AMD Bulldozer Finally!

Martini1991 · 6 Oct 2011 at 16:51

gareth170 said:
AM3+ platform will be around a lot longer than people may of thought. Piledriver will be on socket AM3+

But it's a downgrade from Komodo.
Komodo was going to be 10 cores.
Piledriver is essentially Zambezi II from those spec's

a lot of the specs seem to be the same. The fact AM3+ has been given more life is a bad thing, not a good one. Maybe it won't be AM3+ and it's a crappy fake slide.

harenzo · 6 Oct 2011 at 16:57

Interesting stuff. Will be looking forward to the benches.

However, I am a bit unsure about the BD 6core+ CPUs for gaming though.

How long will it be before games take advantage of more than 4 cores, especially given the trend for console ports nowadays?

sunama · 6 Oct 2011 at 17:03

I'm not into gaming, but are 2 thread games common place now?

Martini1991 · 6 Oct 2011 at 17:05

sunama said:
I'm not into gaming, but are 2 thread games common place now?

Pretty much, you'd expect them to be mainly 3-4 at least.

With that in mind, a 2500k will probably be the better chip for gaming still at present.

sunama · 6 Oct 2011 at 17:17

So, just to clarify, dual core cpus went mainstream about 2-3 years ago.
And currently, games are still being released for 2 threads.

Based on this logic, with the availability of 4 cores now, we can expect 4 thread games, in approximately 2-3 years from now. This would mean that buying an 8-core cpu, for gaming, would be a little premature. Correct?

LeJosh · 6 Oct 2011 at 17:20

sunama said:
So, just to clarify, dual core cpus went mainstream about 2-3 years ago.
And currently, games are still being released for 2 threads.

Based on this logic, with the availability of 4 cores now, we can expect 4 thread games, in approximately 2-3 years from now. This would mean that buying an 8-core cpu, for gaming, would be a little premature. Correct?

It relies on the engine if it has been programmed to run on multiple threads and engine releases really are far and few right now.

Martini1991 · 6 Oct 2011 at 17:21

sunama said:
So, just to clarify, dual core cpus went mainstream about 2-3 years ago.
And currently, games are still being released for 2 threads.

Based on this logic, with the availability of 4 cores now, we can expect 4 thread games, in approximately 2-3 years from now. This would mean that buying an 8-core cpu, for gaming, would be a little premature. Correct?

Oh, you misunderstood.
They're not just two threaded.
I think games now a days are at least 2-4. Although, if you took a core i3 2120, it'll still play most games out there fine.

However, a lot of that I feel is to do with how consoles have progressed.

Also, which will likely sell more, the 4 core SB's, or 6 core and 8 core BD's?

Likely to be the 4 cores, so that could hamper progression of heavily threaded games, I don't know.

spirits247 · 6 Oct 2011 at 17:23

A bit of new info cropped up from AnandTech forum users; not sure how reliable but it adds to the build up (from Netherlands PCM - Personal Computer Magazine):

http://translate.google.com/transla...b.nl/hardware/componenten/processoren/fx-8150

was put up then taken down quickly, hence google cache link, and if deleted from Google cache:

http://translate.google.com/transla...50%20%20%20Personal%20Computer%20Magazine.htm

Martini1991 · 6 Oct 2011 at 17:35

IPC doesn't look great at all ;

We start with Cinebench-10. And here we get a core 4074 issues. Approximately 1.5 times less than an Intel core so (both the 2600 and the i5 i7 2500 get about 5800 points. An 'old' i7 965 is around 4900 points)

mmj_uk · 6 Oct 2011 at 17:41

So it's looking like it lies between 2500K and 2600K on average, I guess overclocking ability will be the deciding factor for most.

Martini1991 · 6 Oct 2011 at 17:42

mmj_uk said:
So it's looking like it lies between 2500K and 2600K on average, I guess overclocking ability will be the deciding factor for most.

Depending on the amount of threads used. In reality, you won't be using app's that heavily multi-threaded, unless you're into specialist software, which you'd prefer the 8150/2600k for over a 4 core 2500k.
As that "review" shows, its IPC is lower than even Socket 1366 CPU's.

EDIT : I wonder if the 8150 is using turbo....

