vr-zone doubts 3870/3670 will come

[Soulkeeper]

Article

"AMD has only two months left of this year to get its new processors out and we doubt they'll launch them all in the run up to the Christmas season. We have a feeling some models have been pulled in favour of the upcoming Trinity based models that AMD is expected to deliver in Q1 next year."

 

[RussianSensation]

"A8-3870, which is expected to be AMD's first unlocked APU. It will also have the fastest CPU core to date with a clock speed of 3GHz. This is of course a quad core APU and it has 4MB of L2 cache. The graphics part should be a Radeon HD 6550D."

Any reason anyone should be excited about what is essentially a slightly improved Athlon II X4 3.0ghz CPU?

I am having a hard time figuring out why I wouldn't pick up a $59 Phenom II X4 840 3.2ghz and an $80 HD6750 for the price of a $139 A8-3850? Worse yet, the latter path would force me to lock myself into an FM1 socket that as far as I know has no Bulldozer upgrade path.

I am really trying hard to understand the point of Llano for the desktop, but imho, it only makes sense for laptops unless low power consumption is a priority and the case is so small that it can't fit a dedicated GPU.

 

[Silverforce11]

What if an unlocked Llano without the iGPU bottlenecking OC can hit 5ghz on a modest vcore bump? Would that be sexy for $145?

 

[StrangerGuy]

What if an unlocked Llano without the iGPU bottlenecking OC can hit 5ghz on a modest vcore bump? Would that be sexy for $145?

I can't find any power consumption data for 4GHz+ Llano but I don't think they will look pretty.

 

[Rifter]

I can't find any power consumption data for 4GHz+ Llano but I don't think they will look pretty.

probably not pretty at all, AMD chips have been really leaky at high clocks for years. IMO power consumtion is what AMD should focus on for the next little while, well that and getting there shit out on time.

They don't like the "S" word here Please use S*** in the future at least.
Markfw900
Anandtech Moderator

 

[Soulkeeper]

If an A8-3870 was on the market right now, i'd buy it

really wish my 3850 was unlocked, or asus had the "lab burst" bios feature like the MSI boards ...
I just spent 11hrs compiling code ...
I can't even really get this 3850 over 3GHz because of the mb/bios ...

 

[cantholdanymore]

Worse yet, the latter path would force me to lock myself into an FM1 socket that as far as I know has no Bulldozer upgrade path.

http://www.techpowerup.com/151419/AMD-Trinity-A-Series-APUs-to-Pack-Radeon-7000-Series-Graphics.html

 

[StrangerGuy]

http://www.techpowerup.com/151419/AMD-Trinity-A-Series-APUs-to-Pack-Radeon-7000-Series-Graphics.html

Does that mention FM1 at all?

Hellooooooooo?

 

[blckgrffn]

If it caused all the Axxxx chips to slide down in price I would be all for it.

A BE llano would be fun as it appears chipset woes are holding back current OCs and even at 4+ Ghz the chips are sipping power (from an AMD viewpoint) based on the experiences from those who have braved the rocky FM1 overclocking field.

Could it be that AMD is keeping APU clock speeds low to get the maximum yield from GF while also keeping competition between BD and Llano to a minimum? If so, a BE Llano might actually be the fastest gaming processor you can buy from AMD right now, and maybe for the next one to two years.

Depressing? Maybe. Interesting? I certainly think so.

It will also be interesting to what price that new sempron commands (2.5ghz, dual core). If it can come in at under $50, we might see some interesting $100-$110 builds on a modern platform.

 

[bryanW1995]

"A8-3870, which is expected to be AMD's first unlocked APU. It will also have the fastest CPU core to date with a clock speed of 3GHz. This is of course a quad core APU and it has 4MB of L2 cache. The graphics part should be a Radeon HD 6550D."

Any reason anyone should be excited about what is essentially a slightly improved Athlon II X4 3.0ghz CPU?

I am having a hard time figuring out why I wouldn't pick up a $59 Phenom II X4 840 3.2ghz and an $80 HD6750 for the price of a $139 A8-3850? Worse yet, the latter path would force me to lock myself into an FM1 socket that as far as I know has no Bulldozer upgrade path.

I am really trying hard to understand the point of Llano for the desktop, but imho, it only makes sense for laptops unless low power consumption is a priority and the case is so small that it can't fit a dedicated GPU.

Um, you could probably say that about just about any amd cpu/platform at this point...

 

[exar333]

If an A8-3870 was on the market right now, i'd buy it

really wish my 3850 was unlocked, or asus had the "lab burst" bios feature like the MSI boards ...
I just spent 11hrs compiling code ...
I can't even really get this 3850 over 3GHz because of the mb/bios ...

