Tuesday, September 1st 2009

AMD Preparing ''Thuban'' Desktop Six-Core Processor

Sep 1st, 2009 20:23 Discuss (93 Comments)

AMD is planning to create a desktop implementation of its Opteron "Istanbul" monolithic six-core processor. Codenamed "Thuban" (named after a star in the Draco constellation, which means Dragon), the new processor will be based on the socket AM3 package for compatibility with existing and future desktop core logic. It features six cores, 9 MB of total cache (6 x 512 KB L2 + 6 MB L3). Thuban is aimed to make for AMD's high-end desktop processor, as the company prepares to face competition from a near-complete lineup of processors based on the Nehalem/Westmere architectures from Intel. It is expected to be the posterboy for AMD's "Leo" high-end consumer desktop platform that succeeds its current Dragon platform.

Some of the key components that make up AMD Leo platform are the upcoming AMD 890FX and 890GX chipset, companion SB800 series southbridge chips, and members of AMD's Evergreen family of DirectX 11 compliant graphics processors. On the software front, AMD will give its Fusion and Overdrive utilities some big updates. The SB800 series southbridge chips will feature native support for SATA 6 Gb/s and USB 3.0; connectivity is further enhanced by integrated Broadcom MAC Ethernet interfaces. While the Leo platform is expected to launch almost simultaneously with the 8-series chipsets, the six-core Thuban processor on the other hand comes later. It is due only in Q3 2010. Thuban will have come out an year after its enterprise implementation in the form of Opteron "Istanbul".

Sources: X-bit Labs, VR-Zone

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93 Comments on AMD Preparing ''Thuban'' Desktop Six-Core Processor

#26

suraswami

This is awesome. Hopefully its under 95W and work in existing AM3/AM2+ socket boards with bios update.... hmm may be I need to wake up:laugh:

#27

idx

I relay don't know from where did they get this name !!! Thuban means Snake not Dragon .
TEN'NEEN means Dragon in Arabic and the real word is "تنين"

#28

the_wolf88

a Six Core Processor from AMD ! :)

But in Arabic (Thuban) is not (Dragon)

In Arabic (Thuban) Stands for (Snake) :rolleyes:

#29

Hayder_Master

my friend you know my first language is Arabic btarunr "Thuban" mean snake in Arabic , or to be more clear we can say it is the "snake male"

#30

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator

devguyAnyways, go AMD! World's first native x86 quad (a lot that meant...) and now first native x86 hexacore!

First native hexacore is Intel Dunnington (Xeon E7000). It's a monolithic die.

TheLaughingManShouldn't there be slightly more cache? How must L1 cache will it have. I am guessing the standard 128K (64+64) per core. Bring it to 9.768 MB of cache.

L1 caches are not counted in the "total cache".

#31

1Kurgan1

The Knife in your Back

the_wolf88a Six Core Processor from AMD ! :)

But in Arabic (Thuban) is not (Dragon)

In Arabic (Thuban) Stands for (Snake) :rolleyes:

Is that all arabic, snakes and dragons both have scales, and dragons are mythical, so back when "dragons were roaming hte land and knights were killing them" :laugh: I think that the mistake was maybe made between them and would cause a linking name. But I don't know Arabic, so just guessing here.

#32

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator

hayder.mastermy friend you know my first language is Arabic btarunr "Thuban" mean snake in Arabic , or to be more clear we can say it is the "snake male"

Right, Thuban does mean snake, but it's also the name of a star in the Draco constellation. Draco = Dragon.

#33

Binge

Overclocking Surrealism

It seems I've stumbled into reptilepowerup.com :laugh: Snakes become dragons if you add a few tons of flying, fire-breathing, muscle, and magic.

... Yeah. This looks cool. It's interesting that AMD is still progressing with dual channel memory, and they probably do just fine with the bandwidth they currently provide with these setups. Waiting for benchmarks and price point of this badboy before I start badmouthing :p

#34

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator

In a Q3 2010 setting, it shouldn't be priced over $300. It's highly unlikely you'll see a >$300 desktop AMD processor until Bulldozer ends up with technology leadership over everything Intel has.

#35

Unregistered

That's almost 2 years after the I7's, AMD has done this for some time now Hold off till it's needed, make it more efficient, make it cheaper, make it more compatible....
AMD "Unlike our competition we use LUBE"(music)dink dink dung dong.. woooo. ahh-oooo...

#36

mosheen

does that mean we will be getting 5 cores cpu also?? :D

#37

Hayder_Master

btarunrRight, Thuban does mean snake, but it's also the name of a star in the Draco constellation. Draco = Dragon.

name of star i don't know that before nice info my brother , thanx

#38

Zubasa

ShadowFoldHmm, that's pretty awesome. If you're telling the truth, then I will indefinitely get this CPU because of it's name :laugh:

They've been getting their names from stars and stuff tho. Deneb is a star, and Agena is a star.. Thuban appears to be a star too.. Bleh..

