Arquitectura AMD "Barcelona"

[MadTech]

Arquitectura AMD "Barcelona"

A Intel, desde a saida dos Conroe, com a introdução de uma nova arquitectura, deitou por terra a AMD em termos de performance dos seus processadores.

Durante alguns anos a AMD reinava em termos de performance, mas não em termos de vendas. Durante esses anos, a AMD continuou a ganhar clientes e terreno sobre a Intel, mas a Intel tinha algo na manga, o desenvolvimento de uma nova arquitectura, prova do seu conhecimento já cimentado na área. Não é por acaso que são das empresas pioneiras em termos de computação.

A Intel começou a ganhar terreno sobre a AMD com a introdução dos Pentium M nos portáteis. Com uma performance avassaladora, os mais "extreme" começaram por colocar adaptadores nas suas motherboards desktop a fim de conseguirem um boost de performance sobre os anteriores Pentium 4. Vendo as coisas como estavam a progredir, a AMD manteve-se sem fazer nada. Todos os anos a Intel saira com uma versão melhorada do processador: Banias, Dothan, Yonah, Merom e agora Conroe. No espaço de 4 anos, a AMD ficou sem fazer nada na sua arquitectura K8.

A verdade é que a arquitectura K8 da AMD era melhor performante do que o Banias, Dothan e Yonah, exceptuando algumas aplicações em que viamos a Intel a começar a dominar. Com a saída do Merom e Conroe, a AMD foi deixada para trás, e ainda continua aí.

O projecto Barcelona foi criado para ser lançado dentro de um ano após a saida dos Core 2 Duo. É a oportunidade da AMD permanecer competitiva.

A janela de oportunidade do Barcelona é pequena, dependendo de quanto bem a transição da Intel para os 45nm corre. A Intel já planeou a saída do Penryn, para lançar no mercado no fim de 2007. Se os Barcelona forem sempre lançados a meio de 2007 em servidores e nos últimos meses de 2007, irá ser na altura em que a Intel irá estar mais calma.

Coração do Barcelona:



O Barcelona é o primeiro quad-core da AMD, com 4 cores num único chip de 65nm. É diferente do quad-core da Intel Kentsfield. Não são dois dual-cores num chip, mas sim quatro cores num chip. Assim a AMD diz que este processador será o primeiro verdadeiro quad-core. Apesar de tudo, na teoria a AMD fica a ganhar, mas será que é visível em testes? Afinal de contas, muito software nem tira partido de 2 cores, quanto mais 4...

Baseado no processo de 65nm da AMD, o Barcelona tem um design mais complexo que o K8, com um total de 11 camadas, comparado com as 9 camadas do K8 e 8 camadas dos Core 2 Duo da Intel. O aumento das camadas torna o processo de fabrico mais complexo, mas não trás nenhuma desvantagem para o utilizador final.

Com 4 cores e 2MB de cache L3 no próprio CPU (optional), o Barcelona carrega com 463 milhões de transistores. Assim, fica a 119 milhões de distância dos 582 milhões de transistores do Kentsfield da Intel. Isto é devido ao facto dos Barcelona terem em cada core 128K L1 e 512K L2, partilhando todos os cores 2MB L3, ou seja um total de 4.5MB de cache no chip. Cada 2 pares de cores que compoem o Kentsfield, cada core tem 64K L1 e partilhados 4MB L2. Assim, o Kentsfield tem no total 8.25MB de cache no CPU, mais de 80% sobre o Barcelona.

No entanto, o Barcelona é mais do que um quad-core K8 com memória L3.

Quando a Intel lançou o seu primeiro Core 2 Duo, a performance que obtinha era para além de revolucionária. É o maior salto em performance que já se viu em termos de computação e só benificiou a Intel. A Intel tinha inventado o "Athlon 64 killer".

Em termos de lançamento, a primeira encarnação do novo Barcelona, poderá ser encontrada nos próximos Opteron, que irão ser lançados a meio deste ano. As velocidades variarão entre os 2.1GHz até os 2.3GHz e só para o final do ano é que iremos ter velocidades maiores (se não contarmos com o overclock por parte da MadTech!). Para os computadores pessoais, será lançado o Agena, que é o equivalente Barcelona mas com velocidades de 2.7GHz até 2.9GHz. Kuma será o equivalente dual-core do Agena, com velocidades de 2.0GHz até 2.9GHz.

O Barcelona poderá ser o sucesso da AMD. A AMD espera que o update á arquitectura K8 venha a melhorar muito a performance dos actuais processadores. Inicialmente, poderão não ser mais baratos que os processadores Intel, mas se realmente oferecerem o que os utilizadores procuram, iremos ver uma queda nos preços.

No entanto uma questão levanta-se, o que irá acontecer após o Barcelona? A AMD ficou imenso tempo com a arquitectura K8 e a Intel lança novas optimizações quase todos os anos... desde o Pentium M, a Intel não tem parado!

A ver vamos...

