"Vishera" End Of The Line for AMD FX CPUs: Roadmap

[btarunr]

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.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Batou1986]

Thanks for the dead socket AMD, never again.

 

[buildzoid]

Please AMD I would buy a 10 core Kaveri FX the day it came out even if it cost 350$.

 

[Frick]

Thanks for the dead socket AMD, never again.

Meh, it lasted three generations. Lets see Intel do that.

But yeah sort of sad though. I can totally understand them though, but still.

 

[Batou1986]

Meh, it lasted three generations. Lets see Intel do that.

But yeah sort of sad though. I can totally understand them though, but still.

3 generations with little to no improvement from the first generation + higher power consumption

I understand why, because they cant even remotely compete with Intel in desktop cpu's but it still makes me mad.

 

[Exceededgoku]

Please AMD I would buy a 10 core Kaveri FX the day it came out even if it cost 350$.

Agreed, but think enthusiasts may have to stick to Intel CPU, AMD GPU's.

 

[EpicShweetness]

Agreed, but think enthusiasts may have to stick to Intel CPU, AMD GPU's.

I came to that reality when something like the Q9550 came out. At that point 45nm was Intel only, and the frequency boost overcame architecture inferiority. By Nehalem well you ever play Monopoly, and your losing. It's a painful spiral my friends.

 

[Debat0r]

Business-wise it's a great move for AMD, as their CPU division wasn't that profitable except for the APUs. Too bad they're losing a great part of the growing pc gaming market, especially now that they're more shifting to that (Radeon is gaming etc). Too bad, intel's prices are gonna go up in a few years, but I guess with a little price cut the FX series can still compete performance-wise with broadwell...

 

[xtremesv]

The reality is sad, practically AMD is saying goodbye to performance and enthusiast PC builders. We won't see anytime soon an APU with 8 physical cores, Haswell-level IPC and R9 290X-like performance. They just threw in the towel. The immediate result: no competition, high prices, slow innovation.

 

[Debat0r]

The reality is sad, practically AMD is saying goodbye to performance and enthusiast PC builders. We won't see anytime soon an APU with 6 physical cores, Haswell-level IPC and RX 290X-like performance. They just threw in the towel. The immediate result: no competition, high prices, slow innovation.

<sarcasm>And Intel is already innovating at a staggering rate</sarcasm>

 

[Frick]

3 generations with little to no improvement from the first generation + higher power consumption

I understand why, because they cant even remotely compete with Intel in desktop cpu's but it still makes me mad.

Oh the improvements were great, if you used it "correctly". FX83xx is still a great chip competing with i5's, in some cases. Which is the problem.

This all ties in with Mantle as well. And APU's is the future, most Intel CPU's have IGP's too.

 

[xtremesv]

Oh the improvements were great, if you used it "correctly". FX83xx is still a great chip competing with i5's, in some cases. Which is the problem.

This all ties in with Mantle as well. And APU's is the future, most Intel CPU's have IGP's too.

Yes, probably APUs are the future but until they are more powerful and fully flexible they are not viable for enthusiasts.

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.

 

[Solidstate89]

Honestly, it makes sense that they're abandoning pure CPUs for APUs - what with their investment into HSA capabilities. What annoys me is that they're just ceding the high-end to Intel. I needed to decide with my latest build whether to go with Haswell or wait to see if AMD would introduce a Steamroller FX CPU. I'm glad I didn't wait, because clearly, I'd be waiting forever.

 

[swaaye]

Yes, probably APUs are the future but until they are more powerful and fully flexible they are not viable for enthusiasts.

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.

Considering how CPUs aren't scaling up considerably in size anymore, since Intel and AMD see the "quad core" as a good spot to stay at for consumers, I can perhaps see APUs reaching parity with the new consoles at some point in the future as manufacturing and memory tech progresses. If that happens it's possible discrete cards will be less interesting in general to most people since APUs will offer adequate capability to play the latest gaming trends.

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.

 

[cadaveca]

I guess AMD's "The Future is Fusion" campaign that ran for at least a year failed to make this obvious.

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.

 

[ensabrenoir]

Nobody should be surprised by this.... intel will be sliower but for them to survive they too must walk this path

 

[ironwolf]

bulldozer, piledriver, excavator... When are we going to get devastator?

 

[Frick]

bulldozer, piledriver, excavator... When are we going to get devastator?

ATOM!

 

[eidairaman1]

AM4, Skt G34?

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)

 

[Fiery]

bulldozer, piledriver, excavator... When are we going to get devastator?

Devastator and Scrapper were the codenames of the iGPU of Trinity APUs

 

[Assimilator]

"quad-core stale-meat"? Y'all mofos need a proofreader.

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.

 

[Dent1]

Thanks for the dead socket AMD, never again.

Intel has changed sockets like 2,3,4 times in the last few years I lose count.



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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?

 

[Vario]

Hinted at in earlier article a year ago: http://www.techpowerup.com/174962/no-new-fx-processor-from-amd-in-2013.html

 

[FreedomEclipse]

It truly sad to see AMD getting 'chased out' of the CPU market like this - Its almost somewhat depressing as back in '95 to '05 AMD seemed to flourish and it was like everything they touched turned to gold. For a company that was so successful they ended up leaving on a very very low note.

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

 

[v12dock]

Get AMD a few years to restructure their CPU departments. I can see top end processor returning in the future. The FX lines were kinda of a embarrassment for AMD anyways give them a few years to fix themselves.