AMD Bulldozer Finally!

[datalol-jack]

Mike "The Bulldozer" Butler - has a nice ring to it. I'm not sure how he'll ever live it down.

 

[opethdisciple]

As posted earlier....the face behind the Derpdozer debacle...

This guy should be flogged, and paraded around America with a Dunce hat on!

 

[Gashman]

think people are being a bit harsh toward the guy to be fair, the 'architecture' itself is a novel and potentially powerful design, the problem is it hasn't worked out quite how they would like by fault of something inside the architecture, it isn't the idea of the Bulldozer Module that is at fault its more the implementation of that design that is the fault. so to say he should punished is a bit harsh because on paper it is a good design, and its now up to him and his team to figure out what has gone amiss with the final product, because there is one crucial part missing and that is 'holding the instructions per clock' to K10.5, if that had been the case like intended to hold fire and keep the instructions per clock the same then the dramatic increase in clock speeds combined with the multi-threaded nature of the design makes it a damned appealing prospect.

my point is don't crucify the design of the processor, just comment on how one of the fundamental points has gone wrong and see if there is a fix for the next revision, because (might be wishful thinking) if Global Foundries sort their problems out with the fabrication and AMD managed to work out the problem with instruction per clock deficit (basically bringing Bulldozer up-to its intended performance, at the moment it is costing the architecture probably in excess of 10 - 15% in performance, more in some cases) would be willing to say a lot of people here will quickly take back their pre-conceptions about the architecture. but please don't quote me on this as actual fact, there is a lot of 'maybes' in this post and I will leave it in the hands of AMD to act on the situation, just commenting on what can be done to make Bulldozer competitive as intended. put it this way if Bulldozer was my design, would be happy with the groundwork I had put in place, would go into the office, get the guys together and analyse the positives and negatives of the design, to try to understand why the instructions per clock has fallen when the original premise was to keep it at what it is or improve on it.

 

[sunama]

I actually think that at this stage, it is too early to say if Mr Butler has done a bad job or not.

IMO, AMD need another 6-9 months to release BullDozer2. THAT CPU should be the what BD1 was supposed to be. The only problem is that by this time, Intel will probably have released their new CPU.

IMO, if AMD reduce their prices, I think they have a CPU which can sell very well (if volume sales is what AMD are after).

Now, in 6-9 months time, if BD2 is released and that also sucks...I would definitely agree with the Dunce Hat parade.

I just think that AMD (and Mr Butler) needed more time to develop the BD1. Unfortunately, due to financial reasons, AMD couldn't delay BD1 any more.

 

[Martini1991]

Needed more time?

 

[chaotic_uk]

but why so few 8 cored fx cpu's ?

 

[Jleo]

What it boils down to is AMD released a lemon for the public to suck and see....not very sporting old chap!

 

[Martini1991]

but why so few 8 cored fx cpu's ?

Because yields are horrendous

 

[datalol-jack]

Needed more time?

On paper! I wish we lived in an era of home fabrication, where sound design was the only thing that mattered, but alas...

 

[chaotic_uk]

Because yields are horrendous

i thought only the Llano had poor yields ?

 

[mayebaza]

Thanks gareth170 for helping me to make up my mind. I’ve been running my 955 BE(C2)@ 3.92GHz for two and half years only to find Bulldozer’s put me in a cul-de-sac, so I have ordered a Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 motherboard (I couldn’t turn it down at £138 quid) and I’m on the lookout for a cheap i5-2500K Unlocked (I can’t bring myself to use the ‘I’ word yet)
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Gigabyte GA-MA790FX-UD5P, 955 BE(C2)@ 3.92GHz 1.52V, G. Skill RipsawsX 8GB DDR3-1600,
Geil Value 4GB DDR3-1600, ATI 5850 1GB(Crossfire), CM90 II Advanced, 1TB Western Digital Caviar Black,
4 HDDs, XFX 850W BE, Asus Xonar Essence STX, BlackGold HD DVB-T2, Dual Digital DVB-C.

 

[Martini1991]

i thought only the Llano had poor yields ?

Nope.

 

[InfiniteNoise]

Yep, definitely won't be getting Bulldozer any time soon.

My Phenom II X4 at 4GHz & 2.6GHz NB handles everything.

I'll only upgrade if I can get X6 or Intel set up very cheaply.

 

[gronf]

Thanks gareth170 for helping me to make up my mind. I’ve been running my 955 BE(C2)@ 3.92GHz for two and half years only to find Bulldozer’s put me in a cul-de-sac, so I have ordered a Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 motherboard (I couldn’t turn it down at £138 quid) and I’m on the lookout for a cheap i5-2500K Unlocked (I can’t bring myself to use the ‘I’ word yet)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Gigabyte GA-MA790FX-UD5P, 955 BE(C2)@ 3.92GHz 1.52V, G. Skill RipsawsX 8GB DDR3-1600,
Geil Value 4GB DDR3-1600, ATI 5850 1GB(Crossfire), CM90 II Advanced, 1TB Western Digital Caviar Black,
4 HDDs, XFX 850W BE, Asus Xonar Essence STX, BlackGold HD DVB-T2, Dual Digital DVB-C.

Uh, that's not how a 'signature' works

 

[gareth170]

... ... .... .... ..... ... .... ....

afew looks good

 

[Gashman]

so like the other reviews, there are some things it is quite good at and other things not so good. all in all I reckon if they could do some work behind the scenes and get the instructions per clock to the intended standard (K10.5) then it would be a pretty all round impressive performer.

 

[mmj_uk]

Have AMD commented on this appauling launch yet? it's been what 2 weeks since launch and OCUK have only had about 10 units.

 

[mmj_uk]

Also have you tried overclocking yet Gareth? interested to see high how the average person can get one on normal cooling (opposed to the XS crowd).

 

[Gashman]

Have AMD commented on this appauling launch yet? it's been what 2 weeks since launch and OCUK have only had about 10 units.

nothing as of yet, have been rather quiet about the whole thing. though there is quite a few things around about an upcoming B3 stepping on the way in the not at all distant future (8150 B3), who knows if it will improve things. just hope for the sake of competition that whatever is damaging the performance of Bulldozer is relative simple fix, the last thing we need (though so many people seem to be loving the current situation!) is for Intel to monopolise the market. am rather sure that the next stepping will help the power consumption and hopefully improve temperatures and clocking performance.

where is JF-AMD these days, haven't seen him for a while on here, would be rather interesting to hear his opinions on all of this. read most of his opinions on the design 'intention' of Bulldozer but would love to hear his feedback on the lacklustre performance at the moment and perhaps inside information on upcoming stepping/improvements.

 

[gareth170]

also no heat issues, stayed at 49c , ... i guess the people who got a 8150 and saying it as heat issues clearly don't know what they doing.