Phenom II X6 Thuban to be AM2+ Compatible!

[Super XP]

This is awesome news. A little old news stated in Sept. 2009, but nevertheless great for AM2+ mobo owners.
AMD confirms hexa-core desktop chip, Thuban

AMD has confirmed that it is planning to release a consumer-grade six-core desktop processor next year -- even more, it will be backwards compatible with existing AM2+ and AM3 motherboards.

http://www.techspot.com/news/36314-amd-confirms-hexacore-desktop-chip-thuban.html


As much as I like my current AM2+ motherboard, I think I would have much more flexibility with a AM3 motherboard and the one I am thinking about is the new upcoming MSI 890FX-GD70 with the added SATA600 & USB 3.0 along with a dump load of features arguably never seen on a AMD mobo B4 imo.

 

[[Ion]]

SWEET!!!
I love all of the backwards-compatibility that AMD supports!
Sounds like a great upgrade for my Deneb system

 

[Kantastic]

I wonder if all this backwards compatibility is making it harder for them to improve performance..

 

[Super XP]

I wonder if all this backwards compatibility is making it harder for them to improve performance..

I am sure the performance will be just fine, but I do believe an AM3 setup with faster DDR3 memory will benefit more than DDR2. I am not sure whether I should go DDR3 or not I mean I do have 8GB's of fast DDR2 memory. I just hope AMD fixes the IMC so it can handle top speed with all DIMMs in use.

Perhaps the better upgrade would be to wait for the 2011 upcoming Bulldozer CPU and chipset.

 

[Kei]

I wonder if all this backwards compatibility is making it harder for them to improve performance..

I do believe that this does hold them back from a certain measure of performance, but I also believe that it's 100% worth it because of the revenue generated from those on the upgrade path with older hardware. It would be nice to get that extra little performance, but our stuff is already more than fast enough now (and they know that) so it really doesn't matter anyway especially if they had to give up the extreme backwards compatablity.

Sadly, I do believe that the upgrade after these will end up not having backwards compatablity though it's not really a bad thing. They've maintained the backwards compatablity for an insanely long time, and they'll have enough new hardware to keep those guys going for a very long time still. Moving over to the AM3 socket fulltime won't be a problem when that next chip time comes.

Kei

 

[Kenshai]

Codenamed Thuban, the chip will squeeze all six cores onto a single 45nm die. Thuban is derived from the hexa-core Opteron released earlier this year, and will feature an integrated DDR3 controller. It will likely have lower clock frequencies than AMD's
current quad core parts, is expected to house 3MB of L2 and 6MB of L3 cache, and be pushed to market as a Phenom II X6 -- but those tidbits aren't official.

From the article one line entertains me, there were some am2+ board that supported both ddr3 and ddr2 correct? Sounds like this processor only support DDR3 at least from this bit of information.

 

[BraveSoul]

thx for bringing this up

 

[btarunr]

Like I said in an older thread, no doubt Thuban (aka Istanbul) features DDR2 support. But the question is how many motherboard manufacturers are willing to give away BIOS updates that make their AM2+ motherboards support Thuban (potentially affecting sales of AM3 motherboards) remains to be seen.

Maybe just the top-end AM2+ boards, being the most recently launched, and which are capable of 140W TDP may get the supportive BIOS.

 

[Kei]

Like I said in an older thread, no doubt Thuban (aka Istanbul) features DDR2 support. But the question is how many motherboard manufacturers are willing to give away BIOS updates that make their AM2+ motherboards support Thuban (potentially affecting sales of AM3 motherboards) remains to be seen.

Maybe just the top-end AM2+ boards, being the most recently launched, and which are capable of 140W TDP may get the supportive BIOS.

I think that's a great point btarunr, and I also agree that only the most recent boards will be given those updates to allow Thuban usage.

Kei

 

[Flyordie]

I do believe that this does hold them back from a certain measure of performance, but I also believe that it's 100% worth it because of the revenue generated from those on the upgrade path with older hardware. It would be nice to get that extra little performance, but our stuff is already more than fast enough now (and they know that) so it really doesn't matter anyway especially if they had to give up the extreme backwards compatablity.

Sadly, I do believe that the upgrade after these will end up not having backwards compatablity though it's not really a bad thing. They've maintained the backwards compatablity for an insanely long time, and they'll have enough new hardware to keep those guys going for a very long time still. Moving over to the AM3 socket fulltime won't be a problem when that next chip time comes.

