Erratum Plagues Quad-Core Opterons, Phenoms

theraindog writes "Errata are not uncommon with new processors, but a problem with the TLB logic in AMD's quad-core Opteron and Phenom processors appears to be quite serious. The erratum is so severe that AMD has issued a 'stop ship' order on all quad-core Opterons. AMD has also blamed this bug for the delay of the 2.4GHz Phenom, despite the fact that the erratum is unrelated to clock speed. A BIOS-based workaround for the issue has been made available to motherboard makers, but it apparently carries a 10-20% performance penalty. What's more disturbing is that AMD knew of the erratum and the potential performance hit associated with fixing it before it launched the Phenom processor. Hardware provided to the press for reviews did not include the fix, conveniently overstating Phenom performance."

Comments

is this the end ... ?

[A little Frenchie]

... for AMD?

AMD making big mistakes under pressure!

[Anonymous Coward]

Errata are very common but how company handles them is a big factor in deciding things. I certainly hope all review sites will rerun benchmarks.

Anandtech I'm looking at you.

NDA for patch?

[Cajun Hell]

Check this out:

Linux users may have another option in the form of a patch for that operating system's kernel. Sources estimate this patch's performance hit at less than one percent, but it comes with several caveats. At present, the patch purportedly only applies to the 64-bit version Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Upgrade 4. Customers must sign a non-disclosure agreement in order to obtain the patch...

Good thing it's just a patch, as opposed to a derived work of someone else's GPLed code. I wonder what the FSF guys would say about that. I also wonder: Red Hat, why?

Old issue, really

[Uzito]

My good old Opteron 170 had the same stupid issue with unsynched core clocks. What is new here?

Re:Old issue, really

[zsouthboy]

"The "true" quad-core line appears to be nothing more than marketing hyperbole"

No, it's not marketing.

You're not seeing the usefullness on the desktop.

HPC is another story - and it's also the place that the plain old Opteron has been holding its own, against the faster, clock per clock, Core 2 microarchitecture.

Having requests go through the FSB (which is a WTF this day and age) kills cache snooping, etc, between cores.

The "true" quad core doesn't have this problem.

Re:"because", not "despite"

[Wavicle]

You have to read a follow-up article to the techreport.com one here: http://techreport.com/discussions.x/13724. Which reads:

Apparently contradicting prior AMD statements on the matter, Saucier flatly denied any relationship between the TLB erratum and chip clock frequencies. He also said there's no relationship between clock speeds and the performance degradation caused by the BIOS-based fix for the erratum.

I imagine that is where the article got the information.

Let's not forget..

[AcidPenguin9873]

that Intel's Core 2 also had a problem with the TLB when first released, although that problem manifested itself as data corruption instead of a lockup. Here are the two articles from The Inquirer about it - the second one especially. And note that this document was released after Intel had shipped the buggy Core 2's.

However, Intel was able to fix it without incurring a large performance loss. It's a shame for AMD that they weren't able to do the same.

Re:Bummer

[canuck57]

Wow, bad times for AMD. They're losing the war against intel, and now have another set back. A 20% performance penalty is simply unacceptable for any processor. The fact that it is for brand new ones makes it an even bigger slap in the face for consumers.

Not if the processor/mobo combo is 60% of the cost of a Intel heater.

What are we trying to do here, compute pi to 14 million decimal paces in 5 minutes or less?

Sooner or later AMD will come back. My experiences with Intel, is a soon as they get the lead they fall asleep. And AMD, while bruised will just wake up.

Perfect Linux CPUs

[evilviper]

Ironically, these may turn into the CPUs dejour for Linux users...

The performance hit is probably 10% when patching the microcode which should mean steep price mark-downs on this generation of CPUs. But it's only a 1% performance hit when patching the (Linux) kernel.

So why doesn't every OEM that sells Linux servers and desktops just buy up all of AMD's supplies of defective chips at a big discount, and pass the savings along? I'd buy a couple.

Re:Why AMD Released Faulty CPUs: Possible Theory

[Anonymous Coward]

I just looked at AMDs financial statements for last quarter, and despite your claim, there has been no meaningful change in the balance of AMDs current assets (by which I mean, AMD has plenty of liquidity to maintain operations without 'cashing' out its reputation); therefore, your supposition is wrong.

There are significant cash flows at AMD, led foremost by its operating losses, but it's pretty clear to me that you don't understand financial statements enough to provide useful insight into this company. Regardless, on balance, AMD appears able to easily offset (finance) its operational losses with borrowing. This is obvious from their financial statements. Take a class or something.

Re:No, but it looks bad

[Mathinker]

> It's also shutting down their processor sales at Christmas.

I know this is Slashdot, but most people don't stuff stockings with CPUs.

I'm sure that any kind of computer being bought for Christmas has a CPU which was manufactured a minimum of a month or two ago. I'd actually guess that their processor sales slump somewhat in December and January because of surplus production of assembled computers in the previous months (and because at least some of the workers who buy CPUs and upgrade business computers go on vacation).

Re:Bummer

[Anonymous Coward]

You are trolling.
We've had lower power than AMD for a while here.
Better performance? Check.
Lower Power/MFLOP? Check.
Less Errata? Check.
Price? GoodEnough (TM).

Anon for obvious reasons. Let me tell you though, Intel will not be complacent again for a long time. We got our asses handed to us once (and only once mind you). It sucked... Bad. No more. We have a 2 year process cycle, they have a 4 or 5 year one. We have parallel design teams (one working on the next gen shrink of a family, the other working on the next first-gen part) I doubt they do. We've been trimming a lot of "fat" (that hurts because some of my friends are "fat" and will be looking for a job) to get to our core strengths. AMD is attempting to grow and having pains.
AMD will come back, but we will remain ahead.

Obvious disclaimer: I m not authorized to speak for the company, blah blah blah, nothing I say can be construed as an offer of anything, etc. I'm posting anon you I may be making this all up.