Tag Archives: amd

AMD lawsuit over false Bulldozer chip marketing is bogus

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AMD is facing a lawsuit over claims that it misrepresented the core counts of its eight-core Bulldozer products, but the lawsuit’s technical merit seems extremely weak.

Source: AMD lawsuit over false Bulldozer chip marketing is bogus | ExtremeTech

This lawsuit essentially asks a court to define what a core is and how companies should count them. As annoying as it is to see vendors occasionally abuse core counts in the name of dubious marketing strategies, asking a courtroom to make declarations about relative performance between companies is a cure far worse than the disease. From big iron enterprise markets to mobile devices, companies deploy vastly different architectures to solve different types of problems.

AMD To Open-Source Its Linux Execution & Compilation Stack

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This work is coming due to the new Heterogeneous System Architecture Foundation .

The slides that Bridgman references can be found at SlideShare.net. The page cited is entitled “AMD’s Open Source Commitment To HSA” and says “We will open source our Linux execution and compilation stack.” This is being done to jumpstart the HSA ecosystem, allow a single shared implementation where appropriate, and to enable university research in all areas.

via [Phoronix] AMD To Open-Source Its Linux Execution & Compilation Stack.

From: Heterogeneous System Architecture Foundation .

The Heterogeneous System Architecture Foundation is poised to “define and promote an open, standards-based approach to heterogeneous computing that will provide a common hardware specification and broad support ecosystem to make it easier for software developers to deliver innovative applications that can take greater advantage of today’s modern processors.” The HSA Foundation goes without Intel’s support. The HSA press release can be read at AMD.com for more details as to what’s been announced thus far.

AMD Licenses ARM Technology: AMD Leans on ARM for Security

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Last year after that particular AFDS, there was much speculation that AMD and ARM would get a whole lot closer. Today we have confirmed that in two ways. The first is that AMD and ARM are founding members of the HSA Foundation. This endeavor is a rather ambitious project that looks to make it much easier for programmers to access the full computer power of a CPU/GPU combo, or as AMD likes to call them, the APU. The second confirmation is one that has been theorized for quite some time, but few people have actually hit upon the actual implementation. This second confirmation is that AMD is licensing ARM cores and actually integrating them into their x86 based APUs.

via AMD Licenses ARM Technology: AMD Leans on ARM for Security | PC Perspective.

AMD launches Trinity processors: the Ivy Bridge alternative

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Trinity is being aimed at ultrathin notebooks (not to be confused with Intel Ultrabooks), smaller form factor desktops and All-in-Ones, though traditional mainstream laptops and desktops will also see Trinity APUs. AMD will be launching five APUs today. The A10-4600M, A8-4500M, and A6-4400M are aimed at larger, mainstream notebooks, while the A10-4655M and A6-4455M are destined for sleeker ultrathin models.

AMD’s Trinity APUs will mark the debut of the company’s Piledriver microarchitecture, the successor to the ill-received Bulldozer. Trinity is still based on a 32nm process — Intel, by contrast, recently moved to 22nm with Ivy Bridge. Trinity’s die size is actually a bit larger than Llano’s: 246 square millimeters, compared to the first generation APU’s 228 square millimeters. Trinity also features a higher transistor count at 1.3 billion, but dials the TDP for its notebook variants down to 17W for dual-core CPUs, and 35W for quad-core CPUs, the same as Ivy Bridge — Llano APUs required 35W and 45W for dual- and quad-core, respectively. Desktop Trinity remain at the same 65 to 100W of its Llano predecessors. AMD claims that the dual-core Trinity APU will perform at the same level as the dual-core Llano APU, effectively doubling the performance per watt with the new generation. AMD also claims that Trinity notebooks can expect as 12 hours of battery life (when idle) on their energy efficient Piledriver cores.

via AMD launches Trinity processors: the Ivy Bridge alternative | The Verge.

AMD acquires SeaMicro to grab share of microserver market

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Launched in 2007, SeaMicro quickly gained attention for their ability to combine cheap, low-end processors that could handle Web-centric server workloads. The company worked closely, if not exclusively, with Intel processors in recent years. SeaMicro’s current SM server line uses Intel’s Atom and “Sandy Bridge” processors.

via AMD acquires SeaMicro to grab share of microserver market.

The Opteron 6276: a closer look

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First let’s look at the pricing. The Opteron 6276 is priced similar to an E5649, which is clocked 5% lower than the X5650 we tested. If you calculate the price of a Dell R710 with the Xeon E5649 and compare it with a Dell R715 with the Opteron 6276 with similar specs, you end up more or less the same acquisition cost. However, the E5649 is an 80W TDP and should thus consume a bit less power. That is why we argued that the Opteron 6276 should at least offer a price/performance bonus and perform like an X5650. The X5650 is roughly $220 more expensive, so you end up with the dual socket Xeon system costing about $440 more. On a fully speced server, that is about a 10% price difference.

via AnandTech – The Opteron 6276: a closer look.