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CERN Engineer Details AMD Zen Processor Confirming 32 Core Implementation, SMT (hothardware.com)
MojoKid writes: AMD is long overdue for a major architecture update, though one is coming later this year. Featuring the codename "Zen," AMD's already provided a few details, such as that it will be built using a 14nm FinFET process. In time, AMD will reveal all there is to know about Zen, but we now have a few additional details to share thanks to a computer engineer at CERN. CERN engineer Liviu Valsan recently gave a presentation on technology and market trends for the data center. At around 2 minutes into the discussion, he brought up AMD's Zen architecture with a slide that contained some previously undisclosed details. One of the more interesting revelations was that upcoming x86 processors based on Zen will feature up to 32 physical cores. To achieve a 32-core design, Valsan says AMD will use two 16-core CPUs on a single die with a next-generation interconnect. It has also been previously reported that Zen will offer up to a 40 percent improvement in IPC compared to its current processors as well as symmetric multithreading or SMT akin to Intel HyperThreading. In a 32-core implementation this would result in 64 logical threads of processing.
AMD has a technology they call dual graphics so their APUs could work in conjunction with a discrete GPU, similar to how you can Crossfire two discrete GPUs together already. It's probably more geared towards notebooks where the APU can get by driving the display and the GPU can sit idle. One review found that it could give substantial performance increases for some games, but it depends on driver support as well as where the performance bottleneck is at.