AMD's 2010 - 2011 Roadmaps: ~1B Transistor Llano APU, Bobcat and Bulldozer
by Anand Lal Shimpi on November 11, 2009 12:50 PM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
Server Roadmap
AMD’s previous CMO, Henri Richard, was a huge Ferrari fan. In turn, AMD became a sponsor of Ferrari’s Formula 1 team and some of AMD’s roadmap developed Italian-inspired codenames.
The Maranello platform is AMD’s high end server platform, due out in 2010. It supports the 8 and 12 core Magny Cours processors. These are multi-chip-modules with two quad or hexa core die on a single package.
With twice the die, you get twice the memory controllers. Magny Cours has four DDR3 memory channels. With more memory channels, Magny Cours needs a new, higher pincount socket which AMD is calling Socket G34. The chips will be branded as Opteron 6000 series.
San Marino is the second major server platform of 2010 and it’s for more normal servers. Four and six core Lisbon processors find their homes in San Marino. There’s also a low power Adelaide platform that’ll be available.
These Lisbon processors will be branded as Opteron 4000 series chips and will work in Socket C32.
In 2011 we get Interlagos and Valencia platforms, both based on AMD’s next-generation Bulldozer cores. Interlagos is a Socket-G34 platform supporting 12 and 16 core processors, while Valencia is Socket-C32 and can accommodate 6/8 core chips.
Final Words
Unfortunately for AMD, 2010 isn’t really interesting. The company will have to rely on aggressive pricing and the continued success of its graphics teams to carry it for the next 12 - 18 months.
Bulldozer, from what I know, appears to be a bold enough architecture to really challenge Intel if AMD can get it done properly. Bulldozer should arrive between Sandy Bridge and Intel's first 22nm CPUs. It's too early to tell how well Bulldozer's execution is going; AMD absolutely must sample in 2010.
It's disappointing that Llano won't use Bulldozer. With 32nm Phenom II cores, Llano will be roughly one to two architecture generations behind Sandy Bridge. The GPU side should be strong though, it is ATI after all.
AMD’s graphics strategy is much stronger. Bringing an already industry leading GPU architecture on die and then revving it every year is going to completely change the way we look at annual CPU releases. The big question here is what apps are we going to be running on these integrated GPU cores? The market has roughly two years to start finding out.
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Risforrocket - Monday, November 16, 2009 - link
You are short sighted. Development takes time. What I look for is ...well, development. Development of something new. Innovation. And that's what I'm seeing at AMD. No, they aren't as big as Intel. And you know, if I was the Intel CEO, I would make sure AMD kept going because I would know that Intel vs AMD makes for a better and more interesting Intel. In fact, you should think of Intel and AMD as working together because in fact they are, if you look at it the way I am. AMD just needs to keep trying.Judguh - Wednesday, November 11, 2009 - link
It's about time they're getting more serious about developing better notebook processors instead of just throwing in athlon's an old turion's just to say they're a part of the show. My Lenovo T400 easily gets 4 hours off it's battery when I'm using it for web browsing and whatnot whereas my friend's laptop barely gives him 2.5 hours from doing the same.Eeqmcsq - Wednesday, November 11, 2009 - link
Wow for AMD if they pull off Bulldozer with AM3 support. An upgrade from an Athlon II X4 to a Bulldozer X8 would be fun, especially since I can use all 8 cores for stuff I do at work.Inkie - Saturday, November 14, 2009 - link
Bear in mind that AM3 means only dual-channel DDR3. If you doing anything bandwidth intensive with your X8, that may be a bottleneck.Mr Perfect - Wednesday, November 11, 2009 - link
"Velocity also means that even if it’s difficult getting more performance out of a CPU architecture, AMD can always rely on a beefed up GPU core to give users a reason to upgrade."I hope this works out for them, because two more years of K10 cores? Damn...
Rantoc - Wednesday, November 11, 2009 - link
First - i'm no fanboy of either of the companies - Its good that both companies exists for consumer prices!Please give me a break, never seen such biased article anywhere. Even the first picture in an article about AMD starts with an intel product, what a joke post really. Didn't see that the date was the 1st of april....
lifeblood - Wednesday, November 11, 2009 - link
The article appeared to be balanced and showed no obvious bias. However, the 1st picture in the article being an Intel slide really was a poor choice. It does give the appearance of favoritism.You might want to avoid that next time.
AnandThenMan - Wednesday, November 11, 2009 - link
An article talking about AMD's 2010 - 2011 Roadmap, and what is the first image we see? An Intel slide!Unbelievable, really.
Anand Lal Shimpi - Wednesday, November 11, 2009 - link
While the inclusion of the Sandy Bridge image was simply a tie-in to the text below it, something I always do, it's not my intent to shift the focus of discussion here off of AMD's roadmap and onto a trivial image. I've removed the image so hopefully we can all get back to a good, meaningful discussion here :)I've also updated the article with a link to the AMD Bulldozer/Bobcat disclosures.
http://anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=36...">http://anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=36...
Take care,
Anand
Inkie - Saturday, November 14, 2009 - link
I think that it is a shame that you altered your article as the result of a few comments from over-sensitive people in a comments section that many people reading the main article will never read anyway.