Advanced Micro Devices said during the formal unveiling of its quad-core server microprocessors that it would introduce 25% faster versions of the chip in about two months time. The move will allow the world’s second largest chipmaker not only to improve performance for servers, but also to present a competitive solution for desktops.
Randy Allen, corporate vice president of server and workstation division at AMD, said during the quad-core AMD Opteron launch conference that while initially AMD’s chips with four processing engines work only at up to 2.0GHz clock-speed, in December the company will be in position to offer 2.5GHz chips. But 25% speed increase will bring only up to 15% performance improvement, said Mr. Allen.
“AMD today shows the path to better performing design for demanding data center requirements, again. In fact, here is a proof to you of our 2.50GHz [quad-core] processor that is going to be available in December and what it is going to deliver to the market. […] This chart shows incremental performance that is going to be delivered on top of that existing [2.0GHz] product: you can see 15% performance benefit, 15% performance increase that will be delivered [by] our 2.50GHz product,” said Randy Allen.
In addition to clock-speed increase of server processors late this year, the chipmaker also promised to deliver the first AMD Phenom processors for desktops in December, though, remained tight-lipped regarding their working frequencies and other peculiarities.
Earlier it was reported that the chipmaker only plans to unveil its AMD Phenom FX-80 processor, which is designed for single-processor configurations, this year, whereas AMD Phenom FX-90 and FX-91 products are set to be released sometime in the first quarter of 2007. The move basically delays the introduction of AMD’s FASN8 platform, which employs two quad-core central processing units and puts AMD’s success in the field of computer enthusiasts under question.
AMD Phenom FX-80 quad-core processor is projected to operate at 2.20GHz – 2.40GHz clock-speed, have 2MB of L2 cache (1MB per core), 2MB shared L3 cache, dual-channel PC2-8500 (DDR2 1066MHz) memory controller and AM2+ form-factor with HyperTransport 3.0 bus support. The AMD Phenom FX-90 and FX-91 models are expected to operate in 2.20GHz – 2.60GHz clock-speed ranges and support dual-processor configurations.
Comments currently:
23
Discussion started: 09/12/07 08:35:52 AM
Latest comment: 10/12/07 05:04:28 AM
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[1-10]
1.
quote: AMD promises...
I'll take that with a grain of salt...
quote: But 25% speed increase will bring only up to 15% performance improvement, said Mr. Allen.
Still not enough... as usual
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Posted by: dudde
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Date: 09/12/07 08:35:52 AM]
2.
Even if AMD's new processor has slightly lower performance than Intel's, I will still buy it because AMD motherboards are much more upgradable than Intel motherboards. For example, with socket A, you could upgrade the processor and be able to put one in that would be several times faster than the processors that were originally available for it at launch. I've never seen that with an Intel CPU/Motherboard.
The other reasons I like to stick with AMD is that they're processors are generally quieter. The biggest reason for me though is that AMD isn't a monopoly and doesn't behave like one. As a customer of theirs, they have treated me well.
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Posted by: tech
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Date: 09/12/07 10:56:27 AM]
+ expand thread (1 answer)
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Socket A?? have you been hiding from a rock??
that socket was from 5-6yrs ago which was for Athlon XP...
AMD is now using socket AM2... and will be releasing socket AM2+ and AM3 soon...
On Intel's side... socket 478 (P3 and P4 era) which had a considerable long life... and socket 775 is now having a long life too...
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Posted by: dudde
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Date: 09/12/07 11:47:08 AM]
3.
I am merely pointing out an example that most people will remember. I have build many computers and I have many years of experience in the field as a computer technician.
Not too long ago, I bought an Intel socket 775 Gigabyte GA8N-SLI-Royal motherboard, which costs me around $200 USD.
I have a Pentium 4 Prescott installed in that motherboard. Tell me, what are my upgrade options for the GA8N-SLI-Royal? Can I upgrade to the Core 2 Duo?
Look into it and you will learn how limited upgrade options usually are on Intel systems.
My brother bought an 800 MHz socket A Athlon processor. Using the same motherboard, he upgrade to the Athlon 2600+.
That is a more than three-fold improvement in performance.
Please give me even one example in the 21st century where that happened with a stock Intel-based motherboard?
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Posted by: tech
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Date: 09/12/07 12:00:39 PM]
+ expand thread (2 answers)
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Of course you can upgrade your Pentium 4 to a Pentium D using the same motherboard. Just as your brother can upgrade to an Athlon 2600+ on a socket A motherboard. Now, can you tell me if your brother can upgrade to an AMD FX-62? I'm guessing not, just like you won't be able to upgrade to a Core 2 Duo on the Gigabyte board.
