AMD to Offer “Graphics Free” Llano Chips

[nonameo]

note: there's already a 2.8ghz AMD quad at $80. Yes the 1mb l2 per core will help llano, but I can't imagine that it's that much faster. Also, TDP is 5W lower even though it's 45nm.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103932

 

[frostedflakes]

Not a huge improvement, but AMD claims the Stars core does have up to 6% greater IPC than Athlon II. It's not just the L2 cache, there were some other tweaks to the architecture I think.

Can't remember what site they were from, but I remember seeing IPC comparisons somewhere and Llano not only beat Athlon II but also Phenom II at the same clock.

 

[cebalrai]

Wait a second?
The Lllano chip got flak for having a piss poor CPU, partial saved by a powerfull APU...now the cut away the APU and sell the piss poor CPU...

lol

I don't see how an Athlon II x4 with double the L2 cache is "piss-poor". They'll sell these things well south of $100 and they'll make fantastic general-use processors. Always keep price and value in mind.

Is Zacate piss poor as well? I mean after all it's far slower than one of these things will be.

 

[RyanGreener]

If they pull something like this, I really hope it isn't 100W like they say it will be. That would make the TDP higher than the old Athlon Quad Cores....which were at 95W.

 

[jihe]

100W is kind of lame

 

[Arg Clin]

Wait a second?
The Lllano chip got flak for having a piss poor CPU, partial saved by a powerfull APU...now the cut away the APU and sell the piss poor CPU...

lol

It's called different market segments. For mid-high end gaming or in a workstation, yes Llano would be a "piss poor" choice of CPU. For a general purpose budget machine it's really quite brilliant. Heck even Zacate is brilliant for a really basic websurfer/office machine. Then there's the whole HTPC segment.

Without the GPU Llano beocmes a niche product for budget machines with discrete graphics. I haven't fully calculated it through, but I think it would make sense in a budget gaming rig, if you strap on the fastest GPU it could possibly satisfy.

TDP isn't great, but I don't see it as a deal breaker. I suppose it would come down to how it's priced against the i3.

 

[jaydee]

My question is, how high can these things overclock now that the GPU portion does not get in the way?

Llano overclocking is still unclear to me - or rather, an unfinished picture. Supposedly, due to TDP being hard-wired into the chip, you can't OC much, especially because the GPU portion shares the same TDP budget.

Then, someone (MAC_MAC?) from hardware canucks posted here that this is not the end of it, hinting that Llano OC is somehow going to get better, but no reason given. Better boards? Better BIOS? TDP not hard-wired anymore?

Now, still no word about those things, but with GPU-less CPUs, the reason for the hard-wired TDP is gone, yes? If so, then can we finally see just how high their first 32nm CPUs can overclock without the GPU baggage?

$79 is pretty cheap, and if these overclock better than Deneb / Thuban, they are a steal.

The problem with the section I bolded is, the main draw of the AII/PII line is their backwards compatibility with older motherboards (AM2/AM3), or their forward compatibility with motherboards that can run bulldozer (AM3+). An FM1 socketed CPU has neither of those benefits, which are huge for the budget segment that a $79 CPU competes in. Essentially, in order use a crippled Llano, you have to overpay for a new motherboard with unknown forward compatibility in the budget market segment.

I'm interested in the overclockability from an enthusiast standpoint, but I don't think it's going to be relevant from a sales viewpoint. I agree that selling these chips are better than throwing them out, but it seems like a very tough sell to me.

 

[Arkaign]

Yeah it's a shame that these aren't also available on AM3/AM3+. And think, $79 to start, but who knows, we might see $59 quads soon. If the upcoming cheaper FM1 boards are available in the $45-$55 range like basic AM3 boards are now, that's a pretty cheap combo. Board and chip for around the same price as a 2100, and presumably you can overclock it.

I'm interested in how the overclocking will work though. 100W sounds really strange. Almost as if power was still flowing readily through the GPU portion of the chip which was disabled.

 

[LoneNinja]

Anyone think its possible they're just leaving the 100W TDP there because it's a built in max for the entire line up? I highly doubt these will draw the same power as the Llano chips that use the GPU.

 

[Joseph F]

If they pull something like this, I really hope it isn't 100W like they say it will be. That would make the TDP higher than the old Athlon Quad Cores....which were at 95W.

Don't forget about the Phenom II X4 945 C3:
45nm, 3.0GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 6MB L3 Cache and 95W.

Also, there was/is an OEM-only version of the PhII 955 Non-BE 95W.

 

[cebalrai]

Athlon II X4s are pretty good overclockers. Now there will be one on a 32 nm process where half the die is turned off not making heat. It will be interesting to see the OC potential on these.

Wonder if we'll be seeing seriously borked ones for sale as x3s

 

[StrangerGuy]

Yeah it's a shame that these aren't also available on AM3/AM3+. And think, $79 to start, but who knows, we might see $59 quads soon. If the upcoming cheaper FM1 boards are available in the $45-$55 range like basic AM3 boards are now, that's a pretty cheap combo. Board and chip for around the same price as a 2100, and presumably you can overclock it.

I'm interested in how the overclocking will work though. 100W sounds really strange. Almost as if power was still flowing readily through the GPU portion of the chip which was disabled.

It's like AMD returned to the days of XP 1700+/mobile bartons, but without the performance/price and power consumption to speak of.