Phenom II X6: First Details Of ‘Thuban’ Design Emerge

[cangelini]

Hot on the heels of Intel's own six-core desktop launch, AMD is letting loose with the first details of its Phenom II X6, set to launch later this month. Not only is AMD moving to six cores at 45 nm, but it's also introducing Turbo CORE. Read on for more!

Phenom II X6: First Details Of ‘Thuban’ Design Emerge : Read more

 

[daniel266]

if just AMD put The "Hyper threading" feature on this cpus im sure it will beat some of the i7 with a price we can afford ..forget 980 ..$1099 price....

 

[dtemple]

This is great news! Based on the previous articles here on Tom's that show most games only benefit from up to about 3 cores, I think AMD has hit the nail on the head with Turbo CORE by making 3 cores increase in speed under heavy load, and yet still having the ability to use six cores in heavily threaded apps like video editing and photo editing software. Beautiful.
Now it's time for software devs to catch up and thread apps more.

 

[westerbamos]

sounds like it could be promising; we'll have to see how it performs compared to the i7-980x

 

[duk3]

That 4- core with turbo sounds interesting.
As does the rest of this
Looking forward to a full review!

 

[chefboyeb]

I'll gladly pass on the 800 chipset, but toss me a Thuban anyday... I have a 790FX that still handles very well and would still do the same in comparison...

 

[sseyler]

I probably don't need to upgrade my X4 920, but I can't resist the deal... drop in replacement, can use the same HSF, improved multitasking and single-threaded performance... sigh.

 

[micr0be]

i call the leo platform an architecture compatibility heaven ergo (... MAXIMUM ... efficiency...) and yes it will play crysis. <_<

 

[Kelavarus]

[citation][nom]daniel266[/nom]if just AMD put The "Hyper threading" feature on this cpus im sure it will beat some of the i7 with a price we can afford ..forget 980 ..$1099 price....[/citation]

Well, that's debatable, at least for gaming. If I recall correctly, tests with Intel CPUs with hyperthreading on vs off usually found minimal performance loss, in fact, sometimes gained a couple FPS.

For productivity, yes, would definitely help, but I'll admit I'm a gamer first and foremost.

 

[p1n3apqlexpr3ss]

5 cores? im guessing not... ACC has been left out of the new gen southbridges... im expecting those parts to just go down to the 960t?

 

[Dekasav]

Whoa! When did AMD drop low-k dialectics in? I remember hearing that they were planning a kind of "2-stage" 45nm process, but since I hadn't heard anything more, I figured it had been scrapped.

Now I'm very interested in Thuban, since it has at least a revised process revision and a turbo, I wonder if there are any more goodies we'll find out. Awesome.

 

[Shin-san]

I wouldn't be surprised if AMD's first Thuban X4s with Hot and Loud end up being X6s with 1-2 bad cores. This has been AMD's pattern in the past.

 

[RazberyBandit]

Nice. I really can't wait, and pray that there are no compatibility issues with AM2+ sockets and that all manufacturers get on the ball with proper BIOS updates.

If they do that, I'll have an excuse to get rid of that dreaded 7850 Kuma in my other system by passing down this "cripple-core" 720 BE to it while I go freakin nuts with a 6 core monster in this machine!


Chris: Any chance you've gotten word from any manufacturers about what current motherboards will support these, like the one ASUS released? If not, maybe you could urge them to do so?

 

[AMDnoob]

Does anybody know if Flight Simulator X would use all 6 cores? If a program is labeled as multi-threaded that doesn't necessarily mean it will use ALL available cores does it?

 

[welshmousepk]

AMD have already said that the leaked pricing is correct, and that their hex-cores WILL be under 300 dollars.

i don't have the page bookmarked, but i'm sure you guys can find it. not speculation, fact.

 

[notty22]

I'm glad to see that AMD is vindicating Turbo technology, that Intel brought to the landscape. Credit to AMD giving the consumer the first semi-inexpensive 6 core. But I know if Intel launched a similar part first, I would see plenty of, "no one needs a 6 core, especially not a GAMER !." Good times ,for enthusiasts!

 

[tacoslave]

i was waiting for this.

 

[cangelini]

[citation][nom]RazberyBandit[/nom]Nice. I really can't wait, and pray that there are no compatibility issues with AM2+ sockets and that all manufacturers get on the ball with proper BIOS updates.If they do that, I'll have an excuse to get rid of that dreaded 7850 Kuma in my other system by passing down this "cripple-core" 720 BE to it while I go freakin nuts with a 6 core monster in this machine!Chris: Any chance you've gotten word from any manufacturers about what current motherboards will support these, like the one ASUS released? If not, maybe you could urge them to do so?[/citation]

Supposedly AM2+ boards will have no problem, but AMD only confirmed that Turbo is supported by AM3!

 

[noob2222]

[citation][nom]daniel266[/nom]if just AMD put The "Hyper threading" feature on this cpus im sure it will beat some of the i7 with a price we can afford ..forget 980 ..$1099 price....[/citation]
Thats called bulldozer, possible samples q4, production q1-q2 2011. That is unless GF transition to 32 and 22nm goes really well, or really bad.

 

[gkay09]

If the X6 can beat the i7 920/ 930 and remain in the same price range, then AMD will have a winner in the enthusiast segment IMO...

 

[dranicus]

Amd has decided to make their thuban cpu's more efficent with better instructions. This is a great step forward for them. The thuban has been on every enthusiasts mind from amd fans to intel fans. It will be interesting to see how this hexa-core performs.

 

[RazberyBandit]

Supposedly AM2+ boards will have no problem, but AMD only confirmed that Turbo is supported by AM3!

By AM3, do you mean AM3 boards using 890 series chipsets, or both the 890 and 790 series? The only difference between an AM3 and AM2+ sockets using the same 790-series chipsets is the AM3 support for DDR3. It would make little sense for the type of memory used to be the determining factor for a CPU's ability to self-adjust it's clocks. I can only guess that whatever that difference is between the two sockets that limits AM2+ to DDR2 is also the factor that determines the Turbo CORE support. Wish I knew just what that difference is... Must have missed it while gaming or something

 

[anamaniac]

Amazing.
Also just to point out a fun fact, Intel's new Xeon 7500 series beasts are are 45nm too.
It seems both AMD and Intel are reluctant for 32nm, but luckily the 45nm process still has a lot of room for improvement. Hell, just imagine what they could do to the old C2D's on even a modern 45nm process (the P9700 is already at 2.8GHz @ 28W). As nice as these monster desktop chips are, the mobile market does have the largest consumer market share.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but don't the crowd using liquid nitrogen/helium want high leakage CPU's? A lot more headroom, but a lot hotter chips.

Regardless, good job AMD.

 

[cangelini]

By AM3, do you mean AM3 boards using 890 series chipsets, or both the 890 and 790 series? The only difference between an AM3 and AM2+ sockets using the same 790-series chipsets is the AM3 support for DDR3. It would make little sense for the type of memory used to be the determining factor for a CPU's ability to self-adjust it's clocks. I can only guess that whatever that difference is between the two sockets that limits AM2+ to DDR2 is also the factor that determines the Turbo CORE support. Wish I knew just what that difference is... Must have missed it while gaming or something

Both 700- and 800-series chipsets, is my understanding As far as what determines support, I'll try to get confirmation from AMD for the launch!

 

[haplo602]

hmm ... can't wait for the 4core Thuban ... I guess people with ACC boards will be trying to unlock the remaining 2 cores