Desktop variants of AMD "Richland" APUs in the socket FM2 package, will arrive this June. Three of the first models to be released to the market, the A10-6800K, the A10-6700, and the A4-4400, could already be in stock with certain retailers, and were pictured. The A10-6800K (AD680KWOA44HL) features four x86-64 cores based on the "Piledriver" micro-architecture, 4.10 GHz core clock speed, 4.40 GHz maximum Turbo Core frequency, and Radeon HD 8670D graphics, clocked at 844 MHz. It features an unlocked base-clock multiplier.

The A10-6700 (AD6700OKA44HL) features the same graphics core as the A10-6800K, but features 3.70 GHz CPU clock speed, 4.30 GHz maximum Turbo Core frequency, and an upwards locked base-clock multiplier. The A4-4400 (AD4400OKA23HL), on the other hand, is an entry-level dual-core chip with 3.70 GHz core, 3.90 GHz Turbo Core, and Radeon HD 8370D graphics.Source: Hermitage Akihabara

AMD introduced two additions to its FX line of socket AM3+ processors, the six-core FX-6350, and the quad-core FX-4350. The two were released as OEM-only parts, late last year, and are now being released to the retail channel, in PIB (processor-in-box) packages. Based on the 32 nm "Vishera" silicon and "Piledriver" micro-architecture, the two chips are designed to hold two extremely catchy sub-$150 price-points.

The FX-6350 features a nominal core clock speed of 3.90 GHz, a maximum Turbo Core frequency of 4.20 GHz, 6 MB of total L2 cache, and 8 MB L3 cache. The FX-4350, on the other hand, features 4.20 GHz clock speed, with 4.30 GHz Turbo Core, 4 MB of total L2 cache, and 8 MB of L3. Both parts feature unlocked base-clock multipliers, modern instruction-sets such as AVX, AES-NI, SSE4.2, SSE4.1, FMA2, and XOP. Both further have TDP rated at 125W. The FX-6350 retail PIB package will be priced as low as US $132, while the FX-4350 will go for as low as $122. The two will also ship with AMD's newest case-badge design, pictured below.

AMD introduced the FX-4130 value quad-core processor. Although slotted in the 4100 series, which suggests it being based on the older "Zambezi" silicon, the new FX-4130 is in fact based on the newer "Vishera" silicon, and the "Piledriver" micro-architecture. AMD is following a competitive (price-performance) approach to its CPU lineup, rather than a pure-performance one, and the FX-4130 is pitted by the company against the similarly priced Intel Core i3-2100.

The FX-4130 features four cores spread across two "Piledriver" modules, 3.80 GHz nominal clock speed with 3.90 GHz Turbo Core frequency, 2 MB L2 cache per module, 4 MB shared L3 cache, and an up to date instruction-set that includes AVX, AES-NI, SSE4.2, FMA, and XOP. Similarly priced Intel chips lack some of these instruction sets. With the FX-4130, AMD is packing a chunkier stock fan-heatsink than older FX-4000 series chips, which spins at lower speeds to keep the chip cool, and is hence less noisy. The new FX-4130 is priced at $99.99.

Source: X-bit Labs

AMD's A-series "Trinity" line of APUs may have helped make the APU outsell CPUs in 2013, but it won't be long before they're replaced by the new "Richland" A-series APUs for desktops and mainstream notebooks. "Richland" is a tweaked version of "Trinity" which sees AMD stick to the 32 nm process, and retain the "Piledriver" CPU micro-architecture, but increase CPU clock speeds, add a faster DDR3-2133 MHz dual-channel IMC, and integrate a Radeon HD 8000 series Graphics CoreNext iGPU into the silicon. Desktop APU models will take up with A##-6000 series numbering scheme.

The series will be led by AMD A10-6800K, which features every component on the "Richland" silicon unlocked, which includes two "Piledriver" CPU modules amounting to four x86-64 cores, and all stream processors on the iGPU unlocked, with the highest CPU and iGPU clock speeds enabled in the lineup. The iGPU model for this chip is Radeon HD 8670D. The A10-6800K features unlocked multipliers, making overclocking a breeze. Trailing it is the A10-6700, which features all physical components unlocked, but with slightly lower clock speeds, and locked BClk multipler. It features the same iGPU as its bigger sibling, the HD 8670D.

AMD today unveiled nine new mid-range and entry-level AMD Opteron 4300 Series and 3300 Series server processors increasing performance per watt versus the previous generation to maximize compute capabilities in power-constrained environments1, while delivering outstanding value to cloud providers and web hosts. The AMD Opteron 3300 Series processors provide enterprise-class features in a low power envelope at a desktop processor price, making it ideal for web hosts and small- and medium-sized businesses.

