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AMD confirms hexa-core desktop chip, Thuban
AMD has confirmed that it is planning to release a consumer-grade six-core desktop processor next year -- even more, it will be backwards compatible with existing AM2+ and AM3 motherboards. A company spokesman took a jab at Intel, saying AMD is "all about platform longevity and long-lived upgrade paths," unlike its rival, which has an affinity for rolling out new socket specs. The news came just prior to the launch of Intel's IDF event.
Codenamed Thuban, the chip will squeeze all six cores onto a single 45nm die. Thuban is derived from the hexa-core Opteron released earlier this year, and will feature an integrated DDR3 controller. It will likely have lower clock frequencies than AMD's current quad core parts, is expected to house 3MB of L2 and 6MB of L3 cache, and be pushed to market as a Phenom II X6 -- but those tidbits aren't official.
Based on the Opteron's specs, MaxiumPC speculates that Thuban will be a 346mm2 chip with a massive 904 million transistors. For reference, Intel's Core i7 975 Extreme Edition has 731 million transistors on a 262mm2 die, and the Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition 758 million on a 258mm2 die.
AMD's hexa-core desktop CPU won't debut until sometime next year, and probably won't arrive before Intel's Gulftown.
Codenamed Thuban, the chip will squeeze all six cores onto a single 45nm die. Thuban is derived from the hexa-core Opteron released earlier this year, and will feature an integrated DDR3 controller. It will likely have lower clock frequencies than AMD's current quad core parts, is expected to house 3MB of L2 and 6MB of L3 cache, and be pushed to market as a Phenom II X6 -- but those tidbits aren't official.
Based on the Opteron's specs, MaxiumPC speculates that Thuban will be a 346mm2 chip with a massive 904 million transistors. For reference, Intel's Core i7 975 Extreme Edition has 731 million transistors on a 262mm2 die, and the Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition 758 million on a 258mm2 die.
AMD's hexa-core desktop CPU won't debut until sometime next year, and probably won't arrive before Intel's Gulftown.
User Comments (21)
Post a comment| TomSEA on September 22, 2009 4:18 PM | You know, all these extra core processors are nice. But they really don't mean squat until software developers start taking advantage of it. Even now there are only a handful of products that utilize quad-core technology. |
| tekkaraiden on September 22, 2009 4:23 PM | Makes me feel a little behind with my dual core. |
| poundsmack on September 22, 2009 4:23 PM | they are putting out the foundations of which developers can start coding for. pioneering a trail in a horse and buggy is a lot easier when the roads are already laid down. |
| Guest on September 22, 2009 6:24 PM | Its funny how amd says there all about platform longevity when have released the socket 754, socket 940, socket 939 in a span of like 2 years max |
| adhmuz on September 23, 2009 12:01 AM | Guest said: Agreed, Intel has had 775 for how many years now?
5 years about, maybe more. Only now they are expanding due
to new architectures. I'm sure AM4 is just around the corner
anyways...
Its funny how amd says there all about platform longevity when have released the socket 754, socket 940, socket 939 in a span of like 2 years max |
| BlindObject on September 23, 2009 12:31 AM | I'm still extremely happy with my Dual core e8500. I haven't even overclocked it yet, actually, I doubt I ever used this to the max yet. |
| Punkid on September 23, 2009 1:17 AM | intel is wayyyy better than AMD |
| Guest on September 23, 2009 1:45 AM | intel is wayyyy better than
AMD [citation needed]
|
| Guest on September 23, 2009 2:37 AM | Socket 939 has been out nearly 5 years, I have a machine with an FX55 that is socket 939, Get your facts straight. |
| Guest on September 23, 2009 2:46 AM | Oh btw the FX55 was the first 64 bit Windows compatible
processor. dual core, quad core, hexa core all = much ado
about nothing to me. I could care less about keeping up with
everyone and have the latest and greatest cause tomorrow
they are yesterdays news. As long as what I have does what I
need thats all that matters.
http://tbreak.com/reviews/article.php?id=335 |
| Guest on September 23, 2009 3:46 PM | U said Everything ! |
| i3rucei3ruce on September 24, 2009 9:00 PM | 2 years? 939 was out well before even the geforce 6800 craze, man! |
| Guest on September 25, 2009 2:59 AM | Nice, but what use has it when Symantec AntiVir blocks my PC for 2-3 min, because it needs to update its signatures and eat up all "HDD-Time" of my notebook ... At current PCs (and particulary notebooks) the bottleneck is the HDD not the CPU. |
| Guest on September 26, 2009 3:26 AM | But they really don't mean squat until software developers start taking advantage of it. Even now there are only a handful of products that utilize quad-core technology When is Windows going to catch up? |
| T77 on September 27, 2009 5:10 AM | its good to see that the new processor would be backwards compatible,saves one from investing in a new mobo.well it seems AMD is gearing up both in the cpu as well as the gpu segment. |
| onearmedscissor on September 27, 2009 4:44 PM | There is plenty of stuff that uses 6+ cores. It's not video games and run of the mill desktop applications, though. Those things don't need them, hence the "lack of support." This isn't just AMD trying to keep up with the Joneses. While they will undoubtedly be a bit more expensive than quad-cores, they won't be $999, like Intel's sole desktop hexa-core. They will be a good deal to people who can use them. I wish they had them right now, but oh well. |
| Guest on September 29, 2009 11:40 PM | Did I ever say 939 lasted 2 years... no, I said amd released
3 chipsets in a span of 2 years. Then there was AM2 and AM2+ in a span of what, 1 year... Well, i'm a bit dusty after 939 so i'll stop here. I'm not saying Intel is any better, but i'm just making a point that AMD doesn't have a real good history of platform logetivity. |
| Guest on October 4, 2009 9:10 PM | AMD's new socket AM3 CPU's are backwards compatible with
AM2+ Thus not having to upgrade to a new Motherboard and RAM is a great value. |
| Guest on November 5, 2009 4:32 AM | As was said in the first post, the number of cores won't be relevant unless applications take advantage of multiprocessing. Intel circumvented this problem with Turbo Boost, it would be nice to see a similar solution in AMD processors (if there isn't one already). |
| Guest on December 17, 2009 2:26 AM | Good thing that they're going to release the 6-core, both from Intel and AMD. This would bring down prices on quad-cor processors, and should benefit consumers. But I favor AMD over the Intel based on performance/price. |
| Guest on January 31, 2010 2:44 PM | Yeah, its a real problem with the windows platform. Linux, however, will make full use of the new processor.... |