Fonte: AnandTech Mais em http://www.madtech.com.pt/noticias.php?idn=494

More... (http://www.madtech.com.pt/noticias.php?idn=494)
Notícia de zeon@madtech.com.pt (Zeon)

[Denzil]

O que acham do novo processador? Será que é desta que a AMD volta a ficar no topo?

[Eagle]

Julgo que será um pouco difícil. Como foi dito na noticia "não existe ainda suporte para o Quad core" por isso acho que vai ser um tiro no escuro.

[born2hack]

O windows já suporta vários cores simultâneamente, e no mercado doméstico o maior uso que se dá é ter várias tarefas simultâneamente, por exemplo ter um cpu a renderizar, outro a visualizar, e assim por adiante.
No mercado profissional, 4 verdadeiros cores podem fazer a diferença, e penso que a grande aposta da AMD será nesse campo.
A ver vamos... a uns tempos atrás diziamos que a intel andava a dormir e a ficar para trás, hoje dizemos exactamente o contrário. Amanha quem sabe o que iremos dizer...

[Denzil]

A Intel também está a apostar nos quad-core... os novos jogos já vêm com suporte para multi-cores, sendo o trabalho repartido entre eles... a ver bem, a maioria faz upgrade para poder continuar a jogar com fluidez os jogos mais exigentes...

[RubenFreitas]

Penso que um tiro no escuro não é, pois é uma boa aposta da AMD, acho que a AMD faz bem, ela não vai ficar a INTEL com Quad-Core e eles ainda com um Dual-Core algo desactualizado! A nível profissional é uma grande aposta pois como já falaram os Quad cada vez vão ganhar terreno nas tais renderizações e noutras muitas mais coisas a nível profissional, por exemplo a nível de áudio profissional! Se calhar a nível doméstico propriamente dito este Quad não fará diferença nas vendas, penso que até a INTEL vende muitos mais Quad's para um nível mais profissional do que para um nível mais domestico! Enfim, penso ser um bom avanço da AMD, mostrando assim que não está indiferente ao que se anda a passar no mercado de CPU's! :wink:

[Eagle]

Esperemos bem que sim! O que nós queremos é uma AMD bem forte para que os preços dos CPU's baixem :)

[Denzil]

Inicialmente os Barcelona terão como mercado o mundo empresarial, como servidores. As versões desktop, pelo que estive a ver, serão mais potentes (mais MHz em cima) e irão dissipar mais calor. Tou a ver que a moda dos Opteron vai continuar mesmo nos Barcelona, isto se o socket for equivalente.

Estou curioso, será que os planos da AMD em ter um CPU com PPU incorporado ainda está de pé? Para quem não sabe, PPU é um processador para a física. Controlador de memória incorporado sei que está lá, agora PPU, não vejo nada a referir no core :wow:

[masterchief]

Fiquem la com mais umas informacoes sobre os K10.

http://www.fudzilla.com/images/stories/2007/April/CPU/agenafx.jpg

Barcelona is server part while Agena FX is a FX super fast gaming part. They are both based on what AMD claims is "evolutionary design" and it calls it K10. AMD will introduce and show this CPU at Tunisia on the 23rd and 24th of April. We already told you a lot about this here.

It is the first native Quad core each having 512KB of cache memory and 2MB of shared L3 cache. It supports Hypertransport 3, enhanced PowerNow marchitecture, AMD Virtualisation. The company also claims that it is a performance leader per watt.

AMD will also showcase the RD790 chipset that supports eight cores with Quad FX system, Crossfire and some other neat features.

http://forums.vr-zone.com/showthread.php?t=142629


AMD Barcelona/Agena FX' TDP is 95W

The soon to be released next CPU architecture named K10 was x-rayed a while ago. We know that the K10 won't hit the 3GHz mark, it will come in all flavors from 2.1GHz all the way up to 2.9GHz. But what we missed there and what AMD didn't let out of their labs yet was a corresponding heat dissipation figure. Now as Fudzilla.com acts like their silent megaphone they tell the public that 95W will be the maximum TDP for Barcelona and Agena FX. That is quite low for a real quad-core CPU and sounds very promising in terms of overclocking achievements.

Source: http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=470&Itemid=1


K10, Barcelona scores up

Fifty percent faster than Kentsfield


K10 part called Barcelona is up and running. It is not ready for launch but AMD already have the first part ready.


We don't have many numbers but at least in specfp_rate2000 Barcelona ends up a bit less than 50 percent faster than Intel quad core codenamed Kentsfield.


We are quite sure that this is the best score but it definitely sounds impressive. AMD chaps are very confident that K10 marchitecture and native Quad core is the way to go and Intel will probably have to pay the price for duct taping its chips. AMD will come to collect in second half of 2007.

http://forums.vr-zone.com/showthread.php?t=144252

Temos aqui um grande monstro, se isto se confirmar. Mas dia 23 iremos saber toda a verdade, sobre os K10 e o R600.