If you're going to compare apples, at least compare it to apples and not oranges.
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Posted by: dood
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Date: 09/12/07 01:37:56 PM]
Well he was comparing processors using the same socket.
Socket 775 already 5 versions:
1st - Presscott version. Incompatible with the 2nd.
2nd - Pentium D version. Incompatible with the 3rd.
3rd - Core 2 Duo version. Incompatible with the 4th.
4th - Core 2 Quad version. Incompatible with the 5th.
5th - Core 2 Duo/Quad 1333Mhz bus version. Fully support the 45nm cpu line?
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Posted by: Joker
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Date: 09/13/07 04:23:09 AM]
4.
Dual Quad core chips for a total of 8 cores SOUNDS awesome, if it ever comes out at an affordable price. If AMD waits too long it's not hard to imagine a single high clocked Intel Quad Core out performing AMD's quad core offering. After all Intel already has their quad core chips running close to 4GHz in their labs, they just don't feel the competitive pressure to release it, and why would they? I'm sure they are quite happy with the margins they are getting on their current chips.
That said I sure wouldn't want to be any of the overworked engineers that have to make this project happen on the AMD side ^_^. I like AMD and having competition is good. I mostly have AMD systems myself but I've been building Intel for others lately. AMD needs to step it up if they want to stay in business both in their CPU and GPU business.
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Posted by: Megamanx00
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Date: 09/12/07 01:39:28 PM]
5.
Answer the question.
Can you provide me with one example of an Intel-based motherboard (released during the 21st century) that provided the opportunity for users to upgrade to a stock processor that was over three times faster than the processor that was originally released for it?
(If you try to dodge this question, like you did last time, I will be the first to notice).
So, please just answer the question this time.
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Posted by: tech
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Date: 09/12/07 09:59:27 PM]
+ expand thread (7 answers)
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then you probably haven't heard of upgrading the BIOS... or your just too chicken to do the upgrade...
you probably bought a crappy board to begin with...
I don't see you complaining about AMD moving from Socket A to 939/754/940 in such a short time.... even short to AM2...
and you call that an upgrade path?!?
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Posted by: dudde
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Date: 09/13/07 01:45:29 AM]
Link for a 2004 socket 775 motherboard that supports Core 2 Duo or even a Pentium D?
Link for a 2005 socket 775 motherboard that supports Core 2 Duo?
Link for a 2006 socket 775 motherboard that supports Core 2 Quad/Duo 1333Mhz ?
I can link lots of completely new 2007 socket 775 motherboards that DONT support Core 2 Quad cpus.
Are you sure it’s just the bios?
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Posted by: Joker
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Date: 09/13/07 04:29:42 AM]
The GA8N-SLI-Royal? Are you friggin' kidding me? that was one of the first boards to be capable of supporting quad SLi. Hardly a crappy board. I'm even surprised that that guy got it so cheap.
I understand exactly the point he is trying to make too. With Socket A you had quite a wide range of chips, all which were compatable with that socket. Same with Socket 754, 939 and now AM2. The difference with Intel, is that you can't be sure if your socket 775 board will be compatible with anything new in the future because of how they change all the time.
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Posted by: Xenocide
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Date: 09/13/07 11:47:24 AM]
I've got P965 socket and e6750 processor: previously it was 520 processor on the same socket - I belive it's something like 3 times faster? Intel released only 2 sockets from 2001 til present, while AMD is gonna to release 6th already
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Posted by: rou
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Date: 09/13/07 04:24:02 AM]
Read my reply to the dood.
Socket 775 has already passed through 5 major revisions.
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Posted by: Joker
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Date: 09/13/07 04:32:40 AM]
The Pentium II and Pentium III. Both have 370 pins but one is slot 1 and other is socket 370. An adapter is needed to convert a Slot 1 to socket 370 to handle a Pentium III. One problem with this upgrade, is the limits of the front side bus and the multiplier. Doing an BIOS upgrade may not work in those days, but a soldering iron may work.
Doing the same for AMD Athlon (slot A and socket A) takes some work because the amount of pins are different and the pin assignments are different too. If you compare the Thunderbird core and the Barton core, then yes there is an improvement, but if only if get an nVidia nForce2 chipset or VIA KT400 chipset.
Sure AMD did something stupid by providing 940 socket, 754 socket, 939 socket, socket F, and AM2/AM2+ socket. It seems to me that there were too many cooks for the K8 model. Intel did the same thing. They introduced, socket 423 and socket 478 for Pentium 4. Xeon uses either socket 603 or socket 604. In conclusion, both companies actually treat their customers the same way, but AMD was nicer each of the computing environments such as desktop, notebook, and server.
