Tuesday, December 3rd 2013
"Vishera" End Of The Line for AMD FX CPUs: Roadmap
We'd feared something like this would happen for some time now, but leaked AMD product roadmaps confirmed it that AMD FX "Vishera" is the last line of CPUs from AMD. The company will only focus on APUs from here onward, and at the very most, one could expect CPU core counts to go up from their current quad-core stale-meat since A-series "Llano," which will continue into the 2014 A-Series "Kaveri," too.
The alleged AMD roadmap slide leaked to the web by ProHardver.hu points out that socket AM3+ "Vishera" will exist on AMD's product stack for as far as AMD's eye can see - looking deep into even 2015. Unless AMD is planning on hanging its towel with AM3+, it wouldn't mark its roadmap slide out in this way. 2015 will see the introduction of "Carrizo," an APU that succeeds "Kaveri," which will be based on future-generation "Excavator" CPU micro-architecture, and a future-generation GPU architecture, along with full HSA programming model implementation. "Kabini" will have its spell running into mid-2014, at which point "Beema" will succeed it.
Unless AMD is planning on 6-core, and 8-core APUs with "Carrizo," (we know that "Kaveri" is neither,) the roadmap reveals that AMD has given up on making processors that are pricier than $150. The company could focus its client products division onto APUs and GPUs, while multi-core processors could be kept alive by the enterprise products division under the Opteron banner, although we've not seen roadmaps to back that theory.
Sources:
ProHardver.hu, SweClockers
The alleged AMD roadmap slide leaked to the web by ProHardver.hu points out that socket AM3+ "Vishera" will exist on AMD's product stack for as far as AMD's eye can see - looking deep into even 2015. Unless AMD is planning on hanging its towel with AM3+, it wouldn't mark its roadmap slide out in this way. 2015 will see the introduction of "Carrizo," an APU that succeeds "Kaveri," which will be based on future-generation "Excavator" CPU micro-architecture, and a future-generation GPU architecture, along with full HSA programming model implementation. "Kabini" will have its spell running into mid-2014, at which point "Beema" will succeed it.
133 Comments on "Vishera" End Of The Line for AMD FX CPUs: Roadmap
But yeah sort of sad though. I can totally understand them though, but still.
I understand why, because they cant even remotely compete with Intel in desktop cpu's but it still makes me mad.
This all ties in with Mantle as well. And APU's is the future, most Intel CPU's have IGP's too.
And speaking of Mantle I don't really think it will become relevant, the only way it could succeed is if Nvidia ceases to exist.
Yeah I don't know about Mantle either. If it were to be supported by everyone it would succeed but that doesn't make business sense for NVIDIA and Intel. You don't go out of your way to help a competitor gain mind-share and power. Mantle is certainly an interesting move for AMD though.
That was back in 2010-2011, if I recall correctly, which makes this really old news...other than setting a date for the real transition.
Given that info, this is nothing but good news out of AMD.
I think AMD would be smart to integrate all class CPUs into a single Socket, Namely G34 would be ideal, no FM2, no AM4 etc, like it was with SKT A (462)
If this leak is genuine, it means AMD is not betting on new tech, but betting against Intel. They are betting that Intel takes its time releasing Haswell-E and hence support for DDR4. They are betting that DDR3 will still be the mainstream memory technology in 2015. They are betting that Intel's integrated graphics won't reach parity with their own APUs. Most of all, they are betting that Intel will sit back, become complacent, and milk the consumer; after all, without competition, why innovate?
Except what if Intel doesn't sit back, but instead decides to deliver the coup de grace to AMD? Perhaps by delivering Skylake - a mainstream desktop part with DDR4 support - in early 2015.
Let's also not forget that AMD is shooting itself in the foot by creating such long-lived chipsets and sockets. Motherboard manufacturers don't like long-lived chipsets and sockets because it means they sell fewer products, whereas Intel's tick-tock approach means that every 12 to 18 months, the manufacturers get a new chipset (and hence boards) to sell.
tl;dr AMD doesn't seem to have a roadmap or strategy, so much as a hope and a prayer. I fear that by 2015 their processor business will be in an even sorrier state than today.
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One thing I don't understand about this roadmap is it appears to be all APU based. Will AMD have any non-APUs?
With that said, APUs are the future with portable and low to mid range setups. AMD will benefit greatly from the console market and even more when tablets for gaming become more and more popular with casual gamers., so who knows where AMD will go. they could become a much stronger now that they have directed focus away from the failing side of the business, got rid of the cancer that was eating them from the inside and move forward with one of their most successful products that will continue to grow and grow