[> ervas <]

Estou a gostar... se isso se confirmar, vamos ter novo salto tecnológico, ou seja, nova guerra, processadores mais rápidos e preços mais baixos! Maravilha! :thumbsup:

[RubenFreitas]

Estou a gostar... se isso se confirmar, vamos ter novo salto tecnológico, ou seja, nova guerra, processadores mais rápidos e preços mais baixos! Maravilha! :thumbsup:
Partilho a mesma opinião! :wink:

[masterchief]

Some Barcelona K10s to have 45W TDP

Slower clocked parts


AMD native quad core still has some good fighting chance. At 65 nanometre native quad core AMD can hit 45W TDP and again challenge Intel with its energy efficient designs.


The core that can hit these speeds will be clocked to 1.9 GHz or less but it's still impressive. Some parts will have 68W TDP. This is also true for Agena FX it will be possible for this platformance as well.


Again this means that these parts will be supper overclockable after all and Overclockers should be looking forward to them.

http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=605&Itemid=1

Budapest is K10 with HT3

Welcome Opteron 1000 series

After Barcelona comes Budapest. Barcelona is the first native quad core but it wont have Hypertrnsport 3.0. it is doomed to HT 2.0.


The new part Budapest comes in socket AM2+ flavour and will be known as Opteron 1000 series. It will have Hypertransport 3.0 and will probably be significantly faster then Barcelona.

Barcelona works on socket F or socket 1207 and is strictly server part. However it is the same processor as a socket 1207 Agena FX. Agena FX is for gamers and will allow the first Octo pussy FX systems with 2xquad core in a system.

http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=604&Itemid=1

Alguma informacao sobre os projectos da AMD, ja nao era sem tempo. Agora se levam o mesmo tempo que levam pra lancar o R600, isto nunca mais sai.

[masterchief]

Agena, K10 pictured running

Exclusive: 1.9 GHz part


We told you before K10, Agena works just fine. We had a chance to witness it and we can even prove the existence of this 65 nanometre part. The Agena processor is an AM2 version and fits in 940 pin boards.

The CPU-Z 1.39 recognizes the CPU Opteron 148 but you can clearly see that this is a 65 nanometre part with 1.273V, with four cores.

It works at 1.9 GHz or 1908 MHZ to be precise with multiplier at 9.5 and the bus speed of 200.9 MHz. The 0.5 multiplier settings are back. You can also clearly see that we are talking about quad core processor with four cores and four threads.

Agena at 1.9 GHz has 4x64KB L1 Data cache memory, 4x64KB L1 for Code, 4x 512 KB L2 cache and finally all cores share the 2048KB L3 cache.

http://www.fudzilla.com/images/stories/2007/April/CPU/agena_baby.jpg
We removed the desktop from the picture for security reasons as we dont want to get the good people in trouble.

http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=620&Itemid=1

E la começam as informacoes do K10. Será que vira um aqui pra o je??:bananasmi

[masterchief]

AMD virtualisation in Barcelona

A new hardware feature

AMD talks about this feature on its website but we found a few more details about it. AMD-V is a feature built in the new processor. The feature is called Device Exclusion Vector. It separates several virtual machines out of other.


This is very useful for servers as you can run more operating systems on the same server at the same time, seamlessly. Intel has this feature for a while but you need software to manage it, while AMD does everything in hardware and executes faster.

Barcelona has some fighting points and Intel knows it and is preparing fot the soon to come K10 server part.

http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=617&Itemid=1

Estes K10 estao a ser uma caixinha de surpresas.

[RubenFreitas]

AMD parece que quer apostar forte! :wink:

[masterchief]

Agena 1.9 overclocks to 3.05 GHz

Exclusive screenshot: Quad core K10 at 3042.4 MHz

We showed you Agena AM2 CPU at 1.9 GHz and now we have some more. Yesterday we showed you the world's first screenshot of Agena AM2+ CPU here. What happens if you try to overclock this lovely part? With the default multiplier set to 9.5 you can raise the FSB all the way to 320 MHz.


You only need to increase the voltage from 1.273 to 1.297V and you score over 3 GHz or 3042 MHz to be precise. This is an 1142 MHz overclock or 62 percent from the stock speed and the machine was stable at all times.


So AMD's native quad core is a really overclockable part, more below.

http://www.fudzilla.com/images/stories/2007/April/CPU/agenafx_oc.jpg

Bem parece que estes K10 sao muito bons pra OC. Agora falta e ver a sua performance. Mas 62% de oc num quad-core é obra meus amigos.

[masterchief]

K10 at 2.5 GHz beats Intel quad at 3.0+

http://www.fudzilla.com/images/stories/Logos/athlonfx.gif

Intel in trouble, code red


The new K10 based processors will really make Intel run for its money, at least till the end of the year. Just as Intel stole K8's mojo with Merom aka Core 2 Duo and quad, AMD is ready to finally fight back. It took them almost a year to prepare for the big clash.