Kei

Yep. AMD is being awesome when it comes to adding a 6-core lineup for AM2+/AM3.
I just upgraded to AM2+ 1 year ago and it was a huge jump from my Socket 939. This will prolong my move and hold off on upgrading till the warranties on all my equipment expire. (Thats my upgrade cut-off, lol) Soon as warranty goes, I upgrade.
That should be a manufacturers guideline in regard to backwards compatibility releases. A consumer should be at ease when the warranty is 5 years and knowing that the company intends to actively support the product for 4-5 years by releasing revisions that should improve performance or reliability.

Also- Th'uban = Dragon in Arabic.

I love AMD's naming scheme. Especially Rana. JRRT will live on in anyone's machine who uses an Athlon X3.

 

[btarunr]

I think that's a great point btarunr, and I also agree that only the most recent boards will be given those updates to allow Thuban usage.

Kei

Not only the most recent, but also the higher-end ones, and which can handle 140W TDP.

 

[Meizuman]

On the other hand if they release new bioses for AM2+ 6 core action, it would help clearing the stocks from older AM2+ mobos... just my two cents.

 

[Super XP]

We've seen it in the past and present, even though AMD sticks to one socket type for a long time, the newer CPU's always benefit much more with newer mobo's and it's newer chipsets. Just like the AM3 CPU's, they will benefit with DDR3 alot more than DDR2 based setups.

 

[btarunr]

On the other hand if they release new bioses for AM2+ 6 core action, it would help clearing the stocks from older AM2+ mobos... just my two cents.

I doubt anyone is going to buy AM2+ mobos and DDR2 memory, especially with current prices of DDR2-1066.

 

[[I.R.A]_FBi]

I doubt anyone is going to buy AM2+ mobos and DDR2 memory, especially with current prices of DDR2-1066.

DDR2 is stupid expensive

 

[btarunr]

DDR2 is stupid expensive

I know, that's why I doubted anyone would buy it.

 

[1Kurgan1]

Not that anyones going to go out and buy DDR2, but there might be people out there running something like a PI 8450 on a low end mobo with some DDR2, well that processor is a few years old and starting to get dated, and why go for 890FX (prob like $180+) DDR3 ($100 for good stuff), and a six core (prob $300+). When they could just get a 790FX + SB600 for maybe $70 and then the CPU for around $300. Massive upgrade and almost half of the cost.

 

[MK4512]

YESSSS! Now I don't need to upgrade my board for awhile (suck it DDR3)

AMD = Awesome

 

[[I.R.A]_FBi]

I know, that's why I doubted anyone would buy it.

I want 8 GB of it and i changed my mind when i saw the price

 

[brandonwh64]

hmm i hope this CPU works in my board.

 

[El_Mayo]

My motherboard only supports 125W

 

[Super XP]

Not that anyones going to go out and buy DDR2, but there might be people out there running something like a PI 8450 on a low end mobo with some DDR2, well that processor is a few years old and starting to get dated, and why go for 890FX (prob like $180+) DDR3 ($100 for good stuff), and a six core (prob $300+). When they could just get a 790FX + SB600 for maybe $70 and then the CPU for around $300. Massive upgrade and almost half of the cost.

SB600 sucks big time. That was a big AMD mistake. USB 2.0 along with everything else running off the SB600 is unstable and slow. SB750 is a great improvement and SB850 along with 890FX will be a very large improvement over both gen's with the support of faster USB 2.0/3.0 & SATA300/600

 

[Disparia]

+ FIS port multiplier support.

So I really hope RAID-5 performance is improved! Don't expect much out of chipset RAID, but previous performance is poor when pondered in parallel to Intel's pinnacle, the ICH10R.

 

[Kei]

SB600 sucks big time. That was a big AMD mistake. USB 2.0 along with everything else running off the SB600 is unstable and slow. SB750 is a great improvement and SB850 along with 890FX will be a very large improvement over both gen's with the support of faster USB 2.0/3.0 & SATA300/600

No doubt the SB750 was better than the SB600, but the 600 worked out EXCELLENT for me through many processors. It didn't give me any strange instablity or speed problems, it ran nice and cool, and it just did what I wanted it to do. I think that the SB600 was more board dependant on how it was viewed, because in my instance (and many others I know) it did an excellent job...even though it was old.

Kei

 

[stuartb04]

so would this work on my board??