Cybersecurity researcher Moritz Lipp and his colleagues from the Graz University of Technology and the University of Rennes uncovered two new security vulnerabilities affecting all AMD CPU microarchitectures going back to 2011, detailed in a research paper titled "Take A Way." These include "Bulldozer" and its derivatives ("Piledriver," "Excavator," etc.,) and the newer "Zen," "Zen+," and "Zen 2" microarchitectures. The vulnerabilities are specific to AMD's proprietary L1D cache way predictor component. It is described in the security paper's abstract as a means for the processor to "predict in which cache way a certain address is located, so that consequently only that way is accessed, reducing the processor's power consumption."

By reverse engineering the L1D cache way predictor in AMD microarchitectures dating from 2011 to 2019, Lipp, et al, discovered two new attack vectors with which an attacker can monitor the victim's memory accesses. These vectors are named "Collide+Probe," and "Load+Reload." The paper describes the first vector as follows: "With Collide+Probe, an attacker can monitor a victim's memory accesses without knowledge of physical addresses or shared memory when time-sharing a logical core." The second vector is described as "With Load+Reload, we exploit the way predictor to obtain highly-accurate memory-access traces of victims on the same physical core." The two vulnerabilities have not been assigned CVE entries at the time of this writing. The research paper, however, describes the L1D cache way predictor in AMD processors as being vulnerable to attacks that can reveal contents of memory or even keys to a vulnerable AES implementation. For now there is no mitigation to these attacks, but the company is reportedly working on firmware and driver updates. Access the research paper here.

AMD reached a settlement in the Class Action Lawsuit filed against it, over alleged false-marketing of the core-counts of its eight-core FX-series processors based on the "Bulldozer" microarchitecture. Each member of the Class receives a one-time payout of USD $35 per chip, while the company takes a hit of $12.1 million. The lawsuit dates back to 2015, when Tony Dickey, representing himself in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, accused AMD of false-marketing of its FX-series "Bulldozer" processor of having 8 CPU cores. Over the following four years, the case gained traction as a Class Action was built against AMD this January.

In the months that followed the January set-up of a 12-member Jury to examine the case, lawyers representing the Class and AMD argued over the underlying technology that makes "Bulldozer" a multi-core processor, and eventually discussed what a fair settlement would be for the Class. They eventually agreed on a number - $12.1 million, or roughly $35 per chip AMD sold, which they agreed was "fair," and yet significantly less than the "$60 million in premiums" consumers contended they paid for these processors. Sifting through these numbers, it's important to understand what the Class consists of. It consists of U.S. consumers who became interested to be part of the Class Action, and who bought an 8-core processor based on the "Bulldozer" microarchitecture. It excludes consumers of every other "Bulldozer" derivative (4-core, 6-core parts, APUs; and follow-ups to "Bulldozer" such as "Piledriver," "Excavator," etc.).Image Credit: Taylor Alger

AMD, at its post-Ryzen 7 launch Reddit AMA, disclosed some juicy details about its other upcoming socket AM4 chips, beginning with the rest of the Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 3 "Summit Ridge" processor roll-out, and a little bit about its 8th generation socket AM4 APU, codenamed "Raven Ridge." To begin with, AMD CEO Lisa Su stated that "Raven Ridge" will also be sold under the Ryzen brand. This would mark a departure from the less-than-stellar A-series branding for its performance APUs. "Raven Ridge" likely combines a "Zen" quad-core CPU complex (CCX) with an integrated GPU based on one of AMD's newer GPU architectures (either "Polaris" or "Vega").

The range-topping Ryzen 7 series will lead the company's lineup throughout Q1, with six-core and quad-core Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 3 series launches being scheduled for later this year. Our older reports pinned Ryzen 5 series rollout for Q2, and Ryzen 3 series for the second half of 2017. This is likely also when the company rolls out "Raven Ridge" initially as mobile Ryzen products (BGA packages, which will likely also be used in AIOs), and later as desktop socket AM4 parts.

