AMD envisions processors with more than eight cores

Posted on Friday, April 11 2008 @ 2:40 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
X-bit Labs reports AMD is envisioning chips with more than eight-core and also reports that the Shanghai processors will have a higher IPC:
The company says that its octa-core microprocessors are due in 2009, whereas chips with more than eight cores can be made thanks to AMD’s architecture.

Randy Allen, corporate vice president of server and workstation division at AMD, said in an interview that AMD’s new quad-core server processor made using 45nm process technology code-named Shanghai is due in the second half of 2008, whereas octa-core microprocessor code-named Montreal along with new socket G3 platform are set for release in 2009.

The vice president of the world’s second largest maker of x86 central processing units (CPUs) also said that Shanghai microprocessors will be able to offer higher instructions per clock (IPC) throughput compared to Barcelona, which should transform into higher overall performance per clock. Thanks to higher IPC and larger level-three cache (6MB instead of 2MB), the new processors are likely to offer considerably higher speed than existing quad-core chips by AMD.

Following this, Mr. Allen is reported to have said that he expected the demand for chips with cores beyond eight, especially in datacentres, and that AMD’s architecture would be able to expand to accommodate this, reports IT Week wed-site. However, AMD is not really looking forward to enable simultaneous multi-threading technology akin to Intel’s Hyper-Threading, at least with its server chips.

“It is very clear that most server workloads are multi-tasking, not really multi-threaded,” Mr. Allen is reported to have said.


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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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