AMD's quad-core Opteron

In a telling sign of just how much the microprocessor industry has changed in the past few years, the GHz race has given way to the current round of n-core races, where n equals some even number of cores. Of course, the dual-core race and its successor, the quad-core race, aren't quite as straightforward as the older clockspeed races, given the complexities inherent in brining new multicore designs to market. It's also the case that the labels "dual-core," "quad-core," and so on are open to some interpretation (I go back and forth on this issue here): do all the cores have to be on a single die, or can they just inhabit the same package?

The answer to this last question pretty much dictates who wins each leg of the n-core race, with the AMD multicores all sitting on a single die and the Intel multicores debuting with package-level integration before moving to die-level integration. This pattern held for the dual-core race, and it looks like it's going to hold for the quad-core race, as well.

This past month, Intel stated in a conference call that they'd be bringing the first quad-core parts to market in 4Q06. The quad-core Kentsfield consists of two Core 2 Duo E6700 chips sandwiched together into a single package. This move will bring Intel into the four-cores-per-socket realm well ahead of AMD's planned introduction of the quad-core Opteron. (More on this latter chip in a moment.) Newly leaked roadmaps have Kentsfield debuting at 2.66GHz for $999. That's the same price as the current Core 2 Duo Extreme X6800 part.

These four-core Kentsfield parts will go head-to-head with AMD's 4x4 systems. I think these two very different system architectures are going to offer a very interesting and stark choice for system builders. With four cores sitting on a single 1066MHz FSB, Kentsfield is going to have much lower per-core memory and FSB bandwidth than the comparable 4x4 system. For its part, the 4x4's two-socket design offers much higher per-core bandwidth that should give it a significant edge in bandwidth-intensive applications.

Complicating this picture is the fact that Kentsfield's individual cores will outperform the individual Athlon 64 FX cores by a significant margin. So the Kentsfield systems will have more total CPU horsepower than the 4x4 competition, but the CPU will be sipping code and data through a relatively thin straw. (See this post for more on these kinds of bandwidth issues in quad-core systems.)

My prediction is that when these two types of four-core systems are benchmarked against each other, the results are going to vary with application type to a much higher degree than reviewers have so far been accustomed to. This being the case, I think synthetic and toy benchmarks are going to be increasingly pointless as review tools. It's one thing to use synthetic benchmarks to get CPU horserace numbers for two systems that are very similar, but when you move out of the realm of oranges vs. oranges and into the realm of oranges vs. grapefruit, it becomes less of a horserace and more of a question of which tool best fits the specific types of jobs that you want to do. In this context, real-world application performance is the only thing worth looking at.

AMD's quad-core Opteron

Just yesterday, AMD revealed that they won't move to four cores per socket until much later than Intel, in mid-2007. Even then the quad-core parts will start out at the top of the server-oriented Opteron line before trickling down into the desktop space.

The quad-core Opteron, which just taped out, will arrive later than Kentsfield because it's a more advanced, more integrated design puts four cores on the same piece of silicon. This "later than Intel, but more highly integrated" approach served AMD extremely well in the dual-core race, but I don't think the tactic is going to pay off to quite the same extent in the quad-core realm.

Intel's first dual-core part was two Prescotts stuck into a single package, but Prescott was a dog. In contrast, two Woodcrests in a single multi-chip module (MCM) format (i.e. the Clovertown Xeons) will offer a ton of horsepower, despite the low level of integration. While I won't make any detailed predictions about the quad-core server horserace, I think it's safe to say that we won't see a quad-core repeat of the kind of blow-out that happened when the dual-core Opterons went up against the MCM-based dual-core Xeons.

ATI shareholders say yes to AMD

Advanced Micro Devices' AMD proposed acquisition of graphics chip maker ATI Technologies has received the approval of ATI's shareholders, the companies announced Friday.

AMD intends to buy ATI for $5.4 billion in order to take advantage of ATI's graphics and chipset prowess. The idea is to compete with Intel's ability to present PC companies with a complete product that includes a processor, chipset and graphics technology. Eventually, AMD also plans to integrate graphics technology directly into the processor, it has said.

AMD DEAL

Final approval of the deal is required during a court hearing next week, and the transaction is expected to close by the end of October. ATI is based in Markham, Ontario, and the Canadian government also gave its seal of approval to the deal Friday. Dunoo whether AMD would change the presest company name

AMD NEWS

AMD NEWS
Rumors on the Internet say that AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) is readying a new Opteron Socket F server mainboard. The mainboard is said to be named LGA1207, and have a pinless processor interface. The socket in question reportedly has 1027 pins, using a similar frame for retention like the Intel Socket T LGA775.