The AMD Opteron 4300 Series processors offer up to 15 percent better performance versus the prior generation, based on SPECint benchmark results2. And SPECpower results show up to a 24 percent improvement in performance per watt. As with the AMD Opteron 6300 Series processors, these are socket compatible with the previous generation processor, providing an effortless upgrade path for customers.

AMAX, a leader in High-Performance Computing (HPC) solutions, today announced the immediate availability of its latest, most advanced CPU-based HPC solutions built upon the world's fastest 16-core x86 processor, the AMD Opteron 6300 series "Piledriver" CPUs.

The new server solutions target HPC, Big Data, Cloud, and Datacenter users with large scale-out applications seeking the highest performance and scalability to accelerate, transform and advance scientific discovery and business analytics. Multi-threaded workloads are becoming increasingly popular, but also ever more complex and demanding, and users are challenging AMAX to deliver solutions that provide a rich mix of performance, scalability and efficiency -- precisely what AMAX's ServMax server solutions with AMD Opteron 6300 series processors are engineered for.

Global supercomputer leader Cray Inc. (NASDAQ: CRAY) today announced the Cray XE6 and Cray XE6m supercomputers are now available with the new AMD Opteron 6300 Series processor, using its next-generation "Piledriver" core. With a performance-per-watt that is up to 40 percent higher than prior generations, these new AMD (NYSE: AMD) Opteron processors are designed to enhance power efficiency with more application performance within the same power budget.

"Cray supercomputers are specifically designed to allow our customers to easily upgrade their systems so they can take advantage of the latest, most innovative processing technologies while also reducing their total-cost-of-ownership over the life of the system," said Peg Williams, Cray's senior vice president of high performance computing systems. "We believe the new AMD Opteron 6300 Series processors will significantly improve the performance and efficiency for Cray customers upgrading their current Cray XE6 and Cray XE6m systems. We look forward to delivering this capability to our customers."

AMD today unveiled its new AMD Opteron 6300 Series server processors based on its next-generation "Piledriver" core architecture. The new AMD Opteron processors deliver superior performance and scalability for virtualized server platforms that are central to private and public cloud deployments, big data systems and high-performance computing (HPC) clusters. The AMD Opteron 6300 Series processors strike the ultimate balance between performance, scalability and cost effectiveness to help IT organizations lower total cost of ownership (TCO).

The AMD Opteron 6300 Series processors offer industry-leading performance in SPECjbb2005, a server benchmark used to evaluate Java performance, with up to 24 percent higher performance versus the prior generation AMD Opteron 6200 Series processors. Java is a critical element of the software ecosystem for next-generation data centers. Performance per watt is up to 40 percent higher than the prior generation solutions(2), which means businesses running robust large-scale software systems will be able to enjoy high performance as well as low TCO.

AMD's FX "Vishera" socket AM3+ processors are in for a long haul. According to a DonanimHaber report based on a leaked company roadmap slide, the company plans no new processor architecture to succeed it in 2013. The company recently launched its FX "Vishera" line of eight-, six-, and four-core chips just an year following FX "Zambezi," leading analysts to believe the company would launch a new micro-architecture each year to keep up with Intel's "tick-tock" product development strategy.

The roadmap slide, pictured below, shows AMD FX "Vishera" continuing through 2013 as the flagship desktop platform, followed by "Richland" third-generation desktop APU, which combines "Piledriver" CPU components with "Radeon 2.0 cores" (we're guessing those are Graphics CoreNext stream processors), which maintains socket FM2 platform; and low-power "Kabini" APU, which carries the mantle from "Brazos."

Source: DonanimHaber

AMD announced the 2012 FX "Vishera" line of eight-core, six-core, and quad-core desktop processors. Based on the new "Piledriver" CPU micro-architecture, the new processors feature increased performance and an updated instruction set, over the previous generation. To begin with, the processors are based around the "Vishera" silicon, built on the 32 nm HKMG process at Global Foundries. With a transistor count of 1.2 billion and a die area of 315 mm², Vishera packs four Piledriver modules, with two cores each, 2 MB L2 cache per module (8 MB total), and 8 MB of L3 cache. Eight-, six-, and four-core models are carved out by toggling the number of modules between four, three, and two.

