AMD "Piledriver" refresh of Zambezi - info, speculations, test, fans

[BeepBeep2]

I don't get you guys. This thread is about Piledriver, and you're ragging on Bulldozer. Bulldozer may not be the greatest thing since sliced bread, but it's far from the worst also. I've had a TON of fun tweaking it and just playing around. And it actually runs great.
I built a "Budget" BD system and it has been rock solid for me. I love it. Yes I've read all the "reviews" out there and what not. Frankly I don't much care. I go for how it feels. And BD is feeling mighty fun atm.

And I cant wait to see what Piledriver does, should be better than the Phenom - Phenom II advances.

Friggen relax guys, have a shot of vodka and chill and enjoy tweaking and benching and having fun.

Yeah I'm bout halfway through a bottle right now and feeling mighty fine. Till I started reading all the emo crap in this thread.

Lol, took like 30 mins to type this post.

Peace

You might be a little too drunk...nobody is raging or "emo" or even worked up

you know, the might of excel bars.... enjoying bd much also but you are right too in the aspect that this is offtopic... just, waiting for pd

Talking about BD is at least 50% relevant, PD is like "BD+"
Vishera is to Zambezi as Deneb is to Agena (minus process shrink and a whole lot of cache )

[FlanK3r]

What is the current projected release date of PD? I've seen so many dates I'm

I think, it will be in Q3

[FlanK3r]

FAB8 is the new one (third AMD fab?)

[ReKcOlNu]

FAB8 is the new one (third AMD fab?)

GloFo has 8 fabs now, 3-300mm and 5-200mm fabs that used to be Charter, and there was talk of a 9th fab.
I wouldn't call them AMD fabs, I think AMD only owns around 10-15% of GloFo now.

GLOBALFOUNDRIES Fabs , An aerial view of Fab 8

A future built on silicon

[FlanK3r]

Trinity with PD cores
http://hothardware.com/News/AMD-Fusi...olt-In-Action/

[BeepBeep2]

25% increase in TDP range on desktop products, 15% CPU gain + 30% GPU gain?

[undone]

25% increase in TDP range on desktop products, 15% CPU gain + 30% GPU gain?

omg where did you read the 25% increase in tdp......

[Olivon]

Features of AMD Piledriver processors - CPUWorld

[Oese]

omg where did you read the 25% increase in tdp......

lower tdp. they mean increase in power efficiency.

[informal]

FMA is supported in BDver1 CPUs(FMA4),so CPU world made a mistake. FMA3 is a new ISA extension supported by Piledriver which is now compatible with intel's haswell FMA3.

edit: I see CPU world corrected the FMA mistake,nice.

[undone]

— Mobile (35W): +25% for the CPU and +50% for the GPU vs a mobile Llano (35-45W);

I think this statement is from here:

http://www.computerbase.de/bildstrecke/39091/5/

25% increase in PCmark Vantage(Productivity), 50% increase with GPU in 3dMark Vantage(Performance)

[Olivon]

Hardware.fr got this directly from AMD, they got a reporter at CES.

[informal]

For Desktop vs Desktop parts(PD vs Llano), AMD states 15% faster CPU side and 30% faster GPU side.

[BeepBeep2]

omg where did you read the 25% increase in tdp......

Before it was reported that trinity will have 65w, 100w, and 125w parts.

One would have to imagine the 15% CPU gain and 30% GPU gain are seen only with the extra 25w headroom given. I'm sure there will be a significant increase with GPU at 100w too, but we will see.

EDIT:
I see that from CES, news states 100w TDP on desktop...if true then I welcome x86 improvements PD brings over STARS with open arms ;D

[cesariuth]

"The GPU portion will be based on AMD's Southern Islands architecture..."
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/...ultrathins.ars
could be?

[Andrew LB]

FAB8 is the new one (third AMD fab?)

No. Fab 8 was a joint venture between Global Foundries and IBM along with other JDA (joint development alliance) companies like Toshiba, Samsung, and Renesas.