Rumors also say that the new AMD Opteron processor is going to support 667 and 800 MHz memory modules. Also, the support for DDR2-533 will be available, as well as PCI Express. The photo above is said to feature the LGA1207 pinless processor interface of the new Opteron Socket F server mainboard.

To fill the rumors, it is said that Wal-Mart will sell AMD powered notebooks and desktop PC's at a stunning US$398 price. In a few words, AMD's success in the USA retail market cannot be ignored, but Intel is the first when it comes to all US consumer PC sales. Dell, the number one PC supplier on the US consumer market, uses only Intel processors.

windows vista vs ubuntu beryl

amd

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (abbreviated AMD; NYSE: AMD) is an American manufacturer of integrated circuits based in Sunnyvale, California. The company was founded in 1969 by a group of former executives from Fairchild Semiconductor, including Jerry Sanders, III, Ed Turney, John Carey, Sven Simonsen, Jack Gifford and three members from Gifford's team, Frank Botte, Jim Giles and Larry Stenger.

It is the world's second-largest supplier of x86 based processors, AMD is also the world's second largest supplier of graphics cards and GPUs after taking control over ATI in 2006. AMD also owns a 37% share of Spansion, a supplier of non-volatile flash memory.

AMD Live!

AMD Live! logo (TM)

Main article: AMD Live!

AMD LIVE! was originally the name of Advanced Micro Devices' initiative to gather the support of professional musicians and other media producers behind its hardware products. The primary focus of this initiative was the Opteron server- and workstation-class central processing unit.

AMD subsequently extended AMD LIVE! into a platform marketing initiative focusing the consumer electronics segment.

AMD LIVE! was first announced on January 4, 2006 officially through press release.

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (abbreviated AMD; NYSE: AMD) is an American manufacturer of integrated circuits based in Sunnyvale, California. The company was founded in 1969 by a group of former executives from Fairchild Semiconductor, including Jerry Sanders, III, Ed Turney, John Carey, Sven Simonsen, Jack Gifford and three members from Gifford's team, Frank Botte, Jim Giles and Larry Stenger.

It is the world's second-largest supplier of x86 based processors, AMD is also the world's second largest supplier of graphics cards and GPUs after taking control over ATI in 2006. AMD also owns a 37% share of Spansion, a supplier of non-volatile flash memory.

AMD Live!

AMD Live! logo (TM)

Main article: AMD Live!

AMD LIVE! was originally the name of Advanced Micro Devices' initiative to gather the support of professional musicians and other media producers behind its hardware products. The primary focus of this initiative was the Opteron server- and workstation-class central processing unit.

AMD subsequently extended AMD LIVE! into a platform marketing initiative focusing the consumer electronics segment.

AMD LIVE! was first announced on January 4, 2006 officially through press release.

[edit] AMD Quad FX platform

Main article: AMD Quad FX platform

[edit] Geode processors

Main article: AMD Geode

In August 2003, AMD also purchased the Geode business (originally the Cyrix MediaGX) from National Semiconductor to augment its existing line of embedded x86 processor products. During the second quarter of 2004, it launched new low-power Geode NX processors based on the K7 Thoroughbred architecture with speeds of 667 MHz and 1 GHz (fanless), and 1.4 GHz (TDP 25W).

[edit] Pacifica/AMD-V

AMD's virtualization extension to the 64-bit x86 architecture is named AMD Virtualization (also known by the abbreviation AMD-V), and is sometimes referred to by the code name "Pacifica".

AMD processors using Socket AM2, Socket S1, and Socket F include AMD Virtualization support. AMD Virtualization is also supported by release two (x2xx series) of the Opteron processors.

[edit] Production and fabrication

“	Only real men have fabs.	”
—Former AMD CEO Jerry Sanders, III, [4]

AMD produces their own processors in wholly owned semiconductor Fabrication Plants, called "FABs."

AMD uses a "FAB x" naming convention for their production facilities, where "x" is the number of years that have passed between the founding of AMD and the date the FAB opened.

