AMD is also working on a new 64-bit x86 Core
by Anand Lal Shimpi on May 5, 2014 1:16 PM EST
Jim Keller joined Mark Papermaster on stage at AMD's Core Innovation Update press conference and added a few more details to AMD's K12 announcement. Keller stressed AMD's expertise in building high frequency cores, as well as marrying the strengths of AMD's big cores with those of its low power cores. The resulting K12 core is a 64-bit ARM design, but Jim Keller also revealed that his team is working on a corresponding 64-bit x86 core.
The x86 counterpart doesn't have a publicly known name at this point, but it is a new design built from the ground up.
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extide - Tuesday, May 6, 2014 - link
Maybe partial load...testbug00 - Monday, May 5, 2014 - link
If Intel was willing to stick max power consumption on its products, I might believe you (At the high end. On low usage scenarios, Intel has had huge improvements)However, Intel's solutions in mobile... Well, here (http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Asus-Zenbook-I... we have a 28W i7 (Iris Pro 5100) 8GB RAM, 1440p 13.3" screen. It used under 52.2W in stress testing... due to throttling.
The CPU in not capable of runnings its GPU at max clock + CPU at base clock while doing demanding tasks. They found 2.4Ghz + 900Mhz (note: CPU base == 2.8Ghz, GPU is technically 200 base, 1200 max)
testbug00 - Monday, May 5, 2014 - link
I would just like to note, Intel consistently breaks their TPDs on notebooks that are not from Apple (on the high end) which I suspect is due to Apple implementing much better throttling than its competitiors.purerice - Tuesday, May 6, 2014 - link
testbug00, good point but 2 problems.1) TDP is about "heat" not "power".
2) That was the whole system including memory, drive, bus, screen, etc, not just the CPU.
In my biased opinion laptops are not really suited for full-throttle operations for more than a few minutes at a time. They get too hot, too loud, lack proper ventilation, parts wear out sooner, and they are still slower than lower priced desktops.
Intel has done a great job of reducing power requirements on the low end over the past couple of years. It is as the high end where heat is less of an issue where Intel has slacked off. Maybe Intel is hoping AMD will catch up because if AMD were to go out of the CPU business, the trust busters would be after Intel in a heartbeat.
coburn_c - Tuesday, May 6, 2014 - link
They have no competition in the performance segment, and lowering power requirements assures that ARM can't creep into desktop. Once again I say, AMD killed the x86 market by over-leveraging to buy ATI and being unable to compete due to finances.gruffi - Tuesday, May 6, 2014 - link
I think Intel have hit a wall. Otherwise they wouldn't have done a crude 77W Ivy Bridge if a usual 95W version would have been more efficient. Intel's clocks are nearing the limit. Even new processes with technology as FinFET cannot change this. And IPC improvements are getting more and more difficult because the core is already highly optimized. Even going from a 6-wide to 8-wide backend couldn't help much.Penti - Monday, May 5, 2014 - link
This just refers to their "small cores", their semi-custom track and so on. Big cores will have a follow up too we can guess. Might look different though. Really expected for them to continue small cores any how.nofumble62 - Tuesday, May 6, 2014 - link
Where can AMD find enough engineering heads to design all of this. AMD has always been good on promise, short on delivery.gruffi - Tuesday, May 6, 2014 - link
AMD always delivered. Not like some other companies as Intel. Or where is my Larrabee? ;-)TiGr1982 - Tuesday, May 6, 2014 - link
Larrabee is in Xeon Phi, so Larrabee was delivered, but not for you, and, indeed, not in its original form promised.But I agree, the project to deliver x86 graphics device aka Larrabee had failed (because it was not a good idea from the very beginning), so, instead, the results were reused as a compute accelerator.