AMD Thunderbird And Duron Set For June Launch

Chris Tom writes: "Mark Hachman has an article up on EBNS discussing the AMD Thunderbird and Duron. Topics include release date, die size, performance, and positioning against Intel's CPU offerings. The Thunderbird and Duron will both include on-die L2 cache. "

Comments

Duron

[Signal 11]

Personally, I think AMD is leaving out a critical piece of information - silicon is running out of time. Various experts agree that within a decade, silicon will reach the end of its usable lifespan - we can only go so small. This is why I think AMD has secretly started moving to Latex based CPUs. I mean, think about it - it's available at lower cost than silicon, and for wearable computers it is simply great. I mean, imagine how many gigabites per second this thing can achieve. What's even better, nobody will squabble about the die size of the newer latex-based CPUs - afterall, size matters. In addition, this may finally solve the issue of unsafe hex which has caused numerous virus outbreaks across the country - an estimated $10 billion in damage.

AMD is keeping the wraps on this new processor for a reason, and I bet this is it.

Re:Justification for the cache geometry?

[paitre]

Keep in mind that the ondie L2 is -exclusive-, meanign that the data in it will -not- be the same data that is in the L1 (and possibly the L3).
This increases performance because it gives almost the same performance as having 192K of L1.

Pretty damn neat.

What's in a name?

[WombatControl]

Duron is kinda interesting... sounds vaguely like a Klingon name... "Duron will destroy its enemies on the field of silicon battle and drink their blood! Qapla'!"

Then again, that's not the worst naming gaffe that could be made. I will *never* forgive Intel for not naming the Pentium II the Sexium. Even worse is them not then calling the Pentium III the Septium. That way if something went wrong in the manufacturing process it could have been the Deviated Septium. *rimshot*

In all seriousness, the Duron should have enough of a price/performance ration to seriously give Intel some competition. The next computer I plan to be will be a Duron box, and I suspect I'm not alone on that one.

Dell and AMD

[SpinyNorman]

Of the top 10 PC manufacturs, 9 use AMD parts (incl. Compaq, Gateway, IBM, HP...), with Dell being the only hold out.

Guaranteed volume may be a factor of why Dell hasn't yet adopted AMD parts, but another major reason is that it would jeapordize Dell's special relationship with Intel.

Still, performace and price are likely to force Dell to use AMD processors this year in order to remain competetive. Thunderbird is likely to be around 10% faster than PIII at the same clock speed, but will in fact also be available at much higher clock speeds than PIII.

Ignoring Dell's limited edition 1GHz PIII made possible by their Intel relationship (1GHz PIII won't be in volume production until Q4), the fastest PIII currently available is the 866MHz.

1GHz Thunderbird vs 866MHz PIII is a big performance gain for Dell to expect it's customers to give up. The latest Computer Shopper is even advertizing the as yet unannounced 1.1GHz Thunderbird, which may be a surprise announcent at the launch on June 5th.

Intel are not going to be able to match Thunderbird clock speed or performance until Willamette is launched towards the end of this year. At that point AMD Mustang will be out, and may well again be the faster processor (no benchmarks for either Willamette or Mustang are available, but AMD technology roadmap indicate they are about a year ahead of Intel in the move to .13 micron process technology - Mustang may well be a ".15" .18/.13 micron process hybrid).

Athlon will lead PIII

[Wreck]

Anyone recall a year ago when the Athlon first came out? The benchmarks then all had athlon handily beating the PIIIs at the then-current top speeds of 600-650. And it was not small, particular: anywhere from 10 to 25% faster. The two processors both had 512K of L2 cache, not on-die so running at half of the CPU speed.

Then Intel went to coppermine: 256K of L2 cache running full speed. This yielded about a 10% speedup: for instance see Tom's comparison here.

Meanwhile, though faster Athlons were released (at 700, 750 MHz), they had no faster L2 cache: they had to run at 40% or 33% of the core speed. The result? Coppermine beats Athlon, narrowly. You can see it happening in this graph, if you imagine the blue line extending about straight (which is more-or-less what happened.) The two chips are quite comparable at the lower end, or maybe Athlon wins. But in the 1G processors, PIII is the winner (see this, for instance).

Now with Thunderbird, Athlon will again be more or less the same in L2 cache as PIII: 256K full speed on-die cache. So, we should expect the Thunderbird to kick PIII's butt, by about 10% or so plus the fact that it will actually be available.

Duron should also beat celeron, though perhaps by a smaller margin.

If AMD and Gerry Anderson got together...

[jd]

Window's new startup sound: "Anything can happen in the next 30 minutes!"

AMD's Beofulf startup script: 5.... 4.... 3.... 2.... 1.... *sound of rocket taking off* Thunderbirds are go!

AMD's next chips (the Stingray series) will cause office buildings to retract into the ground, whenever you run a difficult program.

Reports that using the AMD Thunderbird causes you to walk in a strange, stiff-legged manner are denied, as are rumours that Brain has bought out Red Hat.

SMP is coming, but not just yet

[MSG]

Some people are asking about SMP, and since I recently attended an AMD partners conference, I thought that I would share.

First, the Duron and Thunderbird processors are going to integrate the L2 into the die. The AMD techs seemed excited about that since the Athlon is already outperforming the Coppermine. The move from the L2 on the module to L2 on the die should prove a massive boon to their already good performance. This also means that there is no longer a reason to use a slot. (With .25 micron process, you can't put the L2 on die, it'll produce too much heat. However, you can't access the L2 cache very quickly through a socket, there's too much resistance.) The Duron will use the new Socket A, and the Thunderbird will be available in both Socket A and Slot A configurations, so that all of the old motherboards aren't immediately obsoleted. Later processors will only be available in Socket A.

Second, SMP is coming, but not in the Duron or Thunderbird. Mustang will bring us SMP later this year, in Socket A configuration. The point that AMD stressed is that Intel processors use a shared bus to the North Bridge, whereas their Athlons will each have their own bus to the North Bridge. This will provide the processors a whole lot more bandwidth to their memory and peripherals.

Duron - Durex

[Shoeboy]

From theregister.co.uk:
AMD practises safe computing
Relax, you'll just feel a tiny prick
Chimpzilla's new - ahem - entry level chip, Duron, would appear to share advanced technology with condom giant Durex, if the contraceptive company's website here is to be believed.

The site states: "New technology has considerably improved the condom and enabled the production of far more sophisticated versions than our ancestors were used to. The latest development is DUREX Avanti made from a unique polyurethane material, DURON, which is twice as strong as latex enabling a thinner, more sensitive film."

AMD would not confirm rumours that Duron would ship in packets of three rather than trays of ten, nor that the company was planning a 'Duron Inside' ad campaign. ®

Looks like you'll need to lap that Duron processor as it may be ribbed for her pleasure.

The chip may grow flaccid if not in use.

Feel free to make your own juvenile jokes.

--Shoeboy
(former microserf)