AMD's Barton Contains 512kb of L2 cache + possible MS x86-64 support **UPDATE CONFIRMED**

[NFS4]

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Corporate/VirtualPressRoom/0,,51_104_608,00.html

I still want Clawhammer though

 

[RSMemphis]

Somehow, I sometimes wonder what AMD is up to.
So, 1H02 the Thoroughbred, 2H02 the Barton...
Why not just wait for the Barton then?

Very odd.

 

[Charles]

<< I still want Clawhammer though >>

Yeah, and I hope by then, Mac OS X-64 will also run on x86-64 platform Can anyone confirm the L2 cache size of Clawhammer?

 

[ElFenix]

i doubt clawhammer will have less than 512K L2 if barton does.

i'd be more exited if
1)barton wasn't half a year away
2)being eclipsed by a whole new architecture from AMD
3)had reliable info that the data path between L2 and the core was being bumped up to 256 or at least 128.

 

[andreasl]

Did anyone else notice that SOI wasn't mentioned for Barton anymore?

 

[Dulanic]

I was just going to say the same thing hehe, no SOI.

 

[Speedyturtle]

I doubt they'll even release the Barton when Clawhammer is just around the corner.

 

[Czar]

I have a feeling that the Barton will turn out to be the Duron of its time while the Hammer will be the Athlon.

 

[dullard]

"So, 1H02 the Thoroughbred, 2H02 the Barton...Why not just wait for the Barton then?"
The Thoroughbred is more of a test run for AMD. It is their first release of .13 micron parts and they need a guinea pig. Since the Thoroughbred has no major changes from the current Athlon XP, it is an easy test and few people will care if the product has some initial production delays since they can just get the current Athlon XP. Once AMD perfects the .13 micron process, they can confidently release the Barton with major changes.

"I doubt they'll even release the Barton when Clawhammer is just around the corner."
The Clawhammer is for high end desktops and workstations. It may very likely cost almost $500 on the street to purchase when it is first released. This is not going to be a huge seller initially - thus AMD needs the Barton for the majority of users who don't need 64 bit and don't want to pay the price premium. The price will decrease over time, people will eventually need a 64 bit processor, and the Clawhammer will slowly become more mainstream. But Barton is needed until that occurs.

"I have a feeling that the Barton will turn out to be the Duron of its time while the Hammer will be the Athlon."
The roadmap that NFS4 posted clearly shows that AMD will have three desktop processor lines: Value processor will be the Duron probably until the end of 2003, Barton will be the Athlon into at least 2004, and Clawhammer will be a third high-priced high-performance line. Only near the end of 2003 or longer (as market requires) will the Duron die off making Barton the value processor.

 

[TheCollective]

Hell, I'm still waiting on T-bred.

 

[Mingon]

I have asked elsewhere so humour me, all of the current pics of t'bred which have appeared show a die shape that is no longer square like the palimino. Why ? has amd tweaked the design again or have they added more unused silicon for heat transfer reasons.

 

[Athlon4all]

Well this is cool but like everyone says, it is an awful long time away. It will probably be a good thing for Socket A mobo users because it should easily run on any 266fsb capable Socket A board with a BIOS update. How successful will it be? Marginal. OEM's will want to market Hammer, and this CPU will be more expensive to produce than the Appolasa Duron (especially if it doesn't even have SOI, but that seems rather unlikely), and OEM's will rather use the Duron than the Barton so. This does though I think firm up that Hammer will indeed have 512k L2 Cache as well.

 

[CocaCola5]

Any chance clawhammer will get 1M cache L2? It only seems appropriate that the high-end chip gets double the cache as the lower-end.

 

[AGodspeed]

Paul DeMone of RealWorldTechnology thinks ClawHammer will have 512K of L2 cache.

I never would have guessed that Barton would actually have more cache. Quite surprising...

 

[NFS4]

On a side note, check out this article where AMD is testifying in favor of Microsoft. I'd say that they have x86-64 support in the bag now

http://news.com.com/2100-1001-883701.html

 

[AGodspeed]

Holy crap! Take a look at this: http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-884028.html

Microsoft's first witness against antitrust sanctions sought by nine states admitted in court on Tuesday that he asked for a favor when Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates called seeking his testimony.

Jerry Sanders, chief executive of computer chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices, also conceded he had not read the states' proposed sanctions, but that Gates had told him they were "crazy" and would fragment the Windows operating system.