LeJosh · 6 Oct 2011 at 17:43

Martini1991 said:
IPC doesn't look great at all ;

But the bulldozer hits back hard in the multi-CPU test. Here we see 20615 points. A multiplication of 5.06. We had expected a bit more honest, more close to six times. Perhaps the faster memory to work out better. Yet five times faster is not bad: a hyperthreaded i7 gets just four times. In addition, a very nice score 20,615 points: it is 2000 points more than an i5 2500K and 2000 points less than the more expensive i7 2600K. 11.5-in Cinebench scores Bulldozer with 6.01 points and between the i5 and i7 2500K 2600K in: get the i5 and i7 5.37 6.73 gets points on our test platform. I7 965 sits on a 5.73 points.

Performs pretty much where I thought it would.

Martini1991 · 6 Oct 2011 at 17:44

LeJosh said:
Performs pretty much where I thought it would.

It's a little slower than expected though surely?
8 cores, it should cream the 2600k in any 8 threaded app.

LeJosh · 6 Oct 2011 at 17:50

Martini1991 said:
It's a little slower than expected though surely?
8 cores, it should cream the 2600k in any 8 threaded app.

I'm going to wait to see two card crossfire but I doubt even that will see benefits over Intel solutions.

I knew it would be in the middle but closer or on par to the 2600k.

As usual AMD go for value and it's close enough to SB's high end and cheaper at least.

gareth170 · 6 Oct 2011 at 18:04

Martini1991 said:
But it's a downgrade from Komodo.
Komodo was going to be 10 cores.
Piledriver is essentially Zambezi II from those spec's
a lot of the specs seem to be the same. The fact AM3+ has been given more life is a bad thing, not a good one. Maybe it won't be AM3+ and it's a crappy fake slide.

Komodo is gone , so forget about that

yes Piledriver is basicly Zambezi II , i thought everybody knew this.. it'll bring some improvements and should be 10%~ faster than Zambezi hence why i feel it'll be am3+, it's a small boost...

FM2 will be here in q1 2013

if amd as delayed FM2 for whatever reason till q1 2013, i don't see a problem in amd releasing a Zambezi II (Piledriver) until they ready to release fm2 ..

it'll be like the Athlon then Athlon II, Phenom then Phenom II

pmc25 · 6 Oct 2011 at 18:05

That 'review' will not be on release BIOS and once again it was with RAM below that of the CPU's native speed.

Aside from releasing it a week before the NDA was due to expire, the article was so superficial, inconsistent and lacking in information that I somehow doubt they'll be getting any more review samples from AMD.

I think I'd have done a more thorough job :rolleyes:

spirits247 · 6 Oct 2011 at 18:08

It is a pretty basic article pmc25 - that's the reason why I posted it here rather than get peoples hopes up in a new thread.

I'm sure someone will post a new thread soon however!

pmc25 · 6 Oct 2011 at 18:09

FM2 is what Llano's replacement is still scheduled to occupy, from what I understand. The idea that Piledriver (Komodo platform) would be on it was from 1 leaked (and unverified) slide. If true, I suspect AMD were developing it and Vishera (same chips, but on 9xx chipset and AM3+) in tandem, waiting to make a decision. Going with AM3+ is obviously the right decision.

Martini1991 · 6 Oct 2011 at 18:25

gareth170 said:
Komodo is gone , so forget about that

yes Piledriver is basicly Zambezi II , i thought everybody knew this.. it'll bring some improvements and should be 10%~ faster than Zambezi hence why i feel it'll be am3+, it's a small boost...

FM2 will be here in q1 2013

if amd as delayed FM2 for whatever reason till q1 2013, i don't see a problem in amd releasing a Zambezi II (Piledriver) until they ready to release fm2 ..

it'll be like the Athlon then Athlon II, Phenom then Phenom II

No it won't.

Phenom II was on a smaller process, clocked better, DDR3 Support, new platform, etc etc.

pmc25 said:
FM2 is what Llano's replacement is still scheduled to occupy, from what I understand. The idea that Piledriver (Komodo platform) would be on it was from 1 leaked (and unverified) slide. If true, I suspect AMD were developing it and Vishera (same chips, but on 9xx chipset and AM3+) in tandem, waiting to make a decision. Going with AM3+ is obviously the right decision.

That slide was well fake, it had spelling mistakes, incorrect information etc.
How is boxing yourself in on a platform a right decision?

I'm seriously hoping Pile driver gets removed from AM3+ and they go to FM2.

gareth170 · 6 Oct 2011 at 18:27

Martini1991 said:
No it won't.

how do u know???