Is AMD holding back?

[Falloutboy]

considering the overclocking the opterons are getting at stock voltage it seems to me that AMD would have no issue realeasing a 3ghz part, seems like they would do this and just make the lead over intel even greater.

Also when is AMD switching to 65nm? that should prolly yield another 500mhz plus they will prolly double the cache while they are at it

 

[MDE]

People said that Intel's 90nm switch was supposed to get them to 4+GHz. Shrinking the die doesn't always mean huge clockspeed advantages.

 

[stevty2889]

While AMD could potentialy release a 3ghz part, it's unlikely they will any time soon, due to the fact that they would have to get high enough yields at that speed to keep up with demand. Unless they can do that, they won't release a 3ghz part, any more than Intel will release a 4 or 4.2ghz chip, just because some can be overclocked to that speed.

65nm didn't get Intel any higher clock speeds, like MDE said, die shrinks don't always result in higher clock speeds.

 

[Zim]

Originally posted by: Falloutboy
considering the overclocking the opterons are getting at stock voltage it seems to me that AMD would have no issue realeasing a 3ghz part, seems like they would do this and just make the lead over intel even greater.

There ain't many AMD chips around running stable at 3GHz on air. There is a reason for that. Seems to me that the FX-60 at 2.6GHz is about as far as they dare go for reliable yields with dual core, and 2.8GHz for single core. In other words, I think they are pushing it to the limit right now.

KER-POW!!! Another SCORTCHING post by the Zim man!

 

[RaynorWolfcastle]

Originally posted by: stevty2889
While AMD could potentialy release a 3ghz part, it's unlikely they will any time soon, due to the fact that they would have to get high enough yields at that speed to keep up with demand. Unless they can do that, they won't release a 3ghz part, any more than Intel will release a 4 or 4.2ghz chip, just because some can be overclocked to that speed.

65nm didn't get Intel any higher clock speeds, like MDE said, die shrinks don't always result in higher clock speeds.

You're probably right with regards to yields and economics being the reason that AMD doesn't take the next frequency step up, but I'd guess thermal and power envelopes are the reason Intel isn't pushing their frequency any higher on Presler. By and large, if you can deal with the thermals, a die shrink will net you some frequency headroom if you make only minor architectural changes, since transistor f_t always increases with a die shrink (at least in my experience).

 

[dmens]

power is the only reason cedarmill frequency is close to prescott. cedarmill can be overclocked close to 5ghz without too much difficulty.

 

[Viditor]

AMD is rumoured to have started production at Fab36 using their new SiGe process on 90nm. They have said this can get them up to an additional 40% efficiency on their transistors (less leakage), which means that greater than 3 GHz is more than likely when these chips come out. Judging by the time they will need it and when they started it, I would guess that we'll be seeing the higher clocked X2s and A64s sometime near June...

AMD has done things like this before...remember that Rev E cut the power needs almost in half, but AMD never said a word about that before it was released.