AMD’s new sockets and DDR2 support

AMD will not debut their 65-nm processors anytime soon, nor will they offer processors based on a whole new architecture in the near future. We can expect the Athlon 64 FX-60 in early 2006, which will be the first AMD processor to, officially, run at 3.0GHz, which will still be based on the 90-nm San Diego core. The Athlon 64 X2 will also see a bump in clockspeed to 2.6GHz, giving it an effective 5000+ rating. What’s more interesting to note though is that fact that both socket-A and socket-754 will be rapidly phased out due to the introduction of socket-939 Semprons. The biggest change for AMD will be in the 2nd quarter of 2006 however with the transition to DDR2 with a new generation of Athlon 64 processors that will feature a new built-in DDR2 compatible memory controller.

The AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor for Notebook PCs

Affordable dual-core performance for notebook PCs

The AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 dual-core processor for notebook

 PCs delivers affordable dual-core performance and enables

 notebook PCs that are “Better by Design” to help you experience 

true multi-tasking for a more powerful mobile computing experience.

Phenom 9950 BE 125W

AMD's Phenom processor has been power hungry since it's release but that was stepped up even more when the Phenom 9950 was released with a 140W TDP, higher than other desktop CPUs on the market. This sent something of a stir into the enthusiast crowd whether justified or not for a processor with such a high power rating. Recently, however, AMD released a 125W version of the Phenom 9950 after improving the manufacturing process to replace the previous 140W version. Both are still on the market now and we thought we'd take a look at this new Phenom 9950 125W and compare it to the original 140W processor.

45nm Triple Cores In Early 2009

The three core was picking up slower than the company expected but it is doing ok now, especially in OEM space. The 45nm roadmap has at least two different 45nm quad cores, at least one 45nm three core CPU and a new 45nm dual core, something that company desperately needs.

Performance Analysis for Core 2 and K8

One of the interesting factors is the substantial difference in miss rates between the two cache designs, which is influenced by the underlying memory subsystems. Intel's unloaded memory latency is around 55-60ns, while AMD's is closer to 40ns and should also scale much better under load. Unfortunately, there is no data available on the loaded latency for the respective CPUs, but a reasonable guess would be that Intel's loaded latency is 40-70% higher. Given that guess, we can come close to estimating the average latency contribution from L2 misses. Intel has half the number of misses (2 vs. 4) per thousand instructions retired, but 40% higher latency. That implies that Intel's average memory latency contribution from L2 misses is 75% of AMD's (or 80% if we assume Intel's L2 latency is 70% higher). Of course, this is only looking at one aspect of the situation - it ignores the impact of the L1 caches, where AMD tends to have an advantage due to larger capacity. But it's certainly an area that could contribute to the performance difference between the K8 and the Core 2 and definitely does contribute to the power differences.

iSuppli: Intel's Processor Revenue Soars, AMD's Sinks in Q3

In the third quarter of 2008, Intel increased its share of the world's microprocessor revenue, while AMD watched its share shrink, according to the latest report from research firm iSuppli. The report also showed that sales of desktop and notebooks in the third quarter were not as weak as first believed, and iSuppli is predicting the PC market to grow about 12 percent this year.

CPUs

AMD and Intel were both talking a lot about how to optimize parallel code to run better on their respective hardware. Each has special software or instructions designed to take advantage of the unique things in their architectures. In a world that is increasingly moving to chips with multiple cores and servers with 2 or more processors, this is only going to get more important. One impressive demo was from AMD, which showed a Mandelbrot calculation that took about 8 seconds when run as a single thread, but that when parallelized took only 0.27 seconds running on a 8-processor, 32-core server, based on the firm's upcoming "Shanghai" chip.

IEDM: AMD Showing 22nm

IBM will also be partnering with AMD to present what they claim is 

the "smallest functional SRam cell ever made" - a 22nm high-k and metal 

gate part with a cell density of 0.1µmsquare

AMD Unveils Climate Protection Plan

AMD unveiled its eighth annual Global Climate Protection Plan (GCPP) that summarized the company’s continuing strategy and goals to maximize energy efficiency, help lower costs and minimize its environmental impact. This year, the GCPP increased its reporting levels to include analysis and data on new initiatives and projects. It also lays out how AMD has once again committed to reduce its normalized greenhouse gas emissions by 33 percent and normalize energy usage by 40 percent by 2010, relative to a 2006 baseline year. The company surpassed its commitment for 2002-2007 to reduce normalized greenhouse gas emissions in its operations by 40 percent and normalized energy usage by 30 percent.

Mobile AMD Sempron™ Processors

Compare Prices on AMD-powered systems 

Redefining everyday computing for today’s mobile lifestyle

Get affordable performance and security that redefine everyday mobile 

computing. The Mobile AMD Sempron™ processor offers the performance and 

security you need for the evolving needs of today’s mobile life style. 

Whether it’s e-mailing friends and family, surfing the Web, viewing photos, or getting work done, 

AMD technology can make it fast, easy, and secure, anytime, anywhere.

Intel® Centrino® 2 with vPro™ Technology

keep your workforce more secure, managed, and mobile. With security and manageability built right onto the chip, 

Intel® Centrino® 2 with vPro™ technology provides hardware-assisted remote isolation, diagnostics, and repair, 

so you can manage your mobile workforce remotely, even if the system's OS is unresponsive.¹ And with exceptional 

dual-core performance, 5X better wireless performanceO and the longest possible battery life.²

Now you can also get notebooks with Intel Centrino 2 with vPro technology in astonishingly thin and light packages. 

As the smallest version of Intel® Centrino® processor technology yet-50 percent smaller-you're most mobile workforce 

can enjoy the sleekest full-featured and performance packed notebooks³ along with improved energy efficiency and power 

savings.°

AMD TFE 2008: Heatpipes and Vapor Chambers

The problem with this is twofold. Firstly, it means that just about every single Nvidia chipset from the nForce 500-series and onwards is affected and as such, PCI prefetch has to be removed from all retail boards and every single BIOS upgrade that contains the PCI prefetch code has to be removed from the web. This also means that all Nvidia partners have to release BIOS updates for every single Nvidia motherboard from the nForce 500-series and onwards.

AMD 790GX Roundup

After so many benchmarks it's time to conclude all the test results. In general both tested motherboards gave a similar performance. The two AMD 790GX solutions differ in some features and in their retail price. The Foxconn A7DA-S is cheaper and comes in a more "spartan" retail package, while the Gigabyte MA790GP-DS4H proved somewhat faster in tests especially under overclocking. It is possible that a newer BIOS for the Foxconn mainboard to improve its performance and behavior. For example, the Foxconn couldn't recognize the EPP profile of the OCZ PC2-8500 SLI memory and properly adjust the memory.