Howard Gutman, an attorney for the states, told U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly that Sanders asked Microsoft to announce support for its chip technology, code-named Hammer, ahead of a competing product just being developed at Intel.

"Mr. Gates said he would talk to his people about that," Gutman said of the Feb. 8 call by Gates to Sanders.

"Yes," agreed Sanders. "I asked Mr. Gates to hold Intel to the same standard he held us to."

Good call on that x86-64 support NFS4.

 

[NFS4]

<< Holy crap! Take a look at this: http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-884028.html

Microsoft's first witness against antitrust sanctions sought by nine states admitted in court on Tuesday that he asked for a favor when Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates called seeking his testimony.

Jerry Sanders, chief executive of computer chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices, also conceded he had not read the states' proposed sanctions, but that Gates had told him they were "crazy" and would fragment the Windows operating system.

Howard Gutman, an attorney for the states, told U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly that Sanders asked Microsoft to announce support for its chip technology, code-named Hammer, ahead of a competing product just being developed at Intel.

"Mr. Gates said he would talk to his people about that," Gutman said of the Feb. 8 call by Gates to Sanders.

"Yes," agreed Sanders. "I asked Mr. Gates to hold Intel to the same standard he held us to."

Good call on that x86-64 support NFS5. >>



HAHA, good show!!!!!!

 

[ElFenix]

i'm guessing AMD is going to want to keep the ASP on hammer as high as it can for a while. this is not a chip aimed right at the mainstream market, so they should be able to release it at a far higher price than what we are seeing. $800-1000 would not surprise me at release. barton would fill in the mainstream role at $125-300. and appaloosa below that.

 

[joohang]

<< Yeah, and I hope by then, Mac OS X-64 will also run on x86-64 platform >>


Sweet! I wouldn't mind running MacOS X just because it looks cool. And I hopefully won't be as b!tchy if I can attach a proper mouse to it.

 

[Athlon4all]

Wow!!!! MS must be pretty desperate. Hopefully MS will give x86-64 full support

 

[CocaCola5]

<< $800-1000 would not surprise me at release. barton would fill in the mainstream role at $125-300. and appaloosa below that. >>





:Q Are you serious, maybe for Sledgehammer with its large L2 Cache but that sounds a bit out there for a enthusiasts processor.

 

[nortexoid]

they figure the extra cache should help diminish the performance edge afforded by the P4's 142ghz frequency lead by the time barton comes out.

sounds interesting...i wonder how long i can hold out from upgrading this aging piece of poo.

where's my dust mop at?

 

[ElFenix]

if AMD is going for the workstation market $800 is pretty good. i think until sledge comes out claw would be aimed at 1-2 processor workstations and workgroup servers. and i think the t-bird 1200 debuted at $800 or so about a year ago, so its not like it hasn't happened before.

 

[dullard]

<< :Q Are you serious, maybe for Sledgehammer with its large L2 Cache but that sounds a bit out there for a enthusiasts processor. >>


Ok here are the facts:
1) AMD has only had a profit one year,
2) That year was 2000 and AMD charged up to $1200 for its processors (this occured when AMD had a clear lead over Intel in hitting 1 GHz).
3) $1000+ prices were less than two years ago - don't think it was something that AMD won't ever do again.
4) AMD had a loss last year and needs to raise prices.
5) AMD might soon have a clear lead over Intel with the Hammer.
6) Few people need the Hammer's performance, and even fewer need a 64 bit processor.
7) AMD has raised its prices on release of its last four processors.
8) Hammer is new technology which costs lots to develop and will cost a lot to produce.

I said $500 street earlier on this thread which will translate to about $750 official 1000 lot prices. The estimate of $800-$1000 wouldn't shock me in the least.

 

[AGodspeed]

As has been mentioned before, ClawHammer will almost certainly sell at a premium over Barton, that much is a given IMHO.

$500 for a ClawHammer 3400+ would actually be a surprisingly low debut price, given:

1. .13-micron SOI is more expensive to produce than conventional .13-micron bulk.
2. Hammer is a new brand new architecture. It's not going to be easy for AMD to mass produce ClawHammer at first, and that always raises prices.
3. If ClawHammer has a big enough lead over Intel's best, expect prices to be even more inflated.