In other "buggy as hell" K10 news : AMD issues STOP SHIP order on Barcelona

[Tom|Nbk]

Chip problem limits supply of quad-core Opterons
by Scott Wasson — 1:49 PM on December 3, 2007

AMD's quad-core "Barcelona" Opterons have been notably difficult to find since their introduction two months ago, and The Tech Report has learned that a chip-level problem has impacted the supply of these chips to both server OEMs and distribution channel customers.

Chipmakers refer to chip-level problems as errata. Errata are fairly common in microprocessors, though they vary in nature and severity. This particular erratum first became widely known when AMD attributed the delay of the 2.4GHz version of its Phenom desktop processor to the problem. Not much is known about the specifics of the erratum, but it is related to the translation lookaside buffer (TLB) in the processor's L3 cache. The erratum can cause a system hang with certain software workloads. The issue occurs very rarely, and thus was not caught by AMD's usual qualification testing.

An industry source at a tier-two reseller told The Tech Report that the TLB erratum has led to a "stop ship" order on all Barcelona Opterons. When asked for comment, spokesman Phil Hughes said AMD is shipping Barcelona Opterons now, but only for "specific customer deals." Industry sources have suggested to TR that those deals are high-volume situations involving supercomputing clusters. Such customers may run workloads less likely to be affected by any workarounds for the erratum that reduce L3 cache performance, and those customers could potentially consume hundreds of thousands of CPUs. Our sources indicate, and the current availability picture would seem to confirm, that quad-core Opterons are not shipping to OEMs or the channel more generally.

News of this problem is notable because it confirms that the TLB erratum affects Barcelona server processors as well as Phenom desktop CPUs, and that the problem impacts AMD's quad-core processors at lower clock speeds. AMD's initial public statements about the erratum and the delay of the 2.4GHz Phenom seemed to imply that the issue was closely related to clock frequencies. The Opteron 2300 lineup spans clock speeds from 1.7GHz to 2.0GHz. Those CPUs' north bridge clocks, which determine the frequency of the L3 cache, range from 1.4GHz to 1.8GHz.

The erratum is present in all AMD quad-core processors up to the current B2 revision. AMD has said a revision B3 is in the works and expected in Q1. One source told TR that large quantities of B3 chips might not be available until the end of Q1.

The potential for instability with the TLB erratum can be corrected via BIOS-based workaround, but multiple sources have suggested the BIOS fix involves a substantial performance hit. AMD has publicly estimated the performance penalty for the BIOS fix could be around 10%, and one source pegged the penalty at 10-20%. AMD has acknowledged that the TLB erratum particularly affects virtualization, and industry sources say the performance hit from the fix may be most severe with virtualization, as well. Server administrators responsible for virtualized environments will probably want to wait for the B3-rev CPUs before upgrading.

TR has attempted to confirm the impact of the BIOS-based fix, but the BIOS for the SuperMicro H8DMU+ motherboard used in our review of the Barcelona Opterons has not been updated since mid-September and doesn't appear to include the TLB erratum workaround.

Linux users may have another option in the form of a patch for that operating system's kernel. Sources estimate this patch's performance hit at less than one percent, but it comes with several caveats. At present, the patch purportedly only applies to the 64-bit version Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Upgrade 4. Customers must sign a non-disclosure agreement in order to obtain the patch, and will be responsible for supporting it themselves. The patch doesn't currently appear to be available via Red Hat's regular support channels.

At present, Microsoft doesn't offer a Windows hotfix to address the problem, and our sources were doubtful about the prospects for such a patch. CPU makers have oftentimes addressed errata via updates to the processor's microcode, but such a fix for this problem also appears to be unlikely.

http://techreport.com/discussions.x/13721

Oh dear what a kick in the nuts, pesky errata eh? . Thought's?

 

[Cyber-Mav]

i like this a lot. but before AMD go bankrupt they need to aquire agiea and take them down the crapper too.

 

[PiKe]

Why do you want to see AMD go down the tubes?

