AMD Trinity transistor count revised to 1.3 billion

[Andrew LB]

Does anyone else find it very odd that AMD doesn't know how many transistors their own chips have?

AMD Trinity transistor count revised to 1.3 billion
By Hilbert Hagedoorn, May 25, 2012 - 7:42 PM via BSN




Guru3D.com ImageAwkward ... Last year AMD revealed that its Bulldozer processor has 1.2 billion transistors instead of 2 billion, and this week Bright Side of News discovered that the transistor count of the Trinity APU also differs from the number that AMD originally supplied at launch; it's 1.3 billion and not 1.45 billion:

While writing our article about Trinity APU we took the transistor count originally supplied at its launch last year. That number was confirmed in the Llano post-mortem presentation at the Hot Chips 2011 conference, and widely cited in various Llano reviews, including the AnandTech one. Back then the quad-core version of Llano counted no less than 1.45B transistors. Now, if you look at Trinity launch articles at various sites, you will find a different number, such as 1.178B transistors on AnandTech. You will also find sites such as Tom's Hardware and Tech Report state Llano as 1.45 billion transistors, while Trinity packs 1.30 billion. What remains unchanged is the die size, which has remained at the same 228mm² since Llano emerged in 2011.

Sounds familiar? Remember Bulldozer x86 architecture and the Zambezi die of yesteryear? Back then the transistor count was wrongly reported to be a whopping 2 billion, only to have it corrected down to 1.2B later on. You can also derive with a little math that back then Llano was still officially 1.45B.

http://www.guru3d.com/news/amd-trini...to-13-billion/

[tbone8ty]

much to do about nothing...amd's original slides shows 1.303 billion.

[Lightman]

It's Llano transistor count apparently revised from 1.4B to 1.1B not Trinity....

[K404]

Cut them some slack, YOU try counting that many tiny tiny components



Deeeeeerrrrrrrrrrppppppp

[BeepBeep2]

They probably laid off the people that used to count them.

[Nikolasz]

Imagine 486 runing at 4ghz

[tbone8ty]

2 BILLION TRANSISTORS!!!!!!!! MUAHAHAHAHA ummmm No I just kidding its only 1.2billion

if transistors were gold AMD would be......upset lol

[Levish]

Imagine 486 runing at 4ghz

I doubt it would be very impressive, single core, no ht and lack of modern instructions and or programming would probably make it fairly slow compared to just about anything.

[Jethro]

Could we get a recount please?

[dartaz]

From what I read, the die size of Trinity is 246 mm^2 which is bigger than Llano

[qcmadness]

From what I read, the die size of Trinity is 246 mm^2 which is bigger than Llano

it has long been known that trinity is slightly bigger than llano

[sin0822]

lol AMD doing it again, nice job AMD, really doing a great job with your facts. I mean seriously, how hard is it to get a computer to add up all the transistors in the CPU.

[LordEC911]

lol AMD doing it again, nice job AMD, really doing a great job with your facts. I mean seriously, how hard is it to get a computer to add up all the transistors in the CPU.

How do you define a transistor?
Do you only count the ones that get used? Do you include the redundant? Do you include the ones that are only there to test/QC the chip?
There is no right or wrong way to do it...

[deathman20]

Is it just as fast as it was prior to the "recount"? If yes then who the hell cares.

[highoctane]

Still wrong, its really 1,300,000,001 transistors damnit...

[SubZero.it]

When is the release date for Trinity?

[Frodin]

I could swear I counted at least thirteen more last time I checked.

[Tao~]

Makes little difference - does not change the performance whatever the reported count may be.

Also I think die size is what's the more important cost factor for the companies too.

[The Stilt]

When is the release date for Trinity?

5/15/2012 (Comal)
Virgo will be released later.

[SubZero.it]

Thanks

[Sparky]

And who really cares how many little switches these things have anyway?

[Aberration]

It is part of the epeen formula.

[Russian]

I think it's hilarious that Hilbert H. hasn't corrected the article to reflect the truth. Our original article specifically mentions Llano, yet somehow he managed to turn it into Trinity. Furthermore, WHICH trinity? There's more than just one chip.