Barcelona / Agena FX will beat Intel Core 2 Quad at 3.0 GHz+. Intel knows it and it is scared. Intel also knows that it cannot go over 3.0 GHz with 65 nanometre, at least not at 120 W TDP. Some reports already claim that QX6850 with FSB 1333 and 3 GHZ clock is already pushing the envelope as intel's 120W TDP is actually 150W+ at least on AMD's TDP scale. TDP stands for Thermal Design Power.

Intel needs to go over 3.0 GHZ to 3.2 or more to match Barcelona / Agena parts at 2.5 GHz. Intel knows that it needs to go to 3.2+ GHz and it needs the 45 nm Yorkfield core to match Agena 2.5 GHz.

Finally AMD should be able to make 2.7 if not even more with its 65 nm process. Intel has a good fighting chance with next the generation Nehalem core in the second half of 2008.

http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=649&Itemid=1


HyperTransport 3 good for dual sockets

Single socket performs the same

Barcelona and Agena FX / Agena K10 parts won't have the HyperTransport 3 support. These chips are scheduled for Q3 2007 or later and only the late Q3 / early Q4 part Budapest will actually have the magic HyperTransport 3.

For a single socket machine HT3 won't make any difference as you don’t need the fast interconnection. You should not be able to see any significant difference with a single socket quad core processor.

Agena FX might suffer a bit as it will be meant for dual socket, eight core setup. The normal people's Agena AM2+ CPUs wont actually give a damn about HyperTransport 3 at least not that much. HyperTransport 3 is also important for multi chip servers as well. It will make things faster in dual, quad or eight socket setups.

We don’t think that speeding up the interconnection between Northbridge and Southbridge will make much difference anyway.

http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=650&Itemid=1

K10 desktop volume is next year

Opterons and Quad FX parts in 2007 only

AMD won't have much K10 parts for desktops, at least not in 2007. The initial batch of Barcelona K10 parts will be reserved exclusively for servers and at a later date some parts will be released as the Athlon FX socket 1207 parts. This is expected in Q3 2007.

Unfortunately you can expect only a few AM2+ based desktop parts this year and this will happen in Q4 and not before. The real volume production of desktop K10's is scheduled for early next year so it is not that they will be widely available for the pre-Xmas shopping spree.

The good news is that K10 at 2.5 GHz makes Intel's 3GHz run for its money, just as Core 2 Duo makes K8 runs for its.

http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=643&Itemid=1

Se isto se confirmar, estes K10 sao do ca*****. Se a diferenca destes K10 em relacao aos kentsfield for igual aos do C2D em relacao aos X2 temos maquina.

[masterchief]

K10 at 2.5 GHz beats QX6800 in multimedia

http://www.fudzilla.com/images/stories/Logos/athlonfx.gif vs http://www.fudzilla.com/images/stories/Logos/core2extreme.gif

A 33 to 66 percent faster

In Sandra multimedia benchmark Agena / Barcelona K10 2.5 GHz scores over 400.000 it/s (instructions / second) in integer test and about 300.000 it/s in floating point test. Yeah there are some Agena / Barcelona parts runing at 2.5 GHz at press time and we got the chance to share the scores with the world.


Intel's fastest QX6800 Quad core at 3 GHz scores about ~300.000 it/s in integer and ~180.000 it/s in floating point test.

So at least in multimedia stuff and this synthetic benchmark AMD's native quad core is 33.3 percent faster than Intel's fastest Quad core, while in the floating calculations it is a massive 66 percent faster.

The QX6850 with FSB 1333 might improve the situation a bit, but it won't be enough save the day. Intel needs to go much higher than 3 GHZ to match the 2.5 GHz K10 part.


http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=663&Itemid=1

[THE_DRIVER]

K10 at 2.5 GHz beats QX6800 in multimedia

Finalmente boas noticias por parte da amd .. :thumbsup:

[guilhermegrg]

ainda vamos esperar uns 8 meses por isso....
Mas pronto, é bom ver que a AMD tem um bom chip. E a Intel hoje já baixou os preços dos Core um bom bocado...i wonder why....

[Denzil]

Por causa do lançamento dos Quad, seria normal :) A ideia é dar os Quad e fazer com que compremos os Dual :)

[masterchief]

AMD IS DOING something that we haven't seen a chip company do in a long time, sandbagging its official roadmaps.

A while ago we told you about the intended launch frequencies, basically 1.9-2.5GHz, but that was before B0 parts came back.

We were told that the B0 stepping was due a few weeks ago, early April to be inexact, and they've been returned for inspection. If they were clean, they would be the launch stepping, and the Q2 date was do-able. If not, add in another few months, and you were looking at the end of Q3, maybe.

We understand that people in Austin were 'dancing in the aisles'. When asked if that was because of B0, we were told that people are very happy, very very happy, but he had 'never heard of such a thing'.

Another source claimed the memory controller, long a bottleneck in K8 scaling, came in way better than expected.

