AMD’s Lisa Su: high-end "Zen" x86 cores set to be available in 2016

[Humbug]

Let's be fair here, go read the posts on Emulators.com if you want the run down, but AMD's bulldozer architecture had GREAT promise, and could have been competitive with intel's continued SMT architectures. They did not build their idea out the way they needed to to do so. They COULD have, and CMT had the potential to move the performance bar set by Intel, the idea and the architecture weren't what failed, it was the implementation. Blame still rests solely at the feet of AMD and whoever made those choices but the fact remains that Bulldozer had the potential to fulfill all the promises AMD made and more, but they failed to capitalize and made bad decisions on where to skimp on the build out.

 

Yes AMD's problem is execution.

Even though Bulldozer was a big disapointment, within just one year they were able to deliver the much improved Piledriver FX cores with better IPC, lower power consumption, higher clockspeeds etc... That was a really solid improvement considering the short time period. At the time their roadmap showed that they were planning to continue those annual iterations with performance increases through steamroller and excavator etc... If they had been able to pull that off they would be in a very good positiion because Intel CPUs were not really getting much faster since Sandy Bridge. But AMD could not continue executing and they got stuck on piledriver and are still stuck on it.

[mr moose]

Oh. I feel stupid.

Don't worry about it, everyone makes mistakes like that at some point, well,  except me of course, I am perfect, however it is to be expected that you normal forum peasants will make plenty of mistakes.   

 

Given Su is likely to give him the money, people, and hardware he needs, Keller should be doing alright. Pressured? Yes. A lot of ground to make up? Yes. Well-supplied? For once, yes.

 

Not too mention technology has changed so much since 2003/4, it's a completely different beast nowadays plus he has his reputation to live up to.   I hope he works well under pressure. 

[Hatsune Miku 「 」]

Hmm, just in time for my graduation.

 

Give me dual socket support and you're golden.

Me too.

[DuckDodgers]

Bulldozer's CMT approach is really good at sustaining lightweight multi-threaded loads, with mostly integer code and not much synchronization, if possible. The half-baked memory pipeline also prefers data structures with good memory locality to avoid costly stalls. On top of all, the hardware implementation is too bloated in size and power requirements for the overall performance it delivers. The first iteration of the architecture wasn't even tuned for client workloads, but straight for the typical server/database market, where the system spends mostly idling for the data to move through the I/O subsystems. Later AMD kind of patched over some logic in Piledriver's pipeline to address this issue.

[qwertywarrior]

YES SMT
WOHOO

[That Norwegian Guy]

Welp, 2016.

 

GG AMD, so long and thanks for all the fish.'

 

Welcome to AMD hype-wagon, population: 2.

 

*tumbleweed drifts by*

[Mooshi]

AMD stock is still sub 3usd per share. Would it be worth while to invest?

[DigitalHermit]

I'm getting excited for the Zen chips... Even if it's only for server applications, a proper, successful implementation means that we'll be seeing x86_64+ARM chips on consumer devices...

 

AMD stock is still sub 3usd per share. Would it be worth while to invest?

They need all the help they can get atm... You might also hit it big when they hit it big...

[Humbug]

I'm getting excited for the Zen chips... Even if it's only for server applications

The announcment of big x86 Zen server cores is basically confirmation that we will also see high end desktop parts.

They will reduce the number of cores, crank up the clockspeed, unlock them and release them as high end desktop parts. Based on the same Zen architecture.

[mr moose]

AMD stock is still sub 3usd per share. Would it be worth while to invest?

As I reside in Australia it is illegal for me to advise on financial matters, however I have been thinking of buying some AMD stock.  If they bounce it will be worth it, if they pay dividends even more so.

[vm'N]

The announcment of big x86 Zen server cores is basically confirmation that we will also see high end desktop parts.

They will reduce the number of cores, crank up the clockspeed, unlock them and release them as high end desktop parts. Based on the same Zen architecture.

We still don't know how 'big' the Zen core will be.

[Liam-McShane]

I would say this is a bit disappointing. Another couple of years is a bit too long for my liking.

[MasterRaceFanBoy]

By 2016 AMD be like, oh look guys our new Zen chip can perform almost as good as an i7 3770k.

[Octagoncow]

I'm glad everything is still on track (although I don't know how much that means with 2016 still being over a year away). I REALLY hope that AMD pulls off something amazing; I am sick of Intel being so comfortable at the top.