Not a great CPU choice if you will be compiling code on a regular basis. Time is money my friend!

 

[Lex Luger]

There must be a reason why original llanos werent unlocked, probably something to do with how gpu and cpu clockspeeds are generated.

Either way, it could be that they still havent figured out how to unlock the multi, and thats teh reason why they arent releasing the new cpus, not because they are worried about trinity.

Even though I despise most AMD products, I was looking forward to seeing how far these unlocked llano would clock.

Doesnt Llano cpu have much higher IPC than bulldozer, why even make trinity if it doesnt have higher IPC than Llano?

Personally I think Llano gpu is too big. Llano with gpu cut in half would still be adequete, especially with amd better graphics drivers(compared to intel)

Llano with 200 shader gpu and unlocked multi would have very high yields and probably clock to 4.5 on the cpu, and since yields would be high, they could sell them for 100 dollars.

 

[Soulkeeper]

I feel like I got raped by AMD ...
could have built a highend i7 for this price, and yet it's slower than a core2 quad @ 3GHz
if only it was unlocked i'd be able to atleast match what I "upgraded" from

 

[Idontcare]

I feel like I got raped by AMD ...

Now you are sounding like an AMD shareholder (I kid, I kid )

 

[Idontcare]

Personally I think Llano gpu is too big. Llano with gpu cut in half would still be adequete, especially with amd better graphics drivers(compared to intel)

I don't remember where I saw it, but someone published a clockspeed/power-consumption/xtor-density analysis and comparison between the GPU on Llano and the 40nm analog and showed that there is basically zero benefits from GloFo's 32nm SOI + HKMG over that of TSMC's 40nm bulk-Si when it comes to the GPU portion of the chip.

The 32nm integrated GPU is just as big (no area reduction benefits), doesn't clock any faster, and uses just as much power-consumption as the 40nm version (comparable specs like shaders and so on).

I'm just going by recollection here, wish I could remember who published the analysis so I could link it up as well as confirm my recollection of the salient points

(hopefully I'm not misremembering and just adding FUD inadvertently)

 

[Vesku]

Seems to me that all hands at AMD are on deck trying to get Trinity out as early in Q1Y2012 as possible. Remember the "Future is Fusion" push starting with Llano launch, I don't think that was just marketing. I recall the new CEO emphasizing emerging markets in his initial investor speech.

Seems like they are letting the enthusiast space move on without them, except for their GPU division.

 

[exar333]

Seems to me that all hands at AMD are on deck trying to get Trinity out as early in Q1Y2012 as possible. Remember the "Future is Fusion" push starting with Llano launch, I don't think that was just marketing. I recall the new CEO emphasizing emerging markets in his initial investor speech.

Seems like they are letting the enthusiast space move on without them, except for their GPU division.

It was all hands on deck for BD too, how did that turn out?

 

[Vesku]

Same division, they obviously think a lot of the fault is in the early 32nm process. Hopefully they've learned enough from BD to get more out of 32nm by Q1. Doesn't seem like TSMC is having an easier time of it than GF, either.

 

[SickBeast]

I think that Fusion is a great concept for laptops and it works well in that space.

What I really think would be interesting is if they were to make it possible to upgrade your GPU and your vram in the same way that you can currently upgrade your CPU and memory. Forget PCI-E cards entirely and just build an extra socket and some vram slots into the motherboard.

I realize that's probably asking too much and it would in all likelihood create a logistical nightmare for AMD and nVidia. As an end user I'm just saying that I would like it.

In terms of the OP, I'm not speculating on future AMD products any more. Bulldozer burned me quite badly. I will believe AMD's products when I see them from now on. They are too good at spreading FUD and nonsense regarding vapourware.

 

[Soulkeeper]

I think that Fusion is a great concept for laptops and it works well in that space.

What I really think would be interesting is if they were to make it possible to upgrade your GPU and your vram in the same way that you can currently upgrade your CPU and memory. Forget PCI-E cards entirely and just build an extra socket and some vram slots into the motherboard.

I realize that's probably asking too much and it would in all likelihood create a logistical nightmare for AMD and nVidia. As an end user I'm just saying that I would like it.

In terms of the OP, I'm not speculating on future AMD products any more. Bulldozer burned me quite badly. I will believe AMD's products when I see them from now on. They are too good at spreading FUD and nonsense regarding vapourware.

I agree on socketing everything
they could do it and connect everything via an HT link or similar bus
even memory on sockets would be better imo, then we could put a heatsink on it like a cpu and potentially run it faster