DailyTech - AMD Phenom 2008 Roadmap

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Blog: Hardware AMD Phenom 2008 Roadmap
Sven Olsen (Blog) - December 5, 2007 10:08 AM

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16 comment(s) - last by GeorgeOrwell.. on Dec 7 at 4:02 AM

AMD's desktop roadmap looks a little empty for 2008

AMD guidance claims the Phenom 9900 and 9700 will launch (or re-launch in the case of the 9700) in Q1 2008. The frequency replacement for the 9900 will eventually launch in Q2 2008.

Phenom Desktop Quad-core 2008
Model	Core Frequency	TDP
9xxx	N/A	N/A
9900	2.6 GHz	140W
9700	2.4 GHz	125W
9600	2.3 GHz	95W
9500	2.2 GHz	95W

AMD's Phenom 9700, 9900 and eventually 9xxx successor will all use the full 4000 MHz HyperTransport 3.0 bus. All five Phenom CPUs will top out at DDR2-1066.

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Dissappointing

By Flunk on 12/5/2007 10:49:49 AM , Rating: 2

If the benchmarks are to be believed, Phenom is similar or slightly inferior to a Core 2 Quad at the same frequency. If the best AMD can do by the end of next year is 2.6Ghz it puts them more than a year behind Intel technology wise. That makes me a sad panda. Competition is good.

RE: Dissappointing

By Flunk on 12/5/2007 10:51:07 AM , Rating: 3

Replace the "end of next year" with "middle of next year". No editing does not make better posts, Dailytech.

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RE: Dissappointing

By Zstream on 12/5/2007 1:00:01 PM , Rating: 2

Remember that with the bios fix a 10% performance hit takes place. In all benchmarks it shows the 6600 around 13% faster. This would mean with B3 the current Quads are 3% faster based on clock speed.

I have a chance to purchase a 9600 for 210$ with a combo motherboard 790fx. So once B3 chips hit people can purchase a quad cpu and overclock to 2.7ghz fairly easy. Now, what comes in to play is the cost.

Would you prefer a 2.7ghz/790fx mobo quad or a Q6600 and a Mobo (P35) and run it at 3ghz for 50-70$ more? Intel at 3ghz will have around a 8% performance difference at low resolutions and maybe, just maybe 1-3% at 1600*1200+.

I for one will wait it out as I see no need for quad chips anytime soon.

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RE: Dissappointing

By mikecel79 on 12/5/2007 1:25:55 PM , Rating: 4

quote:
Remember that with the bios fix a 10% performance hit takes place. In all benchmarks it shows the 6600 around 13% faster. This would mean with B3 the current Quads are 3% faster based on clock speed.

None of the current reviews have the BIOS fix implemented unless specified. The fix was just released to motherbaord manufacturers. So a Phenom with this fix will be about 23% slower than the current Q6600.

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RE: Dissappointing

By GeorgeOrwell on 12/6/07, Rating: 0

RE: Dissappointing

By verndewd on 12/6/2007 1:22:19 PM , Rating: 2

AMD is already more than a year behind in many respects. By the time they do HKMG they will be behind that much more.
They have been slipping for several years. No one was watching it though, except Intel. Not only were they watching they used it to force AMD to a similar financial situationas in the k7 era and before.
AMD can only thank them selves.

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real AMD roadmap

By GeorgeOrwell on 12/5/2007 9:34:47 PM , Rating: 2

The real "road map" for Barcelona is:

4Q07
----
-- dump "one big bug" spin on market (chips are riddled with bugs)
-- dust off 65nm K8 "Plan D from Meyer Space"
-- trickle out additional K10 steppings for beta test
-- continue work on Barcelona redesign

1H08
----
-- ship some busted Barcelona stuff for further testing and illusion of progress
-- ship some decent 65nm K8 stuff
-- ship revised roadmaps with new '08 spin factors
-- continue work on Barcelona redesign

2H08
----
-- hope the Barcelona redesign panned out
-- ship first fully working revised Barcelona, B+, chips
-- keep shipping more decent 65nm K8 chips

4Q08
----
-- if all does not go well, exec team prays to Allah for mercy as their bodies are strapped with dynamite and are parachuted onto Intel fabs

RE: real AMD roadmap

By jak3676 on 12/6/2007 10:26:30 AM , Rating: 2

Dec 31, 2008
---
-- "Launch" first 45nm K10 with a press release that says "We told you it would be 2H08". The launch will consist of only 1 SKU which doesn't actualy work.

On a serious note, I really hope AMD can pull out of this nose dive they've been in for the last year or so. I really don't want to go back to an all Intel world with >$1,000 CPU's.

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RE: real AMD roadmap

By GeorgeOrwell on 12/7/2007 4:02:36 AM , Rating: 2

Good one ;-)

And on a serious note, I would not be surprised if AMD is unable to field 45nm processors until 2009+. Usually AMD is 2-3 years behind Intel on manufacturing process technology and with Intel just moving to 45nm now, my guess would be 2H09 or 1H10 for AMD 45nm.

The market is always there. If AMD has something compelling to offer, I am sure there will be interested customers.

It is AMD's partners, such as Cray, that I feel bad for. These companies were counting on K10 to at least work properly, even if the clock speed took a while to ramp up. As it stands today, AMD will not field a working processor until 1Q08 or later.

Well, maybe there will be an AMD subprime bailout plan. For all those companies that bought subprime processors from the Big Green Wannabe Giant.

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RE: real AMD roadmap

By Jack Ripoff on 12/6/2007 10:22:24 PM , Rating: 3

quote:
(chips are riddled with bugs)

Intel Core 2 architecture has a set of bugs of its own as well, mind you.

http://kerneltrap.org/node/8472

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hmmmm

By Moishe on 12/5/2007 10:18:37 AM , Rating: 2

140W? geez I thought this new generation would be cool?

or am I missing something?

These are 45nm... right?

RE: hmmmm

By Mitch101 on 12/5/2007 10:30:33 AM , Rating: 2

No they are 65nm. 45nm comes in late 2008.

I would also wait for revision B3 too. From what I am reading the current B2 revision even the ones clocked under 2.4ghz contain the TLB errors even if you dont clock it to 2.4ghz or higher. Apparently there is no safe speed in the current B2 Phenoms. The TLB errors can occur especially in systems that utilize VM's so No phenom is currently recommended if your going to do VM's. There is a patched bios but you will lose 10-20% of the cpu's performance. Best just to wait for B3.

I would fire Hector Ruiz for allowing these chips to come out instead of waiting another 8 weeks. Bad Reputations last longer than missed product cycles.

On the positive side we can expect the B3 revision in 7-8 weeks so its not that far off till this is corrected.

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RE: hmmmm

By latrosicarius on 12/5/2007 10:55:42 AM , Rating: 2

I hope AMD can make it that far. I hear they are in debt.

I really hope they make it, because I will buy one for sure, even if it is slower than Intel (as long as it's not "too" much slower).

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