The Vishera silicon also features an updated CPU instruction set, which includes SSE/2/3/S3/4.1/4.2/4A, AVX, AES-NI, FMA/FMA2/FMA3, XOP, and F16C. An x86 processor by design, Vishera features the AMD64 x86-64 instruction set. Its updated integrated memory controller supports up to 64 GB of dual-channel DDR3 memory, with a standard speed of DDR3-1866 MHz, and more possible with overclocking. The memory interface is single, monolithic 128-bit, unlike the dual 64-bit IMC approach of the "Stars" micro-architecture. Built in the same socket AM3+ package as the previous generation FX, the new chips are compatible with existing AM3+ motherboards with a BIOS update. The 2012 FX processor lineup includes a total of four models, the FX-8350 flagship eight-core, FX-8320 performance eight-core, FX-6300 mainstream six-core, and FX-4300 value quad-core. All models feature unlocked base-clock multipliers, making each of them fit for overclocking. Their specifications and target SEP pricing are tabled below. Market prices could be about 5~10% above the SEP prices.

While AMD FX "Piledriver" client processors in the AM3+ package are just around the corner, slated for a little later this month, the company's first enterprise processors for servers and workstations, based on the new micro-architecture, are slated for mid-November, according to a report. AMD could begin with an overhaul of its multi-socket enabled Opteron 6200 series and single/dual-socket enabled Opteron 4200 series with the new Opteron 6300/4300 series, featuring the 8-core "Piledriver" silicon. The multi-socket enabled Opteron 6300 series will consist of nine models, tabled below.Source: MyDrivers

According to new reports, AMD's next-generation FX "Vishera" processors built on its "Piledriver" architecture could surprise buyers with pricing, in a similar way to the A-Series "Trinity." AMD's FX "Vishera" socket AM3+ processors will not exceed US $200, according to the report. The launch pricing (along with specifications compiled from older reports) reportedly looks like this:

• AMD FX-8350 - $199: 8 cores, 4.00~4.20 GHz with TurboCore, 16 MB total cache
• AMD FX-8320 - $175: 8 cores, 3.50~4.00 GHz with TurboCore, 16 MB total cache
• AMD FX-6300 - $135: 6 cores, 3.50~4.10 GHz with TurboCore, 14 MB total cache
• AMD FX-4300 - $125: 4 cores, 3.80~4.00 GHz with TurboCore, 8 MB total cache

Source: VR-Zone

AMD announced the second-generation A-Series desktop APU lineup, based on the "Trinity" silicon. The silicon combines four x86-64 cores spread across two "Piledriver" micro-architecture modules, with a Radeon HD 7000 series graphics core with 384 VLIW4 stream processors, an integrated northbridge, and a dual-channel DDR3-1866 MHz integrated memory controller. Various models are carved out in the series by handling the numbers of CPU cores and stream processors.

The company kicked off the lineup with two A10-5000 series quad-core models, which are fully-loaded with all components enabled. These are followed by two A8-5000 series models, which have four x86-64 cores, but just 256 stream processors for the GPU component. Just behind is the A6-5000 series dual-core APUs with 192 stream processors. Trailing the pack is the A4-5000 series dual-core APUs with 128 stream processors. Model numbers and specifications are tabled below. Prices range between $70 - $140.

AMD's upcoming second-generation FX "Vishera" multi-core CPUs are likely to appeal to a variety of budget-conscious buyers, if a price-list leaked from US retailer BLT is accurate. The list includes pricing of the first four models AMD will launch some time in October, including the flagship FX-8350. The FX-8350 leads the pack with eight cores, 4.00 GHz clock speed, and 16 MB of total cache. It is priced at US $253.06. The FX-8350 is followed by another eight-core chip, the FX-8320, clocked at 3.50 GHz, and priced at $242.05.

Trailing the two eight-core chips is the FX-6300, carrying six cores, 3.50 GHz clock speed, 14 MB total cache, and a price-tag of $175.77. The most affordable chip of the lot, the FX-4350 packs four cores, 4.00 GHz clock speed, and 8 MB of total cache (likely by halving even the L3 cache). The FX-4350 is expected to go for $131.42. In all, the new lineup draws several parallels with the first-generation FX lineup, with FX-8150, FX-8120, FX-6100, and FX-4150.Source: HotHardware

According to an OCWorkbench report, AMD will officially launch its second generation A-series desktop APUs on the very first day of Q4 2012, October 1. The launch will include a contingent of socket FM2 motherboards from various manufacturers, based on AMD A55, A75, and A85X chipsets. Among the A-series socket FM2 models launched on October 1, are A10-5800K, A10-5700, A8-5600K, A8-5500, Athlon X4 750K/740, A6-5400K and A4-5300. Built on the 32 nm HKMG process by Globalfoundries, AMD A-series "Trinity" APUs combine up to four x86-64 CPU cores based on the "Piledriver" micro-architecture, with a Radeon HD 7000 series GPU core, with up to 384 stream processors based on the VLIW4 architecture.Source: OCWorkbench

