Monday, May 23rd 2011
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AMD Bulldozer, Llano Pricing Surface
Here are the first figures made public of the market prices of AMD's upcoming two lines of desktop processors. AMD will approach the desktop PC market with two platforms, the A-Series "Llano" accelerated processing units (APUs), and the FX-series "Zambezi" processors (CPUs). APUs are functionally similar to Intel's Sandy Bridge processors, in having processor cores, a graphics processor, memory controller, and PCI-Express switch packed into a single piece of silicon. AMD is apparently relying on its powerful GPU architecture to make Llano a more wholesome product. Zambezi functionally resembles Intel Westmere/Bloomfield, in having a number of processing cores, a high-bandwidth memory controller, and a large cache packed into a single die, making up for a performance part.
By mid-June, AMD will launch the FX-Series with two a 4-core, a 6-core, and two 8-core parts. The series will be led by eight-core AMD FX-8130P priced at US $320, trailed by FX-8130 at US $290. The former probably is a "unlocked" part. Next up is the six-core FX-6110, priced at $240. Lastly there's the quad-core FX-4110, going for $220. You will notice that the price per core isn't as linear as it was in the previous generation.
Around the same time as the FX-Series, AMD will launch its A-Series APUs, based on the brand new FM1 socket and single-chip chipset. The series is capped off by A8-3550P, which is an unlocked quad-core part priced at $170. Its "locked" variant, the A8-3550, will be priced $20 less, at $150. The A8 sub-series consists of quad-core parts with 400 stream processors enabled in the iGPU. Next up is the unlocked A6-3450P quad-core priced at $130, its locked counterpart, the A6-3450, is priced at $110. With A6 sub-series, the iGPU has 320 stream processors. At the bottom of the pile are dual-core parts, A4-3350P priced at $80, and E2-3350 at $70. The E2 sub-series has 240 stream processors on the iGPU. All prices in 1000-unit tray quantities.
Source:
DigiTimes
By mid-June, AMD will launch the FX-Series with two a 4-core, a 6-core, and two 8-core parts. The series will be led by eight-core AMD FX-8130P priced at US $320, trailed by FX-8130 at US $290. The former probably is a "unlocked" part. Next up is the six-core FX-6110, priced at $240. Lastly there's the quad-core FX-4110, going for $220. You will notice that the price per core isn't as linear as it was in the previous generation.
Around the same time as the FX-Series, AMD will launch its A-Series APUs, based on the brand new FM1 socket and single-chip chipset. The series is capped off by A8-3550P, which is an unlocked quad-core part priced at $170. Its "locked" variant, the A8-3550, will be priced $20 less, at $150. The A8 sub-series consists of quad-core parts with 400 stream processors enabled in the iGPU. Next up is the unlocked A6-3450P quad-core priced at $130, its locked counterpart, the A6-3450, is priced at $110. With A6 sub-series, the iGPU has 320 stream processors. At the bottom of the pile are dual-core parts, A4-3350P priced at $80, and E2-3350 at $70. The E2 sub-series has 240 stream processors on the iGPU. All prices in 1000-unit tray quantities.
80 Comments on AMD Bulldozer, Llano Pricing Surface
The list price on the FX-series "Zambezi" processors look great. I am currently running the Phenom II X6 1090T 4.0GHz OC and this ASUS Crosshair Formula IV is one of the boards that has support for it. So needless to say, I have been really considering upgrading to an octo-core.
At a cost of about $300, there is a good chance I may jump on the Zambezi bandwagon pretty early on and give the processors a spin. That's highly affordable considering what you are getting. Can't wait to see how one of these will run in my system.
I really don't care about synthetic online benchmarks, they never tell the whole story. I am a gamer at heart, and I configure my main rig accordingly. Simply put, I don't play synthetic benchmarks, I play games. Gameplay performance is far more important to me. So I really want to put this puppy to the test for myself.
:D
And Intel asking Apple for tech leadership / guidance on future products in another topic is so freaking scary.
Good to see decent prices for a Octa-core. Hopefully the performance is really good to justify the upgrade.
And to see that the octo cores are going to be competing against the 2600/2600k makes me feel a lot better in regards to Bulldozer's performance. However, like most other smart people I think I will wait for benchmarks before I make a quick spendthrifty decision.
ASUS: event.asus.com/2011/mb/AM3_PLUS_Ready/ (I own the Crosshair Formula IV)
MSI: event.msi.com/mb/am3+/
I believe other manufacturers are also doing this, but I do not have other links on hand at the moment.
The cores within a Bulldozer module do share a lot, but they also have a considerable amount of things they don't share (not just the integer unit).
PS.
Everybody implies that 4 module BD is a rightful 8 core CPU and deserves premium price for 8 core CPU?
If anything, all that does is confirm the suspicion that AMD is going to be selling quads as gimped octal cores (same with hex cores). In fact, it looks like MSI is going to be hopping once again on the unlocking train.
1055T is good enough for me when it comes to gaming (especially considering all these non hardware intensive games coming out)
Bulldozer on any level is a new architecture for AMD and a lot more complex than current AMD CPU's. The whole "unlockable" cores thing stands to either not work or give much lower unlocked numbers than we are seeing now.
The 4 and 6 core Bulldozer chips are pretty well priced, but im still eager to know whether or not the performance will be worth it.
Usually you see numerous of benches over a month before a product is actually released.
Honestly, I see this hurts AMD more, because people can't decide if BD is worth waiting for, or act now and get Sandy Bridge, in which most people have done.
What were you expecting for 8-core processors, $200?
If the Bulldozer 8-core are overpriced, I wonder what the Core i7 970, 980X and 990X are. :>
And the 970, 980x/990x aren't overpriced in my view due to the already proven performance.(though they're still way to expensive for me)