After spending almost 4 years developing and perfecting (as much as can be perfected in such an amount of time) it's ZEN CPU architecture, AMD is looking to extract some mileage out of it. Mark Papermaster, AMD's chief technology officer, confirmed the four-year lifespan in a conversation with PC World at CES 2017 in Las Vegas, though he declined to discuss specifics. When asked how long ZEN would last (especially comparing to Intel's now-failing two-year tick-tock cadence, Papermaster confirmed the four-year lifespan: "We're not going tick-tock," he said. "ZEN is going to be tock, tock, tock."

AMD fleshed out its sub-$150 desktop CPU lineup with the new FX-6330, a socket AM3+ six-core chip based on the 32 nm "Vishera" silicon, which is priced at $109. At this price, it will take on the entry-level Core i3 and Pentium dual-core chips from Intel. This chip offers out of the box clocks of 3.60 GHz, and a maximum TurboCore frequency of 4.20 GHz. Its six cores are spread across three "Piledriver" modules. It features a total of 6 MB of L2, and 8 MB of L3 caches. The integrated memory controller supports dual-channel DDR3-1866 memory. Its TDP is rated at 95W.

Faced with continuous development roadblocks with TSMC, AMD is reportedly planning to switch to the 28 nm SHP process of GlobalFoundries, to build GPUs in 2015. The 28 nm SHP (super high-performance) node will allow the company to lower voltages, giving it greater room to increase clock speeds of its upcoming GPUs. AMD's GPUs in 2015 could be based on its latest Graphics CoreNext 1.2 architecture, and AMD needs every means to minimize voltages, and crank up clock speeds.

The company hasn't abandoned TSMC completely just yet, with reports speaking of AMD using the Taiwanese fab's 16 nm FinFet node to manufacture its next-generation "Zen" CPUs. Zen is the successor to AMD's "Bulldozer" architecture and its derivatives ("Piledriver" and "Steamroller.") It could feature a radically different core design.

AMD is preparing to expand its performance-segment socket AM3+ processor lineup, steering clear of the 220W TDP of its FX-9000 series. The two chips are the FX-8370, and the FX-8370E. The FX-8370 will likely replace the FX-8350 around the $180 mark; while the FX-8370E will be its energy-efficient variant. Both chips offer clock speeds of 4.10 GHz, with 4.30 GHz TurboCore frequencies. While the FX-8370 has a rated TDP of 125W, the FX-8370E features 95W, without a reduction in clock speeds. The FX-8370E could hence come at a slight premium.

Both the FX-8370 and FX-8370E are eight-core processors based on the 32 nm "Vishera" silicon, featuring four "Piledriver" CPU modules that have 2 MB of L2 cache each, and 8 MB of L3 cache shared between the four modules. The chips feature dual-channel DDR3 integrated memory controllers, with native support for DDR3-1866 MHz, and 5.2 GT/s HyperTransport 3.1 system bus. Instruction-sets include AVX, AES, SSE4.2, FMA3, and XOP. The chips will run on all existing socket AM3+ motherboards, with some needing BIOS updates.

In addition to its new A-series APUs, AMD announced two new CPUs, the Athlon 860K, and the FX-8300. Built in the FM2+ package, the Athlon 860K is a quad-core CPU based on the 28 nm "Kaveri" silicon, with its integrated graphics disabled. It features four "Steamroller" CPU cores clocked at 3.70 GHz, with an unlocked base-clock multiplier that enables overclocking. The two modules that make up the four cores feature half their normal L2 cache amounts, and so the total L2 cache is just 2 MB. The chip will run on socket FM2+ motherboards based on the A88X, A85, A75, and A55 chipsets. The FX-8300, on the other hand, is a budget eight-core processor in the AM3+ package. It's based on the 32 nm "Vishera" silicon, featuring eight CPU cores spread across four "Piledriver" modules; clocked at 3.20 GHz, with 3.50 GHz of Turbo Core frequencies. The chips feature 2 MB of L2 cache per module, and 8 MB of shared L3 cache. Its TDP is rated at 95W.

