AMD Reveals Roadmap For ARM and X86 SoCs

DeviceGuru writes "On the eve of the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco, AMD unveiled what it calls an ambidextrous embedded roadmap, based on a series of new system-on-chip (SoC) and accelerated processing unit (APU) products built from both ARM and x86 CPU cores. Planned for launch in 2014 are an ARM Cortex A57-based 'Hierofalcon' SoC, a 'Bald Eagle' APU using a new 'Streamroller' x86 CPU, a multi-core x86 'Steppe Eagle' APU, and an 'Adelaar' discrete Embedded Radion GPU. 'There are different customer needs in different segments of this market, from low-power to high-performance, Linux to Windows, and x86 to ARM,' commented Arun Iyengar, VP and general manager, of the AMD Embedded Solutions division." Update: 09/10 16:54 GMT by T : As Slash DataCenter notes, this roadmap includes an SoC aimed specifically at datacenters.

Comments

Hopefully they talked to Linus first

[OverlordQ]

Otherwise they might be next to die in a fire.

Good: APUs. Not so good: Server ARM

[CajunArson]

The Kaveri-based APUs in servers are certainly not going to be great for every workload, but for servers that can take advantage of GPU compute, they give AMD a unique advantage in a competitive server environment.

Those ARM parts on the other hand have proven one thing: Just because ARM (and more importantly, Qualcomm) make good chips for smartphones doesn't mean that ARM is magic and can avoid physics.

  The 8 core Cortex A57 parts on AMD's roadmap for late 2014 have a 50% higher power envelope than the high-end 8-core Avoton parts that Intel has on sale *this year* (30 watts vs. 20 watts). By the time they launch, Intel will either have launched or be on the verge of launching 14nm microserver parts. These things are a nice prototype, and AMD is easily the best vendor for ARM servers since it has experience in the server world, but ARM ain't about to take over the server room at this pace.

Re:Good: APUs. Not so good: Server ARM

[h4rr4r]

So what if the power envelope is larger if they spend more time in a lower power state? What exactly is included in the SoC that Avoton does not have? Intel loves to report only CPU watts and ignore the rest. The first atoms were almost hilarious in that the northbridge/southbridge drew more power than the CPU but Intel only reported CPU power in their advertising.

Re:Good: APUs. Not so good: Server ARM

[CajunArson]

Actually, Atom has had extremely competitive idle power draw going back several generations... the trick was that the idle power draw was best on the embedded platforms that were not widely released prior to Clovertrail and *not* on the desktop platforms where the separate chipset alone used more power than the CPU.

That's not my point, however. At best I'd expect those A57 parts to have performance parity with Avaton under load... and Intel has already solved the idle power draw issues, especially when it comes to SoCs.

Hey, if your servers sit around doing absolutely nothing all day, then I have a better idea: Turn them off and use zero power.

Re:Good: APUs. Not so good: Server ARM

[Phreakiture]

I actually have one of those Atoms. It's on a D945GCLF2 MoBo. The CPU is passively cooled, but there's a more-or-less-standard 40mm CPU fan on the Northbridge.

Despite being dual-core, the performance is not very good. I have a similarly-clocked AMD Athlon II single-core that runs circles around it. The Athlon II machine uses less power in toto (i.e. monitor included) than the Atom desktop, just the computer (i.e. monitor excluded).

Re:Good: APUs. Not so good: Server ARM

[Blaskowicz]

Slight difference, the AMD parts embeds 10 gigabit ethernet controllers (four or two, I dunno), while the Intel part embeds four gigabit ones. That may turn the power efficiency around, if you needeed such fast controllers for networking / I/O.
AMD may be open to doing custom SoC for some big customer too, with some other specialized units.
Seems AMD would go in places Avoton won't, like high speed network appliances, will still be usable for web hosting and the like. Avoton is just easier for low cost VPS renting as you can just install any x86 linux distro or BSD, it runs Windows too (until Microsoft eventually comes out with an ARM version of Windows Server)

Re:Good: APUs. Not so good: Server ARM

[Luckyo]

Get an AMD one. Their CPU part is a bit crappy, but GPU is top notch. Many games are actually playable on it because of it.

What about console architectures in PCs?

[lehphyro]

Does anyone know about any plans AMD might have to implement that unified memory model in next-gen consoles in desktop PCs?

Re:AMD is dying

[h4rr4r]

Large scale computing in the enterprise is not the top end. They buy lots of middling range Xeons and Opterons. I buy these all the time. I am not your typical consumer. The top end CPUs don't even come as Xeons, Xeons lag behind.

to bad intel sucks in some ways

[Joe_Dragon]

Like having forcing you to go top of the line $300+ cpus just to get more then X16 pci-e lanes with out switches.

No Thunderbolt add in cards the demo used a mac pro with an add in card.

Poor on board video.

Trying to kill sockets that will drive up price for OEM's and limit choice.

If amd dies intels prices will go up and they do all kinds of stuff to make you pay.

Re:to bad intel sucks in some ways

[jcdr]

Mod parent up.

I just sold my almost new i5-4670K to replace it by a A10-6800K. With the i5, it's simply impossible to get a working machine by using the new Debian Wheezy: no audio, no accelerated 3D, no fluid video, screen instability on the HDMI output, and high price. On the contrary, the A10 work perfectly well: audio, accelerated 3D, glitch free 1080p full screen video, rock stable HDMI output, and half of the i5 price.

Re:FFS

[halltk1983]

Sempron: low power, low price
Athlon: Medium Power, medium price
A-Series: APU with built in graphics
FX: High end, lots of cores, high price

They're adding an ARM processor, which if you can't figure out 4 levels of processor isn't for you.

Dear AMD

[Gravis Zero]

AMD, please please please offer a socketed version of these chips and it would be even better if you offered an ARM processor only socketed chip that can plug into a full motherboard. I really want a full and snappy and upgradable PC in a small(er) form factor that does not need to crank up a fan to "OMG! I THINK I'M MELTING!"-speed because the CPU is running under a full load. If you insist on making it an APU, I can live with that. x86 is dying fast and Windows 8 runs on ARM which makes it the perfect opportunity to change and the time for change is now. Please AMD, do me this one favor.

Love,
A loyal customer