 

[queamin]

So he can pay 2 or 3 times for the cpu and gpu and r&d to slow right down

 

[Tom|Nbk]

Why do you want to see AMD go down the tubes?

You'll get used to him .

 

[Cyber-Mav]

Why do you want to see AMD go down the tubes?

so i can turn round and tell them "i told you so". amd lost the plot when that atiq raza bloke left/got the sack.

 

[simonnance]

i like this a lot. but before AMD go bankrupt they need to aquire agiea and take them down the crapper too.

 

[Tom|Nbk]

*nods*

 

[Cyber-Mav]

i agree

 

[tanner]

Indeed a kick in *** family jewles was looking at wacking 1 in my am2 rig for xmas ahh well the price will just stay higher then till supplies stabalise, what is it with more and more ppl turning on amd on these forums? they are a good chip company with great ideas but not enought money to do them properly so intel take advantage as they are a much bigger comany, but lets be fair who released TRUE quad core first... cause intels answer to "quad core " for now is stick 2 c2d together , so am with Amd on this 1.

 

[J0hnb0y]

it's amazing you seem to have such a vendetta towards amd considering your pc consists of amd parts...

who are you going to say "i told you so" to and will it really make you feel good?!

 

[Tom|Nbk]

but lets be fair who released TRUE quad core first... cause intels answer to "quad core " for now is stick 2 c2d together , so am with Amd on this 1.

Oh Lord not this argument again, ask yourself who's is working better ATM . AMD know where they want to be but Intel has the technological lead this time. Core 2 will not be beaten for a fair while yet regardless of whether AMD has true Quad or not .

 

[Cyber-Mav]

it's amazing you seem to have such a vendetta towards amd considering your pc consists of amd parts...

who are you going to say "i told you so" to and will it really make you feel good?!

having amd hardware is like having insurance.
if i had intel setup and i ripped it out of amd, its like a white man making fun of a black man.

but this way, its just like a black on black crime, or white on white crime.
either way its ALL good mate

 

[gurusan]

but lets be fair who released TRUE quad core first... cause intels answer to "quad core " for now is stick 2 c2d together , so am with Amd on this 1.

...and that's shown to have worked out for them very well

 

[Cyber-Mav]

Oh Lord not this argument again, ask yourself who's is working better ATM . AMD know where they want to be but Intel has the technological lead this time. Core 2 will not be beaten for a fair while yet regardless of whether AMD has true Quad or not .

agreed, can;t see why anyone would want a true quad core cpu if its gonna perform slower clock for clock than 2 dual cores ducktaped together.
i will take what evers faster and cheaper.

 

[Gackt]

having amd hardware is like having insurance.
if i had intel setup and i ripped it out of amd, its like a white man making fun of a black man.

but this way, its just like a black on black crime, or white on white crime.
either way its ALL good mate

 

[bfar]

Why do you want to see AMD go down the tubes?

So they can make room for someone else to fill their shoes. Someone with enough money to actually make competative enthusiast hardware again?

 

[O-Jay]

Do you not think if somebody had enough money to take on Intel they would be doing it already the fact that AMD are known next to Intel is because they are probably the nearest company to be able to take on Intel financially (unless IBM decide to play)... be it a big gap between them.

 

[IamMed]

Do you not think if somebody had enough money to take on Intel they would be doing it already the fact that AMD are known next to Intel is because they are probably the nearest company to be able to take on Intel financially (unless IBM decide to play)... be it a big gap between them.

There was an article some time ago about Intel, AMD, Nvidia and ATI and how much they were worth.

ATI was last followed by Nvidia then AMD, Intel was first with something like 10x the value of AMD

 

[Deleted member 64478]

Same conversations every single time I come on these boards everywhere!

The same debates where going on when AMD released the 64bit processing chips and the AMD cores after the Athlon processor againts Intel saying Intel was crap e.t.c.

I WISH EVERYONE WOULD JUST STFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!

Why does it not suprise me at all! Get a life and just buy whats good at the time.

Oh and too the OP, nice find