At their Fabrication facilities, AMD utilizes a system called Automated Precision Manufacturing (APM). APM is a collection of manufacturing technologies AMD has developed over their history (many of which AMD holds patents for), which are designed to enhance the microprocessor production process, primarily in terms of yield. Much of APM is related to removing the "human equation" from the manufacturing process by isolating in-process wafers in containers that are only exposed to clean room facilities. AMD claims that the technologies that combine to make APM are unique to the industry and make it the foremost semiconductor manufacturer in the world - a fact which is lent some credence by their current agreement with Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing based in Singapore. India's first Fab City, a silicon chip manufacturing facility, being setup with an investment of $3 billion by the AMD-SemIndia consortium

AMD currently has a production agreement with foundry Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing which allows Chartered access to AMD Automated Precision Manufacturing (APM) process technology, in exchange for which Chartered will act as extra production capacity for AMD.

AMD has planned expansions in their production capacity. In addition to the completion of Fab 36 in Dresden (300 mm 90 nm process SOI), AMD is planning to upgrade Fab 30 (adjacent to Fab 36) in Dresden from 200 mm 90nm process SOI to a 300 mm 65 nm process silicon on insulator|SOI facility and rename it Fab 38, and open a new facility at the Luther Park Technology Campus in Stillwater, New York (likely 300 mm 32 nm process SOI production) between years 2009 to 2010.

AMD Quad FX platform

Main article: AMD Quad FX platform

[edit] Geode processors

Main article: AMD Geode

In August 2003, AMD also purchased the Geode business (originally the Cyrix MediaGX) from National Semiconductor to augment its existing line of embedded x86 processor products. During the second quarter of 2004, it launched new low-power Geode NX processors based on the K7 Thoroughbred architecture with speeds of 667 MHz and 1 GHz (fanless), and 1.4 GHz (TDP 25W).

LG 160 gb hardrive lcd

LG has launched their new XCanvas TVs, which include a line-up of 5 Full HD TVs with a 160GB hard disk to copy your favorite TV show in HD without having to mess with a DVR.

160GB may be too light for some of you, but the TVs are equipped with a USB 2.0 port so you can connect an external hard disk, and therefore as much disk space as you can afford.

It looks like the 50inch LCD TV with a 160 Gigabyte hard drive is finally going to launch. LG is saying the model, the PC2DR, will be available in the second half of the year. LG also took the wraps off a trio of large screen LCD sets with integrated hard disk video recorders, some 20inch LCDs and a 42inch plasma. Not entirely sure when or what is coming to the UK but we'll do our best to find out.

The TVs are also equipped with the new XD Engine and XCC to reduce the image noise. The new TVs include LCD models measuring 37, 42 and 47”, and Plasma models measuring 50 and 60”.

Their price ranges from €2,000 to €7,300.

Sony gave away a free 46-inch Bravia HDTV

PlayStation 3 now a worldwide console

The launch of the PlayStation 3 in Europe, Sony’s latest console is now a worldwide product. The top PS3 launch story is undoubtedly the one of the Virgin Megastore in Oxford Street, London where Sony gave away a free 46-inch Bravia HDTV to over 100 people waiting in line for the console. Pro-G has a video from the launch with comments from Ray Maguire of SCEE UK and Phil Harrison of SCE Worldwide plus the shocking reveal of a free TV for everyone in the queue.

The Virgin Megastore, being the official launch partner for Sony was one of the only shops on Oxford Street to hold a midnight launch. The two other major retailers in the vicinity, HMV and GAME, decided to postpone launches to the morning under police advisory.

Although the London launch is receiving the most publicity, the rest of Europe gets their black Sony monoliths today too. The launch in Greece featured live demonstrations with aliens and samurais promoting Resistance and Genji 2. All people at the Greek launch received Sony presents like USB car radios, but nothing on the scale of a free Bravia TV.

The PS3 was met by a crow of over 130 people at a Sony Store in Prague, Czech Republic, eventually selling out after a few hours. The Germans were even more feverish over the PlayStation 3, going as far as to destroying Xbox 360 consoles. Saturn, an electronics chain store, promoted that the first 50 Xbox 360 owners who climb a wall and then throw their consoles down to their imminent destruction will receive a free PlayStation 3.

Meanwhile, Microsoft had its own answer to all the smashed Xbox 360s. Microsoft sent out cases of free Fosters to the UK’s games media yesterday to illustrate the beer gamers could buy with the price differential between the PS3 and the Xbox 360. Paris got its own Xbox 360 love boat. And finally, Microsoft gave out free camping chairs to those waiting in line for a PS3—undeniably an act of goodwill—though a little cryptic, as each chair was branded with www.shkyw.org.