So what do you end up with? A massive gain in frequency. How massive? Almost 500MHz. Instead of the much touted launch parts, look for five SKUs at launch, AM2 quads at 2.6GHz, 2.7GHz and 2.9GHz, a dual at 2.7GHz and a quad on socket F at 2.8GHz.

We think whoever worked this magic deserves a pat on the head, a few days off after launch, and quite possibly a raise. Twnty per cent faster out of the gate is nothing to be sneezed at. The only question that remains is what volumes AMD can deliver at these speeds. µ

http://theinq.com/default.aspx?article=39440

Subiram os clocks em 500MHZ:bananasmi :bananasmi , isto promete.

[masterchief]

AMD Agena samples in July

Massproduction in late Q3 or early Q4
AMD has let slip that it will start sampling the Agena and Kuma core CPU's in July. First up are the 2.6 and 2.8GHz version of the Agena FX, which should also be the ones to arrive in retail first.

The Agena FX will be available in both for socket AM2+ and 1207+, although you'll have to make do with the 2.6GHz version if you don't want to use socket 1207+. This CPU will also be limited to single processor systems, as the AM2+ socket doesn't support multi CPU configurations.

The standard Agena range will initially be available at 2.4 and 2.2GHz, while the entry level Kuma processor will clocked at 2.5GHz.

We've provided some proof of the pudding below, but do note that these schedules are for sampling, not mass production. Expect to wait at least a couple of months before you can purchase one of these processors and the Agena FX will be the first chips on sale.

http://www.fudzilla.com/images/stories/2007/May/general%20news/am2p_roadmap.jpg

http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1172&Itemid=1

Da maneira que as coisas vao estes K10 ja vao nascer com os Penryn no mercado, ou seja, ja saiem "mortos". Esta DAAMIT nao sabe cumprir datas? É por isso que estao como estao, levam muito tempo a lancar um produto, e a Intel e a Nvidia ja tem a resposta no mercado

[masterchief]

Intel responds to Barcelona benchmarks

In response to AMD's Barcelona benchmarks Intel demoed its V8 platform. Two quad core Xeons at 3GHz with 16GB RAM score an impressive 4933 pixels per second in POV-Ray. In comparison AMD's quad quad core Barcelona (16 cores total) score just over 4000 pixels per second. Even though AMD did not mention the clockspeed and said the final version will run faster AMD still uses 16 cores while Intel uses 8. Of course Barcelona is not yet a final product, Intel is not impressed though.
Besides that Intel also demoed a Penryn which outperformed the current top of the line quad cores by 40%, quite impressive.

Source: Überpulse (http://www.uberpulse.com/us/2007/05/intel_responds_to_amd_barcelona_has_a_problem_you_ better_fix_it_before_you_ship.php)

Intel on AMD’s Quad-core Barcelona: 'Too Little, Too Late'


Pat Gelsinger, Senior VP/GM of Intel’s (INTC) Digital Enterprise group (i.e. CPUs), keynoted the JPMorgan Technology Investment conference on Monday, and as usual, the really interesting bits were in the Q&A.

Pat commented that the new quad-core Barcelona from AMD (AMD) was “Too Little, Too Late when compared with Penryn,” and that at best it was a catch up effort by AMD.

An audience member brought up the importance of power dissipation and how that is the new denominator of performance - rather than dollar cost. Pat wasted no time talking about the improvements from the old Netburst architecture (yuck) and that the new quad core Penryn and associated chipsets dropped power from a single 110W core to four cores running at a total of 50W. Killing Netburst was the most important thing Intel did in this decade, in my opinion. Netburst is what led to the ascendancy of AMD, and its replacement led to its downfall.

Finally, in an observation that probably escaped 95% of the audience, he talked about the benefits of Hafnium, the new gate dialectric that is replacing the several decades old SiO2 (silicon dioxide). SiO2 thickness had dropped to 10 atomic layers and the move to hafnium drops gate leakage by a factor of 20. Given gate leakage was the #1 source of power dissipation, and SiO2 was 40 years old, this was a notable transition.

The question I wished I asked - does Virtualization threaten or complement Intel’s server chip business?

http://chip.seekingalpha.com/article/36423

[masterchief]

Barcelona, K10 has terrible yields

B0 yields bad


We will probably not surprise you if we say that Barcelona and the rest of the K10 generation have really bad yields.

Barcelona doesn't have and overheating problems but it does have some bugs that will be fixed in the next revision of the core.

B0 core allows great clock speeds but it still has some major bugs inside and Barcelona won't see a market before the new revision of the Core and we heard our sources mentioning B1 as the potential revision name.

So that is why AMD will push Barcelona from Q3 to Q4.

http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1484&Itemid=1

[masterchief]

New K10 to runs up to 2.8 GHz

A new hope


Our sources have confirmed that the K10 doesn’t have a TDP problem and at 1.6GHz the core runs at a very acceptable 32 degrees Celsius, even at full load. AMD will initially launch K10, Barcelona and Agena in frequencies of up to 2.4GHz, but the same core can go all the way up to 2.8GHz with the existing 65 nanometre process.

