Issues with the Barcelona CPU

Posted on Monday, August 13 2007 @ 0:03 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
The launch of AMD's Barcelona processors is coming closer and closer. The firm is expected to introduce this processor on September 10th but Hot Hardware heard there are a couple of issues with the chip's power savings features:
“It seems the CPU itself is capable of engaging in CoolCore operations, but not Dual Dynamic Power Management (formerly “Split Plane,” which allowed each core to operate independently with different voltages and clock speeds). It won’t be able to handle these power saving and performance enhancing aspects of operations from the core alone. The motherboard must be brought into the mix in an active way to help reduce power consumption and save energy when the many cores are not in high use.”

Of course the Barcelona CPUs will still run fine in motherboards of the right socket type. Without the power savings features, the CPUs will not only consume more power (obviously), but will also run relatively hotter. One other kink with Barcelona is that the “128-bit floating point support will require a recompile to be used. This means no existing software will see any advantage whatsoever from AMD’s powerful floating point engine.” With about a month before launch AMD’s Barcelona is still somewhat of a mystery. For instance, benchmark figures are still not available. Hopefully, for AMD's sake, its silence will lead to a big and pleasant surprise.


About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



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