AMD today announced the availability of three pioneering innovations that firmly cement the company as the leader in fabric computing, micro servers and data center technology. The first innovation is a new chassis, AMD's SeaMicro SM15000 server, which extends fabric-based computing across racks and aisles of the data center to connect to massive disk arrays supporting over five petabytes of storage capacity. In addition, AMD is announcing a new generation of compute cards for its industry-leading micro servers based on AMD Opteron and Intel Xeon "Ivy Bridge" processors. These innovations continue the AMD tradition of providing industry-leading density, power efficiency and bandwidth for tomorrow's data center.

"We continue to drive innovation to meet the changing needs of the data center. The rise of virtualization, cloud computing, and big data require a new generation of compute in which networking and storage are equal partners in the solution. This does not fit the mold of traditional servers," said Andrew Feldman, general manager and corporate vice president of the Data Center Server Solutions group, AMD. "We are at the beginning of a new wave of computing that requires data centers to become pools of computing and storage resources with the flexibility to expand in both dimensions. The SM15000 system removes the constraints of traditional servers and allows data centers to expand compute, networking and storage independently. By supporting the newest generation of processors, the SM15000 server will continue our tradition of being the highest-density, and most power efficient micro server in the market."

If the prices trickling in from leading distributors such as BLT are anything to go by, AMD's next-generation A-Series "Trinity" APUs will occupy price-points competitive with Intel's Core i3 and Pentium chips based on the "Ivy Bridge" silicon. AMD thinks its quad-core (two module) Piledriver architecture cores, coupled with VLIW4-based graphics cores have a fair shot against dual-core Ivy Bridge Core i3 chips, with triple- and dual-core A-series "Trinity" chips going up against Pentium "Ivy Bridge." Two of the chips leading AMD's lot will be the A10-5700 (quad-core, 3.40 GHz, 384 SP), and A10-5800K (unlocked multiplier, quad-core, 3.80 GHz, 384 SP).Source: Engadget

A leaked AMD document for retail partners spelled out specifications of the first three FX "Vishera" processors by AMD. The new CPUs incorporate AMD's "Piledriver" architecture, and much like the first-generation "Zambezi" chips, will launch as one each of eight-core, six-core, and four-core chips. The eight-core FX-8350 is confirmed to ship with 4.00 GHz nominal clock speed, with 4.20 GHz TurboCore speed. The six-core FX-6300 ships with 3.50 GHz nominal, and 4.10 GHz TurboCore speed. The quad-core FX-4320, on the other hand, ships with the same clock speeds as the FX-8350. In addition, the document confirmed clock speeds of several socket FM2 A-series APUs, such as the A10-5700 and the A8-5500.Source: Expreview

AMD reportedly deferred the launch of its next-generation "Trinity" A-series accelerated processing units (APUs) for desktops, to October, 2012. The products were originally slated for August. The delay affects launches of most APUs in the socket FM2 package, including the A10-5800K, a top-performing part in the series.

Launches of the A-Series "Trinity" APUs appear to have been clubbed with those of the FX-Series "Volan" (Vishera silicon, Piledriver micro-architecture) processors, including the FX-8350 and FX-6300. Meanwhile, AMD is in the process of phasing out its low-cost socket AM3 processors (such as Athlon II AM3, and Phenom II AM3), replacing them with Athlon II FM2, Phenom II AM3+, and mid-range FX-Series AM3+.Source: DigiTimes

Production of AMD's next-generation FX processor family, which are based on its "Piledriver" microarchitecture, will commence in Q3 2012, according to industry sources. Some of the first client processor models based on the "Vishera" silicon, will be the eight-core FX-8350, six-core FX-6300, and quad-core FX-4320. The three model names were earlier misinterpreted with an "x" prefix from a roadmap slide.

A few more details are known about these chips. For starters, the chips will be built on the existing AM3+ package, retaining compatibility with current AM3+ platforms. The chips will also retain dual-channel DDR3-1866 MHz integrated memory controllers, and Turbo Core 2.0. The main differences here, are increases in IPC (performance to clock-speed ratio), and the implementation of resonant clock mesh technology, which increases energy efficiency.Source: DonanimHaber

AMD today launched the AMD Embedded R-Series accelerated processing unit (APU) platform. Designed for mid- to high-end graphics-intensive applications such as digital signage, casino gaming, point-of-sale systems and kiosks, as well as parallel-processing-intensive applications spanning medical imaging and security/surveillance, the AMD Embedded R-Series APU combines the new "Piledriver" CPU architecture, an evolution of the "Bulldozer" architecture, with discrete-class, DirectX 11-capable AMD Radeon HD 7000 Series graphics in a heterogeneous multicore embedded processing platform.

