AMD Bulldozer Finally!

[AceTK]

Finally today we heard when bulldozer was going to show up. Ok you got me this isnt a countdown to actually being able to get your hands on it but it is a countdown till we will actually start seeing some benchmarks and enthusiasts having a chance to tinker with it. I don't know about you guys but im particularly excited about getting myself an 8 core (4 module i know) cpu some time this year (benchmarks and cost effective price point permitting). Now given how this is literally only 25 days (at time of this post) we should start to see the AM3+ mobos popping up anytime soon too. Sure we know about MSI's big bang conquerer but thats been it for ages and again im most eager to start planning for my future build. :rubs hands:


http://www.fudzilla.com/processors/item/21753-amd-to-showcase-bulldozer-at-cebit

http://www.cebit.de/home <------- realtime countdown timer on site

 

[AceTK]

Not sure about everything but I do know that initially there will be a 125w and a 95w version of the same 8 core 3.5Ghz cpu to choose from at first release. I can only guess the 125w ones will be lower binned items that need more volts to attain same speed and are possibly a slightly lower clockspeed to avoid confusion maybe 3.4Ghz. Oh and on the subject of overclocking it would seem logical not to expect major overclocking as first generation bulldozer is going to be fabbed gate first and is not expected to be fabbed gate last till second generation late 2012.

Either way tho im sure once I slap my 95w bulldozer on my NH-D14 il be cranking the volts and laughing at a good 4.4Ghz+ easy.... hopefully.



edit:

Although now I think about it maybe the 125w version could be the 3.5Ghz unlocked multi FX and the 95w version could a be a lower power lower clocked locked multi at maybe 2.8Ghz. Maybe.....

 

[AceTK]

Keep in mind its likely that AMD will have EIGHT core Bulldozers for around or maybe even less than a 2600k, thats fully overclockable, on a vastly cheaper(and working ) mobo, that will have a 3.5-3.8Ghz stock clock speed, that can do turbo on ALL cores at 500Mhz, meaning most load will have the whole chip at 4-4.3Ghz without overclocking, and it can go significantly further still with less than all the cores loaded, potentially 4.5-4.8Ghz with 1-2 cores loaded, at stock.

Overclocking should be godly, gate first IS better than gate last, but gives lower yields, bad for AMD, the chips that work will be better though. Its got a slightly longer pipeline so the design lends itself to MUCH higher clockspeeds than Phenom's do.

But the main point here is, no one knows what Bulldozer bits will be seen at Cebit, so its not worth talking up into crazyness yet.

Firstly its VERY common for companies to show only reporters, or bigwigs in the industry new parts behind closed doors. Cebit has a public and a private side to it, some products are on show for everyone, some are behind closed doors NDA covered briefings only.

All we know is Bulldozer should be at Cebit, we have no clue if a single Bulldozer piece of information will end up shown to the general public. We have no idea if there will be benchmarks and we have no idea if anyone will get to use a system with one in.


As for the 50% stuff, its SO vague and we don't know really know what its in with a lot of fake slides about.

AFAIK the 50% thing was said AGES ago and was first mentioned in regard to the server space, where switching out a 8 core server chip would beat a server chip by 50% quite comftably as a drop in replacement. Server loads vs home use loads can be incredibly different.

Gate-last and gate-first refer to the point at which a transistor's gate is put onto a CPU-production wafer. Previously, CPU transistors featured a silicon gate and a silicon dioxide insulator.

However, in order to combat the problems with current leakage as silicon gets thinner, most fabrication firms have now replaced the silicon-based parts with a metal gate and a high-k insulator made from a material such as Hafnium. This means that the fabrication company has to choose whether the metal gate electrode is dropped onto the wafer before or after the high-temperature heating process.

Gate-last is superior, because it provides a better choice of transistors for higher performance, which could crudely translated into better overclocking potential, as well as lower leakage. Gate last on the otherhand is more expensive as it can produce more failed fabs. Intel have been using gate last and have worked very hard to minimize losses on this process.

Read detailed info here ----> http://www.electroiq.com/index/disp...res/high-k_metal-gate/integrating-high-k.html

 

[AceTK]

Id just like to clarify some details about the Asrock AM3+ 890 mobo that is going to be released soon.

Yes supports AM3+ & AM3 CPU's
Only supports HT3.0 @ 2600Mhz (vs HT3.1 @ 3200Mhz) **
Only supports two 16x PCIe lanes and one physical 16x PCIe @ 4x speed

** The Asrock mobo only supports a HT link speed of 2600Mhz meaning it is not HT3.1 compliant. HT3.1 supports 3200Mhz. The effect that will have on the 8 core bulldozer is unknown but if running my quad core on my 1000Mhz HT1.0 is anything to go by the degregation will be noticable.....


I'm incredibly enthusiastic about getting fully AM3+tastic but i'm going to wait till the new 900 chipset is out before I splash out. But then thats just me.