Thoughts/Speculation about AMD Bulldozer

[Chuchnit]

Guys I was reading this (http://www.techpowerup.com/141759/AMD-Bulldozer-CPUs-Slated-for-June.html) article on TPU about Bulldozer officially getting a launch in June. I'm just wondering what you guys think this new CPU will do? My speculation is that it very may well be one badass chip, but I wonder about the AMD chipset. From what I see/read the AMD chipsets aren't as strong as intel for things like RAID and general I/O stuff. Is this true and what are your thoughts on Bulldozer?

Bulldozer <or= Sandy Bridge?

Sandy Bridge < Bulldozer < s2011 SB?

Bulldozer > s2011 SB?


Which is it?

[Kal-EL]

I think they'll still be one step behind Intel rather than two this time.

[Chuchnit]

I think they'll still be one step behind Intel rather than two this time.

Sounds like the most common sense thing I've ever seen about Bulldozer. It does seem like they are closing the gap. If they can pump 22nm out really quick they'll really be on Intel's heels. I just wonder how this new arch will perform. It is like nothing done before. I don't care about multi-thread performance. I wanna see how it's single-thread performance is.

[OC Maximus]

I think they'll still be one step behind Intel rather than two this time.
^^This^^ I agree with. We will see, may still be fun to play around with.

[rickss69]

If they are as fragile as the 1090T I predict failure.

[Witchdoctor]

Till retail comes out no one will know

Just makes me tired with all this prerelease garbage we have been dealt over the past year or so with all manufactures.

These early benches are surly hand picked cherries IMO. That coupled with reviewers getting greased and all the BS behind the scenes . Who knows the truth

Prediction

Total fail ....

[Chuchnit]

Man I hope they are good just for the sake of actually having a choice. Bringing back the FX name makes it seem like it will be one hell of a CPU, but I just don't trust marketing. I totally agree with you Witchie, I'll pass my judgement once I see results on forums.

[Splave]

I hope we dont have to use these at any upcoming contests

[Witchdoctor]

Man I hope they are good just for the sake of actually having a choice. Bringing back the FX name makes it seem like it will be one hell of a CPU, but I just don't trust marketing. I totally agree with you Witchie, I'll pass my judgement once I see results on forums.

:)

Yea it would be awsome if they hit one out of the park, but I do feel it is a long shot

Hey Al, if they do we will have to get NY Driver to go as the resident AMD consultant ........ :thumbsup:

[Splave]

werd!

[Neuromancer]

AMD has announced they no longer care about x86 performance. So do not excpcet Bulldozer to be a superpi champion. Most benchmarks will probably put it behind X58 for single threaded.

They are focusing more on APU and multi threaded performance now, so Bulldozer will be looked at as more of a "whole system" deal than just a CPU. RW testing will show it to be a stellar system, but "the norm" benchmarks will probably not show it to be so.

Just my thought based on Llano APUs performance.

[Chuchnit]

AMD has announced they no longer care about x86 performance. So do not excpcet Bulldozer to be a superpi champion. Most benchmarks will probably put it behind X58 for single threaded.

They are focusing more on APU and multi threaded performance now, so Bulldozer will be looked at as more of a "whole system" deal than just a CPU. RW testing will show it to be a stellar system, but "the norm" benchmarks will probably not show it to be so.

Just my thought based on Llano APUs performance.

Well isn't Llano and BD two different architectures? I mean bulldozer has no iGPU so they can't play the same game they are with Llano and the new E350 "brazos??" that just launched. It will have to perform all on it's own.

I totally understand where you are coming from about the benchmarks and whatnot, but what stops me from considering AMD for a daily rig is the actual game benchmarks. There are several games where AMD is 10, 20 or more FPS behind any Intel CPU whether it be 1366, 1155, or 1156. Sure you still have plenty of FPS to play with and still maintain good frame rates, but what about games a year and a half from now?

Personally I hope they hit a homerun. Sadly Kal is probably right when he says it will just get them one cycle closer to matching Intel. Maybe they'll catch up on the BD refresh.

[Neuromancer]

Well isn't Llano and BD two different architectures? I mean bulldozer has no iGPU so they can't play the same game they are with Llano and the new E350 "brazos??" that just launched. It will have to perform all on it's own.

I totally understand where you are coming from about the benchmarks and whatnot, but what stops me from considering AMD for a daily rig is the actual game benchmarks. There are several games where AMD is 10, 20 or more FPS behind any Intel CPU whether it be 1366, 1155, or 1156. Sure you still have plenty of FPS to play with and still maintain good frame rates, but what about games a year and a half from now?

Personally I hope they hit a homerun. Sadly Kal is probably right when he says it will just get them one cycle closer to matching Intel. Maybe they'll catch up on the BD refresh.

That may all be true. But AMD also makes GPUs, in fact that is its strength so I expect Bulldozer will be introduced with some new drivers for GPUs that make the process more like the Llano/Brazos series.

My gamer is a athlon II x2 240 @ 3.5GHz on stock cooler (35C load playing black ops, idles in the mid 20s). And a stock 6850. Monitor is 1920x1200. Although usually it powers dual 1680x1050s with one in Portrait for web pages. (something for some reason, nVidia still can't do smoothly :shock: get lots of flickering, flashing and usually a black 2nd screen when I try it on the 580)

[Witchdoctor]

The big deal chuch is the FPS being stable, meaning will the AMD have a more consistant framerate as the only FPS that matter in todays gaming are the minimums .... Will it have the wild wings or will it be a kool cusomer ....

I am rolling the dice on a SB based Gamer, I did look at BD for about ten minutes though ............ :laughing:

[Neuromancer]

The big deal chuch is the FPS being stable, meaning will the AMD have a more consistant framerate as the only FPS that matter in todays gaming are the minimums .... Will it have the wild wings or will it be a kool cusomer ....

I am rolling the dice on a SB based Gamer, I did look at BD for about ten minutes though ............ :laughing:

LOL. Honestly I do not remember whether the good minimum frame rate was an AMD to Intel thing or AMD to Nvidia. Which was why I removed it in my post :)

In one of those comparisons AMD consistently had better minimum frame rates.

There is also another consideration. Things like microstutter. Back on socket 775, dual cores were unacceptable gamers. I went from a quad to dual , and the microstutter was awful. After 2-3 weeks though, I got so used to it I could not see it anymore.

AMD is a very smooth system, it is popular not just because of price. It is generally quicker than an Intel while not necessairly faster.

AMD storage controllers is another thing entirely. they must outsource it to Jmicron considering how bad it is generally. (granted the difference is generally pretty small to bottom and top of storage controllers).

[Chuchnit]

Here is some hefty numbers. I don't have time to actually check the CH post. What do you guys think?


http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=142786

[Witchdoctor]

Once retail is availible I up for some results ....

These preliminary numbers are all good, but we have been misled before.

The thought of AMD knocking one out of the park is way Kool. We would possibly see an early releaase to 2011 if this happens ...

Or at least some crazy fast 1155 CPU's ....

[Neuromancer]

These preliminary numbers are all good, but we have been misled before.

The thought of AMD knocking one out of the park is way Kool. We would possibly see an early releaase to 2011 if this happens ...

Or at least some crazy fast 1155 CPU's ....

22nm is this year. 10% faster than this shit.

2011 is also this year. Also faster than Sandy bridge.

Bulldozer is going to snooze for most people no matter how good it is. Because it will not Pi like intel

Sucks to point it out but it is true.

[Kal-EL]

It'd be interesting if it gives a strong rub in 3D and on HLe ;)