AMD will save these speeds to compete against Penryn, as at high clocks it will need it, at least until the company is ready for its 45 nanometre processors.

Even at 2.8GHz, the Thermal design Power from the K10 is at an acceptable rate and indicates that the K10 should be overclockable even beyond 3GHz.

http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1509&Itemid=1

Barcelona slips to Q4

The new revision should be fine

We learned that Barcelona, the mighty K10 will be delayed to Q4. The current revision needs an update and this respin will delay Barcelona from an expected launch in Q3 summer time to Q4.

Some Agena CPUs might be launched at the same time, but most of the real desktop K10 CPUs will be pushed into early 2008.


This will certainly upset AMD's shareholders, but AMD had to delay it as the B0 core had a few bugs including the one that keeps AMD from clocking the CPU at very high frequencies.

http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1507&Itemid=1

Dual Barcelona pictured

Eight cores


Barcelona K10 is delayed, but as we reported earlier, there are some 1.6GHz versions in the hands of partners. Some of the lucky ones got dual socket K10 systems powered by two Barcelona K10 cores.

The story is simple, this is a picture of a server powered with two Barcelona CPUs. Both CPUs were clocked at 1.6 GHz as this is the highest speed that AMD wants to show it to the world at for now, but at launch time the same system will be able to accommodate even faster processors.

This is what it looks like in action.

http://www.fudzilla.com/images/stories/2007/June/General_news/k10x2.jpg

http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1510&Itemid=1

[frac]

Que venham mais teste e benchs para a rua, para ver se isto anima...

[THE_DRIVER]

Mai um adiamento do barcelona , acho k tens razao masterchief , estes barcelonas vai sair ja com os perynn da intel no mercado .. :rolleyes:

[masterchief]

Barcelona K10 gets the name

Opteron 2268 rocks at 2.4 GHz


We received a confirmation of the future product numbers of AMD Opteron "Barcelona" 2000-Series Quad-core CPUs. The slowest one is called AMD Opteron 2258 and it works at 1.9 GHz. The second in line is AMD Opteron 2260 and it works at 2.0 GHz.

The third one is AMD Opteron 2262 and it works at 2.1 GHz, fourth AMD Opteron 2264 and it works at 2. 2 GHz, fifth AMD Opteron 2266 and it works at 2.3 GHz and the last one sixth in the line is AMD Opteron 2268 and it works at 2.4 GHz.

All these CPUs are powered with 4x512 KB of L2 cache and 2 MB of L3 cache. The biggest limitation of Barcelona K10 core is HyperTransport 1.0 support that works at modest 1000 MHz while the HT 3 chips are scheduled for later date.

The launch revision is called B1-Stepping.

http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1583&Itemid=1

Budapest HT3 is B2 stepping

Comes in Q4


As AMD seriously slipped all its schedules Budapest can be expected at late 2007 if not even later. Budapest is K10 core with native HyperTransport 3.0 that will offer more interconnection and should make the dual socket machines fast. You can read about it here.

As Barcelona will be known as B1-Stepping of the K10 core, Budapest the following core will be branded as B2-Stepping and the new revision should enable some higher speeds. Budapest and Agena – Phenom processors should be able to run up to 2.8 GHz and this should give Intel some competition.

http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1584&Itemid=1

Agena – Phenom can reach 2.8 GHz

B2-Stepping in late Q3/Q4


New Opteron and new desktop Phenom or Agena FX CPUs will be able to hit 2.8 GHz. The new B2-Strepping will let AMD to get to 2.8 GHz with the normal TDP and to get close to the limits of Core 2 Quad frequencies.

This will have to be sufficient for AMD for fight Intel's soon to arrive Core 2 Quad Extreme QX6850 with FSB 1333 and 3 GHz clock.

Agena at 2.8 GHz has to beat this CPU and we know that clock by clock K10 wins over Core 2 Duo but Penryn 45 marchitecture will enable some high clocks beyond 3 GHz, at least to 3.5 GHz if not even higher and AMD wont be able to fight it with the current clocks or it is going to get very tough for DAAMIT.

It will be very tough and interesting in the next few months for AMD.

http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1590&Itemid=1

Barcelona available in July claim

A server company boldly claims

An American server renting company has announce that Barcelona Quad core based servers comes in July 2007.

We are not sure is the information up to date but the company has all the names and the specs up on its site. It will offer Opteron 2258, Opteron 2260, Opteron 2262, Opteron 2264, Opteron 2266 and Opteron 2268.

If this turns to be true, which we really doubt the cheapest Barcelona server will be available for rent for $259 a month for a 2 GB machine, which is not too bad.

Barcelona K10 comes in late Q3 in best case scenario while the real availability is expected in early Q4.

You can check the specs here. (http://www.softlayer.com/servers_dpmc_compare.html)


http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1591&Itemid=1

Parecem ser boas noticias, agora falta é ver benchmarks para ver como anda o K10.

