AMD Pins Hopes on Barcelona Quad-Core Chip
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Advanced Micro Devices hopes its new Opteron server chips will help lift the company out of the doldrums.
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AMD used the Fall Processor Forum to provide more details about its dual-core Opteron architecture which is scheduled to be released by mid of 2005.
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Latest timetable leaks AMD's initial array of quad-core Opteron processors will go into production in June, the latest roadmap to apparently leak out of the company indicates. Further models will get punched out in the following quarter, with workstation-oriented versions following in Q4.â¦
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CHIP FIRM AMD has revealed more details of the dual core processors it expects to introduce next year. The firm presented at the Processor Forum in San Jose earlier today, and, according to EE Times, revealed some further details of its plans.
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Server makers are showing their first systems based on AMD's new quad-core Opteron chip, known as Barcelona.
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Analysts are suggesting that AMD may be forced to delay its Barcelona multi-core chip, a move that could set the company back both financially and strategically.
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Chipmaker exec describes upcoming launch of its first quad-core chip.
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(InfoWorld) - Server makers are showing their first systems based on Advanced Micro Devices'Â upcoming quad-core Opteron chip, known as Barcelona. Barcelona servers from Supermicro Computer, Tyan Computer, and Uniwide TechnologiesÂ are on show at Taipei's annual Computex exhibition, which started Tuesday. The appearance of the chips, which are scheduled to ship later this year, signals they are getting closer to the market. Detailed specifications of the chips and servers on display were not immediately available. AMD is counting on Barcelona to boost its sales, and market share, in the face ofÂ heated competition from rival Intel. Barcelona, which is manufactured using a 65-nanometer process, contains four processor cores on a single piece of silicon. By comparison, Intel's quad-core chips use two pieces of silicon, each containing two cores, strapped together inside a single package. AMD claims its design gives Barcelona a significant boost in performance -- as much as 50 percent to 80 percent -- over its current Opteron chips. Uniwide and Supermicro are showing Barcelona systems that take advantage of a power-saving feature of the chip. Called Dual Dynamic Power Management, this allows the processor cores and on-chip memory controller to draw power separately, which AMD said allows better performance and power management. AMD also promised an easy upgrade path for existing Opteron customers. Motherboards that support current Opteron chips can be upgraded for the quad-core chips by updating the BIOS. Dual-core chips can then be swapped for quad-core Barcelona processors, which use the same chipsets and processor sockets. Tyan and Asustek ComputerÂ are among the companies making upgradeable motherboards.
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Processor could steal spotlight from AMD, Intel's forthcoming dual-core chips.
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It said it has demonstrated a working version of the technology based on its Opteron chip. By Darrell Dunn. The shift to dual-core microprocessors continues to accelerate.
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With Christmas just 11 days away, you have to wonder what Hector Ruiz is going to find under his tree. It&#8217;s been a terrible year for Advanced Micro Devices, and the chipmaker&#8217;s analysts conference on Thursday did nothing to spread holiday cheer.Confirming what many in the chip world had suspected for some time, CEO Ruiz and other AMD execs fessed up that bugs in its new quad-core Barcelona server and Phenom desktop chips will&#160;delay these key next-generation technologies.The technical problems will delay general availability of the fastest version of the chips for three or four months. Customers willing to settle for slower clock speeds will be able to get the processors sooner; for example, AMD will ship a 2 gigahertz version of the Barcelona first, instead of the expected 2.5 gigahertz speed. In either case, the chips will be close to a year late; the original target date was the first quarter of 2007.AMD STUMBLES AS INTEL SPEEDS AHEADThe problem couldn&#8217;t come at a worse time. AMD has struggled all year to close the performance gap between its high-end chips and Intel&#8217;s. Barcelona, the company had promised, would restore its technical supremacy. Indeed some analysts said they had expected the quad-core server chip to do just that. &#8220;At 2.5 gigahertz it would have beaten any Intel products,&#8221; said