[patrickjp93]

They need all the help they can get atm... You might also hit it big when they hit it big...

Now hold on. It's known I'm an Intel shareholder, but don't you think it's wise to wait to see the chip in action before you jump? Don't forget it'll be Zen vs. Skylake-E 14nm at that point or even Cannonlake 10nm. Keller has a lot of ground to make up, and though AMD has growth potential and now a number of changes in leadership, it's early to jump that gun.

[Humbug]

Now hold on. It's known I'm an Intel shareholder, but don't you think it's wise to wait to see the chip in action before you jump? Don't forget it'll be Zen vs. Skylake-E 14nm at that point or even Cannonlake 10nm. Keller has a lot of ground to make up, and though AMD has growth potential and now a number of changes in leadership, it's early to jump that gun.

The reason AMD has a chance here is that Intel too has hit a brick wall. Since Sandy Bridge Intel has struggled to improve performance. The last big game changer was Sandy Bridge and that's almost four years ago.

[Tonylu1595]

But will it be cheap?

[Humbug]

But will it be cheap?

If it's fast, no.

[MEC-777]

2016 is a long way off in terms of PC hardware development. I doubt Zen will be on the same node as Intel, nor be as power efficient, but they could very well match or exceed Intel's IPC performance. 

 

Time will tell. All we can do is wait and see. 

[LukaP]

Umm, nobody's really using X86 now....

umm everyone is. well mostly its extentions. but those are still x86

[LAwLz]

After Bulldozer I am very skeptic towards AMD's CPU releases.

This CPU might be great, and it might suck really hard. Only time will tell but I recommend everyone to keep your expectations low.

[Valentyn]

After Bulldozer I am very skeptic towards AMD's CPU releases.

This CPU might be great, and it might suck really hard. Only time will tell but I recommend everyone to keep your expectations low.

 

Sad but true that's the stance we need to take.

 

I do hope AMD finally become competitive again, it would be better for everyone.

[HellaflushMcSwaggins]

x86 in this context also means x86-64

 

edit: ninja'ed

OMG @LinusTech replied to a member, I wish he would reply to my post.SENPAI LINUS NOTICE ME!

[dalekphalm]

AMD's code name for their new chip is Lisa su's Zen?

 

*Scolls down* Linus got Ninja'd, TerryTek was wrong and failed Joey DM.

 

Cant wait to see what AMD has to offer, Im still waiting for their cards.

lol no. Lisa Su is the new CEO of AMD. 'Zen' is the code name.

 

Wait... high performance CPUs? Is AMD going back to ~2003-05 days where they decide to actually compete against Intel, and offer CPUs of much more interest?

I recall the days of AMD Athlon 64 X2 on Socket 939, where it crushed Intel best offering by not only being 64-bit compatible (proper 64-bit), but also proper dual core.

Could this mean an eventual come back? (2017-2018?)

Socket 939 in general was an absolute monster. My first build was Socket A (Athlon XP 2700 - I've always regretted not going for the 2500 Barton core or the 3000 core), my second build was Socket 939 (I don't recall which CPU I had though - I'd have to look up a list of 939 CPU's). It was so awesome for the time.

[GoodBytes]

Yea, I had the Athlon XP 2500+ before. Was crazy how in a simple change of option in the BIOS, you could change it to Athlon 3200+, even the BIOS detected as such. Massive money saved. Although, that CPU could only really shine with the Nvidia nForce chipset, and that was a bit on the expensive side motherboards.

Socket 939 had: AMD Athlon 64 (single core 64-bit), and the AMD Athlon 64 X2 (dual core 64-bit). While it was using DDR1 RAM and not DDR2, it was at a time where DDR2 didn't show any advantage over DDR1 from what I recall. And as the system was overall better over Intel, it compensated any minor performance loss.

I do remember that when I got my system, and I installed XP (back in 2005), I was like "yea, it's nice..."

When I installed Vista 64-bit Beta, I was on the edge of my seat, as the whole OS was dual core optimized... I mean yea it was very buggy, but performance wise, incredible. SuperFetch was a massively awesome, especially considering that SSDs was very very expensive. You just needed a lot of RAM at the time.

Good times.

The last time I was this impressed with a desktop computer, is when I got an SSD, I wasn't when I passed from my Athlon 64 X2 to Intel Core i7 930 which I have now. I think the HDD limited everything, hence why I was on the edge of my seat once again, with the SSD.