AMD Zambezi news, info, fans !

[LowRun]

It's not a confirmation unless they said "it will be launched within 4 - 5 weeks."

With AMD's track record recently the only real confirmation will be when they actually launch.

[chew*]

There are many bios options that can effect the outcome of benches.

HPET is 1 for example, it stops the cpu from throttling back in mulithreaded apps.

Running pi on a cluster, versus a core ( 2 threads ) versus being able to disable a single cluster in a core ( which 99% boards/bios's do not have implemented so resources are not shared ) can all influence the results in single threaded.

Knowing all this tells you one thing for sure, you can make it look worse or make it look better all depending on your knowledge of the chip and or your intentions.

As far as PI it's an antiquated bench and has not been AMD's strong point for quite some time.

Granted some results shown tend to lead to the fact that 1m times are bad but looking at the bigger picture we also know that in many cases you can validate 1000mhz higher in many cases with BD, which would point to the fact that you can run 1m at alot faster speeds than current AMD tech.

Things that make you go hmm like what kind of times will we see at 8 gig or even comparing BD to deneb/thuban when same cooling is used.

[Pestilence]

HPET is 1 for example, it stops the cpu from throttling back in mulithreaded apps.

Chew,

Why is it throttling in multithreaded apps? Temps? Are the 8 cores putting out a lot of heat?

[xBanzai89]

snip

Chew, I want to thank you for all the insights you have given on BD. You have made me go from to waiting for the CPU to come out again. I want to get one, but right now I think it is a big if with MSI updating my AM3 880G board with support. I do not want to drop money on a new board, so I may just end up waiting for the revision (piledriver) to come out.

[Manicdan]

Chew,

Why is it throttling in multithreaded apps? Temps? Are the 8 cores putting out a lot of heat?

my motherboard can throttle back when i overclock too much, my cpu is stable and cool on water, but my VRMs might have gotten too hot. this could be for the board, or the chip.

[Pestilence]

my motherboard can throttle back when i overclock too much, my cpu is stable and cool on water, but my VRMs might have gotten too hot. this could be for the board, or the chip.

Makes me wonder if the high end 990FX boards will throttle as well

[nex_73]

I think it will be more interesting to see "performance per Watt" instead of "clock vs clock".
Say you have a 1100T system @ 4GHz drawing 600W from the wall in full load, what frequency will a identical FX8150 system (with same components & cpu-cooler) end up with? 5GHz?
On top of this it might even run cooler, ending up with another win: a more quiet system...

[Opteron146]

Why? Do ASRock mobos have the latest AGESA?

Yes, version 1.1.0.0, seems to be the final version, previously there was just v0.0.9.2, looked still beta to me.

I just updated my icafe870R2.0 bios was released Aug. 30, saying update CPU code
http://www.asrock.com/mb/download.as...%20R2.0&o=BIOS
i guess most mobo manu. has the latest Agesa by now

There were many BD Agesa updates in the summer, that BIOS you mentioned just has 0.0.9.1.

[Manicdan]

Makes me wonder if the high end 990FX boards will throttle as well

this is a Asus M4A88TD-V EVO which has pretty much the weakest VRM section that comes with a heatsink on it.

[Sn0wm@n]

There are many bios options that can effect the outcome of benches.

HPET is 1 for example, it stops the cpu from throttling back in mulithreaded apps.

Running pi on a cluster, versus a core ( 2 threads ) versus being able to disable a single cluster in a core ( which 99% boards/bios's do not have implemented so resources are not shared ) can all influence the results in single threaded.

Knowing all this tells you one thing for sure, you can make it look worse or make it look better all depending on your knowledge of the chip and or your intentions.

As far as PI it's an antiquated bench and has not been AMD's strong point for quite some time.

Granted some results shown tend to lead to the fact that 1m times are bad but looking at the bigger picture we also know that in many cases you can validate 1000mhz higher in many cases with BD, which would point to the fact that you can run 1m at alot faster speeds than current AMD tech.

Things that make you go hmm like what kind of times will we see at 8 gig or even comparing BD to deneb/thuban when same cooling is used.

interesting post to say the least!!

[Oliverda]

Makes me wonder if the high end 990FX boards will throttle as well

You can disable the throttling.



In ASRock Fatal1ty at least.

[MaddMutt]

Your asking the wrong question.

Will it work? Yes

The right question is will it be optimal? No.

Chew,

I know you might not be able to answer this in a timely manner but I have to ask it.

I have a GA-MA790FXT(A) UD5 motherboard $200 USD you sayed that the old CH would support the K15 but not optimal. If it is only a power saving issue could the 790FX also work in this situation?

Thank you for taking the time to answer

[Oliverda]

Chew,

I know you might not be able to answer this in a timely manner but I have to ask it.

I have a GA-MA790FXT(A) UD5 motherboard $200 USD you sayed that the old CH would support the K15 but not optimal. If it is only a power saving issue could the 790FX also work in this situation?

Thank you for taking the time to answer

I'm not Chew but I'm 99,999% sure that GA-MA790FXT(A) UD5 won't support Bulldozer at all.

[BeepBeep2]

Chew,

I know you might not be able to answer this in a timely manner but I have to ask it.