And contrary to what the article says, Fab 8 is nowhere near producing chips that will see the consumer market. It's going to be another 6 months before everything becomes fully operational, and a full year before they begin actual revenue production. Only some time after that will they reach high volume production in 2013.

To be honest, I have absolutely no idea where Charlie gets these so called "facts" that he put in his articles. I have a feeling he was wearing his pink bunny suit while typing it up and forgot that Journalists must maintain some sort of professionalism and accuracy.

And yes... this is an actual photo of Charlie in the previously mentioned suit. It was punishment for publicly challenging executives @ Intel while having his facts wrong. He lost the bet.



Here are my facts btw...
http://www.globalfoundries.com/manuf..._overview.aspx

[Fottemberg]

What do you think about these?:
http://apps.corel.com/lp/amd/index.html
http://www.imaging-resource.com/NEWS/1294863829.html

Corel support AMD and his APU/FX processor.

Or, Red Hat in this document: http://www.redhat.com/f/pdf/RHEL_6_2...s_benefits.pdf

Red Hat says that RHEL 6.2 supports Bulldozer and Piledriver. Is it true?
"Gcc, glibc, gdb, oprofile — include optimizations to support new chip set capabilities — Intel Westmere & Ivy Bridge, AMD Bulldozer & Piledriver"

[undone]

I think this statement is from here:

http://www.computerbase.de/bildstrecke/39091/5/

25% increase in PCmark Vantage(Productivity), 50% increase with GPU in 3dMark Vantage(Performance)

What I'm wondering about is the Pcmark benchmark, I have seeking many results about this bench but I can't reach a reasonable conclusion that what this bench is testing, single core or multithread? What I can sure is the result has no relationship with GPU.

EDIT: could these two pics describe something? I thought the A8 comparison in second pic is the source of '15% increase' statement.
http://images.hardwarecanucks.com/im...ge/chart15.jpg
http://www.techpowerup.com/img/11-11-21/110c.jpg

looks like pcmark doesn't utilize more than 4 threads, and very bias to single core performance.

[Smartidiot89]

"The GPU portion will be based on AMD's Southern Islands architecture..."
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/...ultrathins.ars
could be?

Nope, VLIW4.

[undone]

AMD Describes Piledriver Architecture Peculiarities to Software Developers

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/cpu/dis...evelopers.html

Interestingly, but the maximum amount of cores inside Vishera (next-gen FX-class desktop-chip), Sepang (1-die Opteron chip for 1-2 socket servers) and Terramar (2-die Opteron MCM for 2-4 socket servers) microprocessors is considered to be ten, not eight in case of Vishera as noted earlier. Moreover, it looks like the silicon behind all three of the products seems to be very same.

Vishera(FX) is indeed a ten core cpu.

[Smartidiot89]

Vishera(FX) is indeed a ten core cpu.

Based on new, old and very old data compiled by Xbit-Labs.

[FlanK3r]

Think, we will be smarter after AMD Analyst day next month

[BeepBeep2]

Based on new, old and very old data compiled by Xbit-Labs.

I think Vishera will stay 8 core...I thought the newer slides all said 8 core, only the very first around bulldozer release said anything about 10.

[FlanK3r]

10 will be maybe only for servers (so Teramar/Sepang)

[Smartidiot89]

I think Vishera will stay 8 core...I thought the newer slides all said 8 core, only the very first around bulldozer release said anything about 10.

Correct, I should've made my sarcasm more obvious

Komodo was a 10-core part including the Northbridge (PCI-E hub if you'd like) integrated, with Tri-channel memory. Sepang would be the server variant, while Terramer would be a 20-core one. Now without Komodo, I am not too sure Sepang and Terramer are still on the list to come to servers so 16-core might still be the highest AMD has to offer. According to the new plans, or shall we say leaks... Vishera will be an AM3+ compatible 8-core Piledriver CPU. Of course I am basing this all on leaks, all I know for sure is that Vishera is very real...

Like Flank3r said, all of this will probably be clear after Analyst Day which will be held the 2nd of february Until then it's hardly worth speculating in anything AMD-related as all their official roadmaps released last Analyst Day are useless today due to all changes.