AMD's 45nm Opterons Scheduled for 2008

[Pinnacle]

Shanghai is apparently more than just a cache-bump. AMD's documentation explicitly claims Shanghai will be the company's first 45nm processor. However, with a die shrink additional cache is one of the immediate architecture options as the smaller node allows for more transistors to fit on the chip die. Shanghai features 6MB of L3 cache.
Shanghai will also use the Socket 1207 interface, suggesting existing motherboards will have the opportunity to upgrade to Shanghai processors -- AMD processors are typically designed to work with existing motherboards on same-socket interfaces with simple BIOS updates.

http://www.dailytech.com/AMDs+45nm+O...rticle5984.htm

[[XC] Teroedni]

Sweet

[[XC] Teroedni]

I wonder what intel will have by then , at this rate probably a cpu with 512mb L2 cache

As far as i Know Yorkfield 45nm is coming in q3-q4 2007 and it has 12Mb cache .
So i dont see Intel going from 12Mb to 512MB in Half a year

[K404]

Pretty good to know Sooner than I expected, overall, but strange to see another City name?

[Order]

Better than Fallujah.

[nn_step]

actually about three times that amount of L3

[K404]

18MB of L3 cache is a LOT nn... unless AMDs attitude towards L3 is different than towards L2, it doesnt seem to fit?

Even with 45nm...thats a lot of space

[Order]

Will they be using that Rambus tech they licensed for this cache?

[nn_step]

18MB of L3 cache is a LOT nn... unless AMDs attitude towards L3 is different than towards L2, it doesnt seem to fit?

Even with 45nm...thats a lot of space

at the same time Z-Ram takes about 1/5 the die space as SRAM.
Which means 18MB of Z-Ram would take about the same Die space as 3.6MB of SRAM. Which isn't remotely large for 45nm

[Order]

Oo I was right.

[w0mbat]

Why are u talking about 18MB?

[nn_step]

Oo I was right.

Z-ram isn't Rambus it is Innovative Silicon Inc

[Order]

Oo I was wrong, lol.

[K404]

Fair point, I was pretty keen about Z-RAM when I first heard about it, but isnt it a plug-in onto the mobo? Has that changed? Hell...was it ever an add-in??

I know it does the same thing, but if its external, I cant consider it the same as cache

[w0mbat]

And AMD has Z-RAM v2 already.

[nn_step]

Fair point, I was pretty keen about Z-RAM when I first heard about it, but isnt it a plug-in onto the mobo? Has that changed? Hell...was it ever an add-in??

I know it does the same thing, but if its external, I cant consider it the same as cache

what makes you think it can't be on-die?
5-Mbits per square millimeter on 65nm isn't exactly something to sneeze at

[K404]

does that work out at 11.25mm^2? (just over 1 Sq cm) (for 18MB)(assuming all on-board)

Nothing makes me think it can be on-die I was expecting a separate name if it can be on and off-die though.

I`m not keeping up to date with news, theory and gossip, which is my fault.

[Motiv]

And AMD has Z-RAM v2 already.

only in licensing agreements.

it is good news that they are saying products in 45nm are available Q2 but that could be ES samples.

it does seem that AMD is slowly catching up with intel.

On a different note, they are saying that the k-dialect is either not needed or not ready. make of that what you will.

[Helmore]

does that work out at 11.25mm^2? (just over 1 Sq cm) (for 18MB)(assuming all on-board)

No it doesn't, in the first place 11.25mm^2=0.1125cm^2 which is not the same as "just over 1 Sq cm" and one other thing, your calculations aren't correct.
18Mbyte works out to be 8 x 18 = 144Mbits
This would mean that if they used Z-RAM, it would take up 144 / 5 = 28.8 mm^2 of die space, which is 0,288 Sq cm.

But why are we talking about 18MB of L3 cache? No-one said Shanghai will feature that much of L3 cache.

[zakelwe]

As far as i Know Yorkfield 45nm is coming in q3-q4 2007 and it has 12Mb cache .
So i dont see Intel going from 12Mb to 512MB in Half a year

The latest roadmaps show it 1Q08 now so it has slipped if they are true. If that is indeed the case then AMD will possibly make hay while the sun shines and Intel have lost a good opportunity to keep the Conroe momentum going.

It would be nice to see K8L 5-20% faster than current Intel processors and released mid year to give everyone another choice ( either faster AMD or cheaper Intel ! ) . I definitely think 2H07/1Q08 will be the time to go quad core, still too early at the moment.

Regards

Andy

[K404]

No it doesn't, in the first place 11.25mm^2=0.1125cm^2 which is not the same as "just over 1 Sq cm" and one other thing, your calculations aren't correct.
18Mbyte works out to be 8 x 18 = 144Mbits
This would mean that if they used Z-RAM, it would take up 144 / 5 = 28.8 mm^2 of die space, which is 0,288 Sq cm.

yea...I was miles off with that one, must work on my unit conversions!