architecture since (if we ignore the Bobcat), which was released in late 2007, and frankly it's long overdue. It will be produced using GlobalFoundries' 32nm SOI, such as the Llano. Some architectural changes discussed here, so lets not get into it.

Ordinary desktop CPU is the code name of the Zambezi and will display up to eight cores. They will use socket AM3 + and some mainboard AM3 CPUs will also support the Zambezi just after the BIOS update. This CPU will not show an integrated GPU (such as the Llano and Ontario / Zacate) and will support up to 1866MHz DDR3 memory in dual channel configuration.

Bulldozer will actually more interesting when talking about parts of the servers, the Opteron. For low-end servers are efficient and power, AMD will offer the CPU Valencia CODEC. Specifications CPU wise is pretty similar to the Zambezi, with 8-core and 6-core variants. Support dual-channel memory as well as in the Zambezi, but will be limited to 1600MHz. Valencia will be released under the Opteron brand Series 4200 and will support a single configuration and a dual-CPU. It will also be compatible with AMD's current San Marino and Platform Adeleide (Opteron 4000 Series) for C32 socket.

For high-end servers, the answer to AMD is Interlagos. It will display up to 16 cores is achieved by combining two 8-core dies into one package, similar to the current AMD 12-core Magny Cours. Also there will be a 12-core and 8-core variants. Interlagos have up to four Hyper-Transport 3.0 link, which means that the quad-CPU configurations are supported. Apparently, there will also be the CPU with only two links, aimed at dual-CPU configuration. Support memory will be quad-channel DDR3 1600MHz, such as Intel's Sandy Bridge-E (although we do not know the speed DDR3 supporting SB-E). Interlagos will be branded as the Opteron 6200 series and will maintain support for the Maranello platform (Opteron 6000 Series) which exploit G34 socket.

Conclusion

In recent years, AMD has not really able to fight Intel in the high-end CPU. Since the release of the Nehalem microarchitecture in late 2008, has held the crown of the fastest Intel CPU and AMD just be the best choice for a budget build. Bulldozers have suffered from delays and AMD recently delayed even more because the performance did not meet their expectations. However, Bulldozer can have the potential to destabilize the position of Intel in the CPU market in addition to the budget.

Zambezi is intended to counter the formation Intel Core i5 and i7. Zambezi will display up to eight cores, which is twice as much i7-2600 (K) 's four cores. AMD said that they would not join the club Hyper-Threading and they will provide the physical core of the Intel cores provide the physical and virtual combined. It looks like AMD is keeping their word, even though they only give half as many "FP / SSE core". Intel will probably still give the single-threaded performance of the best but AMDs aggressive approach with many physical cores can bring them the best trophy multi-threaded performance. Hopefully we'll see it soon.

In the server market, AMD is much more complex role. For some applications of HPC, AMD offers the best performance with a much lower price. In the midrange, server-core AMD-based offering more (quad-socket) and (in most cases) higher performance for a relatively small price premium over the dual-socket Xeon server that is typical. At the same time, if your application is not able to make good use of all cores, the Xeon dual-socket servers can offer a ratio of performance / watt is better and lower response time. At the high end, Intel Xeon E7 completely dominate, and AMD has left this market for now. In the low-power market, the Intel Xeon lesser power to offer better performance and AMD can only compete when every dollar counts. In most cases, the price of the server CPU is less important in the grand scheme of TCO.

In other words, AMD really need a CPU server with a much higher performance per core and the ratio of performance / watt is better. Cap Power or TDP TDP configured servers that help AMD keep electricity bills down to avoid the "bursty" the use of power. At the same time, with their implementation, TDP Power Cap should have little effect on the real world (rather than pure benchmarking throughput) performance if you do not lose too much TDP. We will not be sure until we have measured it, but it looks like a big step in the right direction: lower TCO, and use more power can be predicted without a performance penalty (large).

Bulldozer will make its way to the main CPU in 2012. Successor Llano, Trinity, will display up to four generations of Bulldozer cores. Next-generation (NG) in this context seems to mean that AMD will tweak the architecture because the CPU will still be produced using 32nm SOI. Zambezi successor to 8-core like Bulldozer core will Zambezi but NG and will also feature DirectX 11 capable IGP, similar to the Llano and the Trinity.

As for the server market, AMD's approach will be slightly more aggressive. AMD will again increase the number of cores to 20 cores Bulldozer NG. Valencia substitute will Sepang and 10-core 'Interlagos will Terramar 20-core. CPU server will also feature support for PCIe 3.0.

Krishna and Wichita will also replace the current AMD Ontario and Zacate APUs. There will be a die shrink from 40nm to 28nm so at this point, Krishna and Wichita's most attractive appearance of the lineup Fusion gene 2. Doubling the cores should result in improved performance is very good at scendarios threaded, although single-threaded performance is still a sore spot for Bobcat compared with other architectures.