AMD Discloses Bulldozer and Bobcat Core Designs at Hot Chips 22

Paving the way for new generation CPUs and AMD’s (News - Alert) fusion Accelerated Processing Units, the number two processor supplier Advanced Micro Devices revealed new details on its two next-generation x86 processor core implementations. The cores, in fact, will be the basis for AMD’s new line of processors that will compete with rival Intel (News - Alert) for future sockets in computers, ranging from servers to netbooks and tablets.   

Designed from the ground-up to address specific customer requirements and compute workloads, the two new designs, codenamed “Bulldozer” for high-performance PC and server markets, and “Bobcat” for low-power notebook and small form-factor desktop markets, were presented this week at Hot Chips 22, Stanford University in Palo Alto (News - Alert), Calif.

According to AMD, the new cores are central to the company’s future roadmap, including it’s fusion accelerated processing unit (APU), as well as new high-performance server and client CPUs. Fusion, a new approach to processor design and software development, promises powerful CPU and GPU capabilities for HD, 3D and data-intensive workloads in a single-die processor called an APU.

 “In my opinion, Bulldozer and Bobcat are not only two of the greatest technical achievements in AMD’s rich history, but two of the most important for the industry as well,” said Chekib Akrout, senior vice president and general manager, AMD Technology Development, in a statement. “With CPUs and APUs built from these core implementations, we expect our customers to deliver a new wave of innovative PC form factors and high-performance computing experiences,” added Akrout.

Nathan Brookwood, research fellow at Insight 64, observed that “Attacking both high-performance and low-power markets simultaneously with two brand new architectures is an impressive accomplishment that serves notice to the industry that innovation is alive and well inside AMD.”

Implemented in an advanced 32-nm SOI process technology, Bulldozer utilizes an innovative approach to multithreaded compute performance that balances dedicated and shared compute resources to provide a highly compact, high core count design that is easily replicated on a chip for performance scaling. Offering new x86 instruction support (SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX (News - Alert), and XOP including 4-operand FMAC), it also employs advanced power management features.

Likewise, Bobcat, optimized for low power, is a highly synthesizable design that is easily movable across manufacturing technologies. A sub 1 W design, it uses an out-of-order instruction execution for higher performance. And offers an estimated 90 percent of today’s mainstream PC performance in half the area, according to AMD.