"AMD pioneered the embedded APU to offer our customers a high-performance, power-efficient, small form-factor embedded processor," said Buddy Broeker, director, AMD Embedded Solutions. "With the AMD Embedded R-Series, we are taking our APU technology to the next level. By leveraging its seamlessly integrated heterogeneous system architecture, developers can tap into a high-performance and efficient parallel processing engine to accelerate their graphics- and compute-intensive applications, all while using industry-standard libraries such as OpenCL and DirectCompute."

It's confirmed that AMD's "Trinity" APUs, which started shipping to ODMs in mid-April, will launch in May, only that these will be the mobile variants of the APUs, featured in mainstream and compact notebooks, and value netbooks. The launch of desktop variants of these chips will have to wait till August. A DigiTimes report points out that the new Piledriver microarchitecture-based Trinity APUs will bring with them up to 25% increase in processing performance, and up to 50% increase in graphics performance, over current-generation "Llano" APUs.Source: DigiTimes

AMD revealed performance numbers of its key product for mainstream notebooks, the A10-4600M, in an infographic for the Korean market. Besides detailing the part, it reveals some performance numbers. To begin with, A10-4600M is based on the 32 nm "Trinity" silicon with all its components enabled. It has four x86-64 cores spread across two "Piledriver" architecture modules, 4 MB of total cache (2x 2 MB), CPU clock speeds of 2.30 GHz (3.00 GHz TurboCore), and integrated Radeon HD 7660G graphics that has 384 VLIW4 stream processors, and GPU core speed of 685 MHz. The chip integrates a PCI-Express 2.0 root complex, and dual-channel DDR3-1600 MHz integrated memory controller.

Moving on to performance numbers, and as expected, the infographic doesn't touch comparative CPU performance with a barge-pole. Instead the focus is on graphics performance, with an emphasis on Dual GPU feature, where the integrated graphics can work in tandem with a discrete GPU of the same class, resulting in up to 75% performance increase. Based on data from this infographic, and its own testing data of other notebooks, NordicHardware compiled relative performance of the IGP and Dual Graphics setup involving the A10-4600M and Radeon HD 7670M discrete GPU.Source: NordicHardware.se

AMD's upcoming "Trinity" family of desktop and mobile accelerated processing units (APUs) will use up to four x86-64 cores based on the company's newest CPU architecture, codenamed "Piledriver". AMD conservatively estimated performance/clock improvements over current-generation "Bulldozer" architecture, with Piledriver. Citavia put next-generation A10-5800K, and A8-4500M "Trinity" desktop and notebook APUs, and pitted them against several currently-launched processors, from both AMD and Intel.

It found integer and floating-point performance increases clock-for-clock, against Bulldozer-based FX-8150. The benchmark is not multi-threaded, and hence gives us a fair idea of the per core performance. On a rather disturbing note, the performance-per-GHz figures of Piledriver are trailing far behind K12 architecture (Llano, A8-3850), let alone competitive architectures from Intel.

Source: Expreview

Later this year, AMD will unveil its second-generation accelerated processing units (APUs) in the FM2 package, based on its brand-new "Piledriver" CPU and "Graphics CoreNext" GPU architectures. Among these, the part that is designed keeping overclockers in mind is the A10-5800K, which features an unlocked base clock multiplier, four x86-64 cores, 3.80 GHz (nominal) and 4.20 GHz Turbo Core clock speed, and AMD Radeon HD 7660D graphics. Find out more about the lineup here.

INPAI got its hands on an A10-5800K APU, and supporting socket FM2 motherboard, and wasted no time in comparing it to the current-generation A8-3850. INPAI put the two chips through SuperPi 1M, to measure single-thread performance, and 3DMark 06, to measure embedded-GPU performance. In SuperPi, A10-5800K crunched SuperPi 1M in 23.775 s, the A8-3850 did the same in 26.039 s. With 3DMark 06, the A10-5800K scored 9396 points, while the A8-3850 scored 6223. The inference that can be drawn out of this little test is that Trinity has significantly faster graphics, not so much CPU (taking into account A10-5800K cores were clocked over 30% higher than those of the A8-3850).Source: INPAI