Athlon X2 is dead; long live Athlon 6000

[FischOderAal]

AMD has recently outlined the phase-out schedule for several of its Athlon 64 X2 CPUs, while the Athlon brand name will be re-purposed for upcoming dual-core CPUs based on the K10 core, according to sources at motherboard makers.

AMD will stop taking orders for Athlon 64 X2 6400+ black edition and 89W version Athlon 64 X2 6000+ processors in the first quarter of 2008. Last orders for 125W Athlon 64 X2 6000+ and Athlon 64 X2 5600+ processors will be at the end of the first quarter, the sources detailed.

AMD will also stop taking orders for Athlon 64 X2 4200+ and 4000+ processors by the end of this year and will launch a 65W Athlon 64 X2 4600+ clocked at 2.3GHz and with 1MB L2 cache in second quarter of 2008.

AMD will launch a new series of dual-core products based on its next-generation architecture, Athlon 6000, in the later half of second quarter next year. First to launch will be the Athlon 6250 and 6050, the sources revealed. Although the core frequencies of the two CPUs have not been set yet, they will adopt 1MB L2 cache and 2MB shared L3 cache, the sources added.

Source:
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20071227PD210.html

this should mean the dualcores are monolithic or triple-cores with deactivated core

[Boissez]

Hmm... is athlon 6000-series = Phenom X2?

[MR.Q]

This sounds good. DC's with shared L3, nice touch.

[FischOderAal]

Hmm... is athlon 6000-series = Phenom X2?

jupp

AMD has recently outlined the phase-out schedule for several of its Athlon 64 X2 CPUs, while the Athlon brand name will be re-purposed for upcoming dual-core CPUs based on the K10 core, according to sources at motherboard makers.

[DShankar]

Source:
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20071227PD210.html

this should mean the dualcores are monolithic or triple-cores with deactivated core

I don't think they will be triple-cores with deactivated core simply because iirc, the triple core is a quad core with a deactivated/bad core (to increase yield).

[cky2k6]

I wonder if they have 1mb for each core or overall? hopefully per core, that way they will be faster than phenom in single and dual threaded apps.

[MotF Bane]

Smarter naming scheme than the X4 series, instead of starting all the way up at *600.

[FischOderAal]

I don't think they will be triple-cores with deactivated core simply because iirc, the triple core is a quad core with a deactivated/bad core (to increase yield).

if I remember correctly there will be two triple-cores with different amount of L2-Cache.

and a monolithic quadcore and tirplecore does make sense to me. quadcores with a defect core -> triple core ; triplecore with defect core -> dualcore

[naokaji]

q2 launch? that could mean TLB Errata fixed at their launch... finally some light in the hole amd is currently in.

[Jacky]

although most of us could guess that dual cores would launch in Q2 because of earlier rumours, it's no good news at all.
fixing a bug that shouldn't exist in the first place about 3 (!) quarters after launch is NOT GOOD!
that is why AMD already admitted that Q1/Q2'08 will be catastrophic (everything's late, doesn't clock and they postpone B3 stepping afaik).

[Morais]

I hope it will be better than the current A64 X2 clock x clock and I hope they release a 45W TDP CPU

[dduckquack]

I hope it will be better than the current A64 X2 clock x clock and I hope they release a 45W TDP CPU

there was a thread about the performance of a single k10 core to the previous architecture and yes it performed better

[nullface]

Nice, but is it a phenom with 2 disabled cores? (I hope not)

[Lightman]

This will be a monolithic DC.

AMD needs something under 200mm2 for 65nm factory when they start ramping 45nm for QC.

[Nedjo]

although most of us could guess that dual cores would launch in Q2 because of earlier rumours, it's no good news at all.
fixing a bug that shouldn't exist in the first place about 3 (!) quarters after launch is NOT GOOD!

1. all CPU's do have bugs! It's not a question should or shouldn't they have them! it's just a question how severe are they. so called "TLB bug" is quite benign, and chances that you'll experience it are close to none, even in the full CPU load.
2. where did you get "3 quarters after launch"?

that is why AMD already admitted that Q1/Q2'08 will be catastrophic (everything's late, doesn't clock and they postpone B3 stepping afaik).

Where did AMD admitted that Q1/Q2 '08 will be catastrophic?

[KTE]

No word on what these dual cores are... but "...will launch a 65W Athlon 64 X2 4600+ clocked at 2.3GHz and with 1MB L2 cache in second quarter of 2008."
What? The X2 BE-2350 is 2.1GHz at 45W and it overclocks beautifully too. What's the point of this to release 3-6 months from now and add nothing better?

[mAJORD]

wow, and I thought they'd dropped Phenom X2.

KTE: .. Price 45watt models are lower yeild so to speak

[Jacky]

this is going offtopic...

1. all CPU's do have bugs! It's not a question should or shouldn't they have them! it's just a question how severe are they. so called "TLB bug" is quite benign, and chances that you'll experience it are close to none, even in the full CPU load.

Sure it's impossible to design such a complex chip without errata, but AMD stopped shipping most of Barcelonas and decided for a performance-degrading bios workaround - maybe it's not that benign? Or they are quite stupid, really stupid. (sidenote: I have read the thread in the AMD section, I know most people did *not* experience this bug yet)

2. where did you get "3 quarters after launch"?

Barcelona "launch" in september (Q3), B3 stepping postponed to Q2'08 (current rumours).

Where did AMD admitted that Q1/Q2 '08 will be catastrophic?

I am way too lazy to look it up for you, but they did, because of the bug (or do you think this unexpected bug, which indeed may be overblown, will have zero influence on their bottom line?) and their shipping problems iirc. Oh, and don't forget Q1/Q2 are seasonally the weakest quarters which won't help their bottom line AT ALL.

I just pointed out that it's not good news for them, but expected.

[Duh]

amd is adopting difficult codes to remember.. my brains cant keep up :P