[masterchief]

Please welcome Barcelona server

Pictured at 1.6 GHz but runs even faster


This is a Barcelona server that we had a chance to play with. It is one of the few samples available and at press time the server worked at 1.6 GHz just like the rest of Barcelona K10 samples around.

It is a single socket K10 server but we've seen Dual socket machine and some four socket machines as well.

The server needs Nvidia Professional 3600 chipset to work and it can support up to 32 GB of registered DDR2 memory, as it has 8 memory sockets.

Enough said, here is how the rack looks like.

http://www.fudzilla.com/mambots/content/fboxbot/thumbs/barcelonak10_499x375_88846d3f0303ab12c381b6afaafb3 229.jpg (http://www.fudzilla.com/images/stories/2007/June/General_news/barcelona_k10.jpg)

http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1612&Itemid=1

[masterchief]

Barcelona faster than Core 2 Duo

Clock to clock

We had a privilege to see Barcelona K10 multimedia scores and we can confirm that clock to clock, it runs faster than Core 2 Duo. The big problem is how Barcelona K10 goes against Core 2 Duo at much higher speeds.


Instructionwise when you compare all known instructions K10 beats Conroe, there is absolutely no question about it. In 95 percent of cases K10 is faster clock to clock but the real issue is what happens to compare 2.5 GHz K10 versus Penryn at 3.4 GHz.


The other issue is that Penryn has more instructions including SSE4 while K10 has just subset of it.

http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1632&Itemid=1

[masterchief]

First Barcelona model numbers arrives

Lands September 10th


Mike Magee over at the Inquirer had got his hands on the first confirmed Barcelona model numbers and he's even got pricing information and a confirmed launch date, September the 10th. Mike is rarely wrong when it comes to this kind of stuff, although don't expect this to be written in stone.

The models are as follows:

2348 1.9GHz 95W $320
2350 2.0GHz 95W $390
2352 2.1GHz 95W $450
2354 2.2GHz 95W $610
2356 2.3GHz 95W $795
2358 2.4GHz 120W $1180
2360 2.5GHz 120W TBA

We're of course talking Opteron CPU's here and the models above are for dual CPU systems and have native quad cores. Each CPU will have 4x 64kB L1 cache and 4x 512kB L2 cache.

Only the 2348 and the 2350 will launch in September, with more models launching in October.

You can read the original story here and there's some more information about the new 8-series of Opteron processors as well, although no confirmed launch date for these parts.

http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1652&Itemid=1

[masterchief]

AMD Barcelona performance promises revealed

WHILE ENGINEERS ARE working full throttle at making the K10 (10h family) work, performance figures are becoming an integral part of marketing presentations and so on. Recently, we managed to see the sort of performance figures that AMD is promising for Barcelona.

These performance numbers were based on systems using tge Opteron 2356, or known to the world of us regular folk as AMD QuadCore at 2.3GHz. The orice of this processor is currently set at $796 USD in quantities of 1000, so we'll see what can Clovertown at 2.66 GHz (Xeon 5355) do about it…

So, what will Barcelona deliver?

For starters, SPECint_rate2006 and SPECfp_rate2006 speak the voice of doom for the 366 MHz faster clocked Xeon - and these are the reasons why Intel was downplaying performance of FP and praising the INT.
These figures were from a few months ago, so things may well have changed since then. But in the Integer test, a Barcelona 2.3GHz yields 21% higher score than Clovertown 2.66 GHz, but Floating Point test leaves a staggering 50% performance deficit for Clovertown, and this is not something 45 nanometre Penryn can solve overnight. Unless, of course the clock deficit for AMD is such that Intel speeds past.

When it comes to comparing Barcelona to Santa Rosa, a 3.0GHz clocked Opteron 2222, Barcelona is in general, around 65-70% faster than the highest-clocked dual-core Opteron. SPECweb99 yields a hefty 67% performance increase, SPECweb99_SSL offers 66%, while SAP-SD offers 70% performance increase.
The highest gain, of over 100% can be seen in SPECweb2005/Ecom benchmark, while smallest gain was in TPC-C SQL2000, where only 42% gain was marked. This was all based on 2P (dual-socket) systems, of course.

In the four-socket arena, Opteron 8222 versus 8356 offers an average of over 60% performance boost, which is not a small thing - given that clock difference is 700MHz. SPECweb99 and SPECweb99_SSL give 68% performance increase, SPECweb2005/Ecom yields another scaling dream (91%), while most modest increase is again, TPC-C SQL2000. Nevertheless, TPC-C Oracle test will yield 75% performance increase while Terminal Services will offer 71%.

Overall, these are very impressive score increase promises. All of the performance increases happened with a processor that has 30% smaller TDP. Opteron x222 is a 120W Max.TDP, while this Barcelona 2356 stays in the 95W range.

