News on AMD's upcoming line of next-gen processors (quad and octo-core)

Grez

Good news, all:

http://www.channelinsider.com/articl.../207308_1.aspx

Looks like AMD is going to keep the Intel/AMD leapfrog game going. They are obviously planning to one-up the current champ, Intel. The competition is nothing but good for all of us on the consumer end.

They have specifically mentioned gamers as a target audience and are designing the CPUs for high performance in that arena.

JimShorts

lol, "FASN8" is a pretty creative name, I kinda like it.

I'm a bit of an Intel guy myself, but like you said, competition is like this is good whether you like AMD, Intel, or don't care either way.

illustrious

ooo I can't wait! maybe AMD can make a good GPU then!

mpcamer

Bulldozer.

WhiteBoy88

I'm waiting for the day when mpcamer and Duke go at it in an AMD/Intel fight to the death.

Until then, I'll just watch the leapfrog.

JimShorts

lol, that will be a day not to miss!

mpcamer

Lets say we do, He will lose. Heck, he even uses AMD..

zangoo1

here is some specs for the new

phenom x2 or x4

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/05..._details_leak/

and it has 4x512kb l2 cache and 2mb l3 cache on the x4

2mb cache :( that is what intel has for the l2 cache in the core 2 duo i wish amd would go cache crazy.

mpcamer

Z-ram.

edit -

Also, AMD isn't cache dependent.. Meaning, they get less gain from cache than Intel does. For them, there are better (read: cheaper) ways for them to gain performance. Cache is very expensive.

montypythizzle

Just think, I just got AM2, this sucks.

xXPattycakes

Wow...

Gotta hand it to AMD if they are actually doing this
I've always used Intel but if these come out i will be picking one of those bad boys up

rahl07

I hope just half of what they say is true... daddy needs some new parts.

zangoo1

for some reason phenom x2 sounds like a super computer or something very expensive i hope it is not expensive

Grez

Like anything else, it'll probably be expensive at first, and then the price will drop.

And Monty, don't worry: AM2 is a good platform, and it's going to be good for a while. Hey, it's cheap enough that you didn't waste much in any case, even if you wanted to upgrade to this right away. But we're talking about this not being available for a while, and then probably not truly affordable for a few months after that. You've got a good year of being current. Beyond that, these are supposed to plug into socket AM2 and AM2+ boards, so the rest of your setup is ok to upgrade to this platform if you choose to down the line. Feel better?

montypythizzle

All you did was lube me up for the hurtin.

Nonetheless good to know.

Duke3d87

It's actually 4 MB. The L3 cache helps speed up access to the memory. With Core 2, you have 4 MB of L2 cache. Intel needs more cache to boost performance given the FSB. Northwoods loved cache b/c of the cache structure (i think it was inclusive). So that's why. Intel's excuse is that if you have a problem with your IMC during fabbing, you can use the CPU anymore as opposed to making a celeron out of a partially defective chip.

And no battle. Anandtech says that by Christmas time, Barcelona for desktop will be available (http://www.dailytech.com/Article.asp...mentid=137741). If that means what I think it means, that's a slow ramp up. So Barcelona will initially affect servers.

So some things to look out for:

1. See if AMD's bold claims are real. Joe at overclockers.com has a point; if you have a product, you benchmark it. You don't say that it will be up to xx% faster. I want to see if the FP claims were using SSE4 or not.
   
2. Intel 45nm. TG says that Intel is entering final validation of Penryn. So we'll see what happens there. They are officially supposed to release Penryn around Q3/Q4. They might be able to move it up if they feel the need to.
   
   We ignore the 1333 MHz FSB Core 2's b/c initial benchmarks show little to no performance gain. Although newer steppings of Kentsfield will drive down power consumption.
   
3. If Intel does lose the performance battle (which is likely), they can bank on the value line.
   Let me explain: Barcelona is going to be a pretty big die (283mm - http://www.chip-architect.com/news/2...s_Images.html). Core 2 was like 143mm and Penryn will be 107. If yields for Barcelona are not good, profit margins are going to suffer. Intel has more flexibility with the whole dual die approach and with QC penryn, we'll see a 214ish mm die (12 MB L2 cache...ect). I'm not saying that oh AMD is going to lose. I'm trying to say that there's more to the CPU industry than just performance. Manufacturing makes a big part of if.
   
   I don't know how much Barcelona will cost, but Q6600 will be below $300 by end of July.

JimShorts

I freakin love your posts Duke. It's like whenever I see that you posted in a thread, I have to open that thread to see what you said. You look at all these things from a completely different perspective and posess a knowledge on these subject that I can only wish I had. Yeah, like you need it, but you're getting some rep right about now.

Kolorean

Like all things, I will believe it when it happens, but I hope it does, means lower prices and better preformance for all!!

p_o_s_pc

It sucks that i went AM2 so soon.When the new CPU comes out i think it can be used with AM2 but not at the full speed and needs a bios update if that is it than i will get a new CPU when the prices start to lower if not i will use this AM2 one for some time than got to AM2+ and have a fast internet computer and a even better gaming rig.LOL

BlackKoala

I <3 my AMD.

When I can get a dual core Intel for under $100, I'll buy one, and upgrade my board. I'm not real big into spending $250+ on a processor.