analyst Nathan Brookwood of Insight64. &#8220;But at 2 gigahertz, it&#8217;s bringing up the rear,&#8221; he said.Intel, meanwhile, has corrected many of the problems that dogged it earlier in the decade. &#8220;AMD isn&#8217;t competing against the Intel of two years ago,&#8221; said Dean McCarron of Mercury Research. Intel has had quad-core chips in the market for about a year. To be fair, its chips are based on a somewhat simpler design; Intel gets to four cores by packaging two dual-core chips together. By contrast, AMD&#8217;s design integrates four cores on one chip, a more efficient solution, said McCarron. Except that AMD&#8217;s approach reduces yields and thus raises manufacturing costs, he added.There was earlier speculation that Barcelona&#8217;s problems were related to the ATI graphics chipset, but the problem turns out to be deeper, at the chip level. AMD has said it is related to the translation lookaside buffer (TLB) in the processor&#39;s L3 cache.DOUBTS ABOUT A QUICK FIXIn the Thursday conference, analysts had expected discussion of the company&#8217;s &#8220;asset light strategy,&#8221; which will apparently entail outsourcing more manufacturing to foundries such as Chartered Semiconductor or TSMC. But they didn&#8217;t get it, and the lack of details made CEO Ruiz&#8217;s promise to return to profitability in 2008 less credible to Wall Street. AMD&#8217;s financial performance has been terrible, losing money for four straight quarters. Part of the reason: Intel and AMD have engaged in a bloody price war, a struggle that has been very tough on the smaller company&#8217;s profit margins. But the Barcelona and Phenom delays are serious self-inflicted wounds.AMD&#8217;s stock lost another few points yesterday and has now shed about 40% in the last two months and a bone-jarring 56% since the beginning of the year. At $8.84 a share, Thursday&#8217;s closing price, the stock is at its lowest ebb since the summer of 2003. Ironically, AMD has so far&#160;rewarded Ruiz with pay raises.
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Ten months after Intel shipped its first quad-core server processor, Advanced Micro Devices finally released a quad-core Opteron that the upstart vendor hopes to use to recapture its momentum in the server market.
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Slotting into existing product line AMD looks set to introduce its first 65nm processors in December this year, a quartet of dual-core Athlon 64 X2 CPUs, if a report citing sources who've seen the chip maker's latest roadmap are to be believed.â¦
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AMD plans to combine the functions of three chips -- the GPU (graphics processing unit ), core-logic chipset, and CPU --&#160;into one, code-named &quot;Swift,&quot; an executive said Thursday.The company, which runs second to Intel in the global microprocessor business, plans to launch Swift in the second half of 2009. It&#39;s using parts of several of its top chips to create this new device, which it calls an APU (Accelerated Processing Unit).&quot;I keep telling you that it&#39;s not all about the CPU. The CPU is important, but now there are other blocks that contribute to the experience a consumer gets in a machine,&quot; said Mario Rivas, an executive vice president at AMD, during an analyst meeting broadcast on the Internet Thursday.Several chips make a difference in PC performance, he said. Swift will carry AMD&#39;s &quot;Stars&quot; processor cores, the company&#39;s latest graphics cores, and the northbridge from Griffin, the central processor used in its newest laptop PC platform.The new chip will be AMD&#39;s second attempt at such combinations.&#160;The company has pledged to launch a chip code-named &quot;Fusion&quot; late next year or in early 2009 that integrates the CPU and the graphics processor on one chip. AMD says combining the chips in Fusion will increase performance and energy efficiency.Such work is important to the computing industry as people demand smaller, battery-dependent devices. It also saves space. The fewer chips required inside a laptop, for example, the more space a designer has to make it smaller or add other features.Swift will be made using AMD&#39;s 45-nanometer production technology, Rivas said.The company was unable to immediately provide further details of the new chip.
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Spider too? AMD will indeed release its 'RV670' graphics chip on 19 November - as predicted - an analyst has claimed the company told him recently.â¦
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Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) said Friday it would begin shipping its &quot;Barcelona&quot; quad-core Opteron processor in August, rebutting industry rumors that the chip faced manufacturing problems that could delay it until October.
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Earnings up... Chip monster Intel is upping its guidance for the third quarter - the day arch-rival AMD launches its Barcelona chip.â¦