AMD CPU strategy for 2009
By Hilbert Hagedoorn, July 28, 2007 - 1:23 PM
At AMD's financial analysts' meeting today, the company laid down details for some of its previously shrouded processors, particularly those in future mobile platforms.
The first of these is a product codenamed "Falcon," a part of the Fusion line, which will be a quad-core chipset using a core nicknamed "Bulldozer." Notably, it is already being touted as compatible with DirectX 10 and 11, the latter not having been exposed to the public. Performance processors will come mainly in the form Phenom, with 2007 seeing the launch of 65nm chips and 2008 receving 45nm technology. 2007 will also witness the debut of dual- and quad-core Spider systems, with 2MB of L3 cache, while 2008 alone will have Hardcastle, a 45nm CPU with 6MB of L3.
AMD plans to launch its third-generation Opteron platform in 2009 with the Sandtiger octal-core processor. Beneath Sandtiger is AMD’s M-SPACE modular approach towards CPUs. M-SPACE allows AMD to mix and match CPU features for specific tasks.
The definition for M-SPACE is as follows:
* Modular: Reconfigurable “building blocks” for design speed/agility
* Scalable: Linear scaling of multi and single-thread performance
* Portable: Energy-efficiency for increased mobility/portability
* Accessible: Ongoing commitment to open innovation
* Compatible: Backward compatibility and ease of upgrade
* Efficient: Optimal on-chip and system level I/O efficiency
Sandtiger’s eight cores consist of eight AMD Bulldozers. Bulldozer is the name AMD has given to one of the CPU cores for its M-SPACE architecture. AMD claims dramatic performance-per-watt improvements in HPC applications with Bulldozer cores. Unlike Barcelona and Shanghai, which have evolved from AMD’s K8 architecture, Bulldozer is a completely new design developed from the ground up.
AMD installs eight Bulldozer CPU cores in Sandtiger with a memory control. AMD optimizes the design for servers and raises the performance-per-watt bar for single and multithreaded applications, according to AMD.
The modular M-SPACE technology also finds its way into Fusion. AMD plans to mix and match M-SPACE components for Falcon, a Fusion processor optimized for mobile and mainstream desktops. Falcon forms the basis of AMD’s planned Copperhead mainstream desktop platform. Falcon features four Bulldozer CPU cores with an integrated graphics processor. The integrated graphics processor features DirectX 10, possibly 11, support with AMD’s Universal Video Decoder, or UVD, technology. Falcon also features integrated PCIe.
In addition to Bulldozer, AMD has the Bobcat CPU core for Fusion processors designed for mobile, ultra-mobile and consumer electronics applications. Bobcat is also a completely new design and has greater power scaling capabilities. Bobcat-based processor designs can consume as low as one watt of power. AMD has not announced any details of Bobcat-powered Fusion processors yet.
Expect AMD to introduce Fusion designs based on Bulldozer and Bobcat beginning in 2009.
DDD