I have a GA-MA790FXT(A) UD5 motherboard $200 USD you sayed that the old CH would support the K15 but not optimal. If it is only a power saving issue could the 790FX also work in this situation?

Thank you for taking the time to answer

Gigabyte isn't even supporting at all on their 800-series motherboards, they updated them with a new revision and socket.
ASUS will be giving support on most of their 800-series line, and MSI will on select boards afaik.

[Hondacity]

I think motherboard sellers want to sell motherboards lol

[chew*]

Chew,

Why is it throttling in multithreaded apps? Temps? Are the 8 cores putting out a lot of heat?

I'd be more likely to blame power saving features/tdp.

[JF-AMD]

For most of those benchmarks,regardless if they are real or fake, the key thing is SIMD performance. Integer SIMD is handled also by the new FPU inside bulldozer. So this will be the key for good or bad reviews. If it doesn't beat K10 in single thread or poorly thread integer SIMD workloads,it may not get so favorable reviews. If it manages to do this it will be both faster and more efficient than K10,in both single thread and multi thread benchmarks. Now,how all these "leaks" correlate to real performance is anybody's guess. At least in single thread workloads,when both halves of the flexfp are working on one thread,Bulldozer should be faster than K10 at similar clock. We don't see this in any of the leaks. It is actually slower by 15-20%,which goes against what we know about its FPU.

I am gonna take the under on this one. FP benchmarks are less interesting except in the HPC world. ~90% of what your CPU is doing all day long is integer. FP has long latencies (deeper instructions) and is really only ~10% of the work. So speeding up FP might look awesome on SPEC FP benchmarks, but for desktop apps and most server apps, it gives you little or no noticeable impact.

I don't remember who mentioned it in the last few pages (lost the multi-quote I had going), but it was about making a 4M/4T chip and if AMD would do that... I don't know, it's unlikely, but about 1/2 way through the thread I was thinking how it'd be interesting for them to make one since it would give each core total access of all module resources. I think they'd make for pretty good gaming chips. Clock them at 4GHz with maybe a 4.5GHz 4C-Turbo, weee!

No, there is a 4-core 4 memory channel interlagos, but that is a server part. It has 2 modules. There is not that much of a benefit for having a single thread running on the module. The overhead from sharing is pretty low, so you get pretty close to the same performance. Running one thread on each module vs. filling the modules means that, to run the same # of threads, you will be doubling the amount of power required because you have fired up 2 modules. You'd be better off in most cases to run it on one module, power gate the other, and get the uplift from turbo because you have more headroom.

Your actual mileage will vary, but the idea that there is a huge overhead for sharing just isn't there. In most cases it will probalby be lightly impacting, if impacting at all.

What is this ages code all about? I've seen it referenced but what is it.

AGESA is the base code that is given to board developers and OEMs to build their BIOS. The version of AGESA that is used will determine what features are exposed and any performance optimizations that might be available. But just because the feature is in AGESA does not mean that your vendor will take advantage of it, you get the features that they expose to you.

So BLT has pulled the listings for the 8150/8120/6100 from there site.. Hmmmm

I said before and I will say it again. Public sales prior to launch are not allowed per the embargo guidelines. I can't speak to how the desktop guys would handle it, but back when I used to run business development, if someone was advertising prior to launch, they were not the first guys in line to receive product. Production parts went to the folks that honored the rules.

I think it will be more interesting to see "performance per Watt" instead of "clock vs clock".
Say you have a 1100T system @ 4GHz drawing 600W from the wall in full load, what frequency will a identical FX8150 system (with same components & cpu-cooler) end up with? 5GHz?
On top of this it might even run cooler, ending up with another win: a more quiet system...

Considering that ~5% of the market at most is buying top bin parts, you can assume that ~95% are interested in price/performance or performance/watt. Base on that, you are absolutely correct, this would be the most interesting thing to consider in comparisons.

[chew*]

You can disable the throttling.



In ASRock Fatal1ty at least.

Thats thermal throttling which is not quite the same

[MaddMutt]

I'm not Chew but I'm 99,999% sure that GA-MA790FXT(A) UD5 won't support Bulldozer at all.

Thank You for your timely answer.

I was looking at a new board but was hoping Now I have to choose from the ASUS CH or ST any recommendations or nods

[EniGmA1987]

I was looking at a new board but was hoping Now I have to choose from the ASUS CH or ST any recommendations or nods

Sabertooth has the same bios options, just not as good onboard sound and doesnt have the special software stuff. From what I remember they both have the same VRM stuff so you should be able to get the exact same overclocks. Sabertooth also has a 5 year warranty instead of 3, however I dont think it doesnt support quad-SLI/crossfire?

[duron]

...so it's th 19th of Sept, anything New?

[freeloader]

...so it's th 19th of Sept, anything New?

Wait until October 13th.

[duron]

Wait until October 13th.

sheesh! anyways more time to save

[Manicdan]

sheesh! anyways more time to save

seriously. thinking of doing a new build with CHV/BD/ATI7000 and i shouldnt be spending any more money, but its kinda my only addition.

[stangracin3]

...so it's th 19th of Sept, anything New?

Its not the 19th in the US though