AMD has always provided better performance than their last processor they introduced. Intel on the other hand played an yo-yo game when they introduce a new processor. I guess Intel learn the hard way which is to always provide better performance than their last model or else ketchup. Unfortunately, AMD lost some employees that could be the culprits of AMD's delay, but we will never know.
To ease through AMD's new socket introductions, certain ASRock motherboard models may help. Though, I do think ASRock makes good motherboards.
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Posted by: linuxnerd
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Date: 09/13/07 10:02:49 PM]
Well bottomline is both side have had their own fiascos in terms of introducing sockets. On the engineering stand point, it is a very difficult to nearly impossible to devise a socket that can support more than 2 generations of microarchitecture.
Just going back to the article's title/topic...
the article was about AMD promising to ramp up clock speed of their new quad core.
The question is if and when will they deliver!
Just surprised to see some people bitching about sockets
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Posted by: dudde
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Date: 09/13/07 11:09:18 PM]
6.
You've made an eror,
Phenom will have "2MB of L2 cache (1MB per core)" the math is wrong, 1MB/core * 4 cores => 4MB L2. Will the processor have 2MB L2 with 512KB/core or 4MB L2 with 1MB/core
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Posted by: Mataoanu
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Date: 09/13/07 08:25:57 AM]
+ expand thread (2 answers)
- collapse thread
The Phenom will have 4 x 512KB per core = 2MB
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Posted by: Mr_Speedy
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Date: 09/13/07 11:13:39 AM]
4 x 512 per core.. hmm that sounds like 8 Mb :PP
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Posted by: (=
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Date: 09/13/07 12:55:22 PM]
7.
Cool, now all I have to do is go back to Q1 '07 and buy my FX-90 using the time machine AMD built when the were supposed to be working on Phenom.
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Posted by: PB
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Date: 09/13/07 02:28:32 PM]
8.
Intel 975X
Supports:
Core 2 Quad
Core 2 Duo
Pentium Dual Core
Pentium D(Extreme)
Pentium D
Pentium 4(Extreme)
Pentium 4
And most likely can support Celeron D and L chips.
Sorry to burst your ego bubles, but MANY intel and nivida chips support several cpu types.
AMD fanboys, go do more reseach.
There is only one AMD board I can find that supports more then 3 types of CPU's (making a total of four)
MACH SPEED MSNV-939 939 NVIDIA nForce4
So, sorry.
Intel wins.
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Posted by: Joz
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Date: 09/14/07 01:42:35 PM]
+ expand thread (1 answer)
- collapse thread
A 939 socket based motherboard can handle Sempron, AthlonFX, Opteron, and Athlon64. On some motherboard brands they can even support AMD mobile processors. Normally, when a new AMD processor comes out, a BIOS upgrade is all is needed to support the desire chip. Intel rarely does this. Intel's mobile chip Pentium M can not be used on a socket 478. AMD K8 processors support ECC memory with out worrying about the chipset. Intel users have to buy top of the line chipsets to support ECC memory such as 850, 850e, 875, 975.
If you can only find one motherboard, then it should be you that needs to do research and spell it correctly. There are several dozens of AMD motherboards out there that support the same. Again a BIOS upgrade is needed to support newer processors of the same socket. The chipset for AMD systems is rarely dependent on processor selection.
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Posted by: linuxnerd
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Date: 09/14/07 05:24:08 PM]
9.
The K10 or K9L chip does not need a speed increase because the four processors can be loaded equally by the OS. For me and many users, do not need a processor faster than 2 GHz. Unfortunately, Windows users do not get the ability like Linux users, so a faster processor is then needed. A faster processor is best at encoding video, sound, graphics, programming, and intense game playing.
What is needed are larger L3 cache to handle heavier loads and the ability to turn off areas of cache for better power management.
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Posted by: linuxnerd
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Date: 09/14/07 05:46:23 PM]
10.
Amd processors' L1,L2 and L3 caches is too .........it should has at least 8mb per core(L2 cache), 12mb(L3 cache)
Besides that, amd can't demonstrate a 30nm
processor.
Futhermore, amd processor always consume more electricity.
Hyper transport speed is too lower le
i hope it will improve at phenom fx 80.......
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Posted by: Edward Ng
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Date: 10/12/07 05:04:28 AM]
[1-10]
AMD Promises 2.5GHz Quad-Core Microprocessors in December.
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