Thuban means Deathwing dude! :laugh:

#39

wolf

Performance Enthusiast

I am concerned about these chips for a few reasons

Q3 2010
140w TDP vs Clock speeds

so weve pretty much covered its too little too late on the time front, but I think they can do very well in server/cluster applications against Intel, if they push their release a tad.

I fear these chips will never make a good gaming chip ever for my TDP vs speed argument, given a faster clocked dual core is generally better for gaming than a slower clocked quad, how would we benefit from 6 cores presumably running slower than current quads, and squeeze into 140w territory....

The way I see it this thing is going to be really hard to get to 3+ ghz (out of the box) and that's really what we need for mid-high end gaming these days, 1-2 cores @ 3 ghz or more.... I think this just won't be a gamers chip.

let's not confuse that with benchmarkers* chip :D

*greater TPU community :rockout:

#40

wizard23

i feel so lucky i lived to see the transistor counts back in the 486 erra until the p4 erra and now is starting the core count not far from now i thing we all see core counts like transistors 30 hears from now amd / intel well have 1000 cores or more or even biocores or anything like souper computers that can do a liftoff to space seeps just wondering how it ends wat is the limit of the tecknology

#41

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator

hayder.mastername of star i don't know that before nice info my brother , thanx

Yes, like ShadowFold said, the past two flagship desktop dies are named after stars: Agena (aka Beta Centauri from constellation Centaurus), and Deneb (aka Alpha Cygni from constellation Cygnus). The naming has something to do with K10 "Stars" design.

#42

inferKNOX

Soparik2im pretty sure that q3 is just a rough estimate right now and will most likely come out in q2. also im pretty sure i read that hte sb800 will not have usb3.0 native support. Even 6Gb sata is a laugh as drives dont allow such speeds yet unless in massive raid 0 configs.

Hmph, I'm not impressed with this. The Motherboard Chipset to be exact.
Not only does the chipset not natively have USB 3.0, SATA 6Gb/s and PCIe 3.0, but it doesn't even support x16 all round of PCIe 2.0 in quad CrossfireX! How can they still be stuck on x8? :wtf:
Not impressive at all. Makes shifting from the 790 chipset pointless. :shadedshu

#43

Troubled

Just a though here...but why not have a little more L2 in there too...like say instead of 512Kb per core lets get extreme with it...put 2MB or 4MB per core...that would shut intel up for a while. Could you imagine...a processor with a 30MB Cache??! That my friends would be awesome.

#44

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator

Cache makes for almost half of the die area. It's not feasible. With a fast system interconnect such as HyperTransport, you don't need too much cache anyway.

#45

Troubled

yes, but more cache AND the faster interconnect would be better no doubt. I know that 30mb cache is a ways off for now. But then again, so was 1TB in a single hard disk a few years ago....it can be done...it is just a matter of time until it is. 30MB Cache may not happen until AM4 or 5 comes out but it will happen.

#46

DaedalusHelios

PVTCaboose1337The naming is getting good. I guess they ran out of cities in Europe and decided to choose stars in the universe. They won't run out of those!

Its part of their "wish upon a star campaign" for more processor marketshare.

Is it a drop in upgrade for existing AM3 boards only? I am thinking AM3 only.

#47

Wagoo

PVTCaboose1337The naming is getting good. I guess they ran out of cities in Europe and decided to choose stars in the universe. They won't run out of those!

All Formula 1 venues. :)

#48

raptori

hayder.mastermy friend you know my first language is Arabic btarunr "Thuban" mean snake in Arabic , or to be more clear we can say it is the "snake male"

1Kurgan1Is that all arabic, snakes and dragons both have scales, and dragons are mythical, so back when "dragons were roaming hte land and knights were killing them" :laugh: I think that the mistake was maybe made between them and would cause a linking name. But I don't know Arabic, so just guessing here.

or in Local Arabic too if you pronounced the first two letters in ( Thuban ) like in ( THE ) then it means :

Thuban = fly's ................. man i don't want to buy fly's ....... :laugh:

#49

mdm-adph

btarunrCache makes for almost half of the die area. It's not feasible. With a fast system interconnect such as HyperTransport, you don't need too much cache anyway.

Troubledyes, but more cache AND the faster interconnect would be better no doubt. I know that 30mb cache is a ways off for now. But then again, so was 1TB in a single hard disk a few years ago....it can be done...it is just a matter of time until it is. 30MB Cache may not happen until AM4 or 5 comes out but it will happen.

I swear some of IBM's power chips have like 30MB of cache or something ridiculous like that. Wonder how huge they are. :laugh:

#50

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator

Troubledyes, but more cache AND the faster interconnect would be better no doubt. I know that 30mb cache is a ways off for now. But then again, so was 1TB in a single hard disk a few years ago....it can be done...it is just a matter of time until it is. 30MB Cache may not happen until AM4 or 5 comes out but it will happen.

Interconnect is fast enough. What you're basically getting at is "build a 12-lane highway and four 100,000+ square foot supermarkets for a town with 5000 pop."

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AMD Preparing ''Thuban'' Desktop Six-Core Processor

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