The only real question that now remains is whther AMD can execute. Sadly, the company's recent track record does not bode well, with constant delays of products and events. And we'll also wait to see real tests of the Barcelonas rather than paper promises. µ

http://theinq.com/default.aspx?article=40749

http://www.xbitlabs.com/images/news/2007-07/specint.jpg
http://www.xbitlabs.com/images/news/2007-07/specfp.jpg
http://www.xbitlabs.com/images/news/2007-07/2pserver.jpg
http://www.xbitlabs.com/images/news/2007-07/4pserver.jpg

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/cpu/display/20070702235635.html

AMD Prepares Phenom FX Lineup

Say hello to the Phenom FX-90 and FX-80 series

AMD’s latest roadmap reveals model numbers for upcoming Phenom FX processors. Under the new naming scheme, the AMD Phenom FX lineup consists of the Phenom FX-80 and FX-90 series. AMD designates the Phenom FX-80 series for single processor systems while the FX-90 takes on 4x4 dual processor systems.

AMD plans to launch two Phenom FX-90 series processors in Q1 2008. The two Phenom FX processors carry the FX-91 and FX-90 names. The AMD Phenom FX-91 will have a clock-speed between 2.4-to-2.6 GHz and will sit on a 3.6 GHz HyperTransport 3.0 bus. The lower Phenom FX-90 will have a clock-speed between 2.2-to-2.4 GHz with a slower HT3 bus. AMD is unsure of the Phenom FX-90’s HT3 bus, but roadmaps indicate HT3 speeds excess of 3.2 GHz. The two Phenom FX-90 series will drop into Socket 1207+ motherboards.

AMD plans one Phenom FX processor for Socket AM2+ platforms. The AMD Phenom FX-80 is essentially the FX-90 for single-processor systems. The Phenom FX-80 will clock in between 2.2-to-2.4 GHz and have a HT3 bus speed in excess of 3.2 GHz. All Phenom FX processors share similar feature sets, with 512KB of L2 cache per core and a shared 2MB L3 cache. The TDP of Phenom FX processors are still to be determined.

Expect AMD to pull the wraps off the Phenom FX-90 series in Q1 2008 with its upcoming FASN8 socket 1207+ platform. AMD expects to launch the Phenom FX-80 earlier, in the November-to-December timeframe.

http://www.dailytech.com/AMD+Prepares+Phenom+FX+Lineup/article7912.htm

No papel promete, agora é esperar pra vermos do que é capaz na pratica.

[masterchief]

K10 Breaks 30,000 in 3DMark06

The Inquirer is claiming that they have some benchmark scores to disclose with AMD's K10. They say that it was running on the RD790 chipset, with two HD 2900 XT cards, and some Corsair’s Dominator PC2-9136C5D. They clocked it at 3.0 GHz with the video cards clocked at 830 MHz for the GPU and 900MHz for the memory. They ended up with a score of 30,031 in 3DMark06 a new world record if true. They didn't point out what kind of cooling was used, but if it was just your standard heatsink. Expect even higher scores to be reached after their release.

http://www.techpowerup.com/?38494

ASUS and GIGABYTE to Launch AMD RD790 Motherboards in September

AMD will release its RD790 chipset by the end of September, with ASUSTeK Computer and GIGABYTE Technology likely to be the first to launch motherboards supporting the new chipset. ASUSTeK and GIGABYTE have been taking the lead in the race to the launch the first RD790 motherboards, having already delivered design verification test (DVT) samples to AMD's Taipei validation lab. If everything goes smoothly, ASUS and GIGABYTE will be able to start volume production of RD790 motherboards in early September, while competitors may not be able to launch motherboards supporting the new AMD chipset until mid October. According to AMD's product planning, the 65nm RD790 made at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is the vendor's first quad-graphics platform that supports the next-generation Phenom processors and HyperTransport 3.0. It will also introduce PCI Express 2.0 and Triple CrossFire support.

http://www.techpowerup.com/?38537

More Phenom 3.0 GHz system pictures

Scores 5.9 in Vista


We bought the Phenom FX 3.0 GHz system pictures with Stranglehold game that can use all four cores. We were looking at the pictures we took back at the convention centre and we noticed that we have a few more to share. The first part is here.

Phenom FX at 3.0 GHz is being recognized as AMD engineering sample at 3.0 GHZ and every single component of this AMD FX machine will score with a maximal 5.9 score.

The last picture shows the rendering quality of the UT engine powered Stranglehold and the John Woo rendered almost realistically. It was really run to break the mellows in the game, and we are looking forward for both Phenom FX 3.0 GHz and Stranglehold even this one looks more like a console game, but we will take it as it looks good.

http://www.fudzilla.com/images/stories/2007/August/phenom3ghz.jpg
http://www.fudzilla.com/images/stories/2007/August/phenom3ghz1.jpg
http://www.fudzilla.com/images/stories/2007/August/phenom3ghz2.jpg

http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2730&Itemid=1

Boas noticias pra o K10 se isto se confirmar. Mas 5.9 no Vista o meu Q6600 em default tambem atinge, mas aqueles 30k no 3Dmark 06 é brutal.

[RubenFreitas]

30K é brutal no 3dMark06, pá eu com 10k é uma festa...