AMD is preparing a new retail package of its feisty FX-9590 eight-core processor, in a bid to woo crowds away from Intel's Core i7-4790K "Devil's Canyon" processor. The package combines an FX-9590, which till now was sold chip-only (without a cooling solution), with an Asetek-made liquid CPU cooler, for US $359. Given that without the cooler, the FX-9590 costs $319, the extra $40 for a liquid cooler adds great value. Based on the 32 nm "Vishera" silicon, the FX-9590 features eight CPU cores based on the "Piledriver" micro-architecture, clocked at 4.70 GHz, with Turbo Core speeds of 5.00 GHz; a dual-channel DDR3 integrated memory controller that natively supports DDR3-1866 MHz, 8 MB of total L2 cache, 8 MB of L3 cache; and modern instruction sets such as AVX, AES, FMA3, etc.

Tipsters pointed us to a peculiar sounding new processor by AMD in the wild, and being distributed by certain OEMs, such as HP. Called AMD FX-670K, the chip is being sold by HP, pre-installed on its Pavilion 500-266ea desktops. Some digging around on specifications available point us to a chip that's essentially "Richland" APU with its integrated GPU disabled. So while it will run on socket FM2 motherboards, you'll have to use graphics cards. "Richland" integrates a dual-module / quad-core CPU component based on AMD's "Piledriver" micro-architecture. The FX-670K features CPU clock speeds of up to 3.70 GHz. So why did AMD choose the FX branding and not Athlon X4, like it usually does with iGPU-devoid APUs? Perhaps the "K" brand extension holds the answer. The FX-670K features an unlocked base-clock multiplier. The HP Pavilion 500-266ea features a socket FM2 motherboard based on the AMD A75 chipset, and discrete AMD Radeon R7 240 graphics. It's priced at CA $650.

AMD today announced the immediate availability of its new 12- and 16-core AMD Opteron 6300 Series server processors, code named "Warsaw." Designed for enterprise workloads, the new AMD Opteron 6300 Series processors feature the "Piledriver" core and are fully socket and software compatible with the existing AMD Opteron 6300 Series. The power efficiency and cost effectiveness of the new products are ideal for the AMD Open 3.0 Open Compute Platform - the industry's most cost effective Open Compute platform.

Driven by customers' requests, the new AMD Opteron 6338P (12 core) and 6370P (16 core) processors are optimized to handle the heavily virtualized workloads found in enterprise environments, including the more complex compute needs of data analysis, xSQL and traditional databases, at optimal performance per-watt, per-dollar.

ENERMAX, a preeminent technology innovator in PC peripherals, unveiled all of its CPU coolers series are available for the fastest Piledriver-based FX-9590 and FX-9370 processors introduced by AMD.

"ENERMAX has a long history of delivering innovations to bolster the CPU cooler industry and we are delighted of all our CPU coolers have been passed on stringent test conditions to support the high-end AMD FX processors " said Dr. Eton Lee, ENERMAX thermal R&D Division. "We are proud of this test result as designing cutting-edge technology to the CPU cooler market has long been our core success for decades."

AMD FX-9370, which has been available only through the OEM channel, could soon be generally available in its PIB (processor-in-box) packaging. The chip will bear the retail SKU "FD9370FHW8KHK," and retail at a price point that's just under $270 (excl. taxes). There's no clarity on whether the PIB package will include a cooling solution, given that the chip retains the 220W TDP figures from other FX-9000 series parts, such as the FX-9590. Based on the 32 nm "Vishera" silicon, the FX-9370 is an eight-core socket AM3+ processor based on the "Piledriver" micro-architecture. It features out of the box clock speeds of 4.40 GHz, with 4.70 GHz maximum TurboCore frequency. It features 16 MB of total cache (L2 + L3).

AMD's energy-efficient socket FM2 desktop APU, the A10-6700T, is expected to go on sale later this week. Its selling point is the 45W TDP, with no reduction in core-count, or other components. Based on the 32 nm "Richland" silicon, the A10-6700T features four "Piledriver" x86-64 cores clocked at 2.50 GHz, with TurboCore frequency of 3.50 GHz, and 4 MB of total L2 cache. It features a Radeon HD 8650D graphics core with 384 stream processors, and untouched clock speeds of 760 MHz core, and 844 MHz boost. The chip also features a dual-channel DDR3-2133 MHz integrated memory controller, and a PCI-Express gen 2.0 root complex. The A10-6700T is expected to be priced around $150.

AMD unveiled the first batch of Athlon X4 CPUs in the socket FM2 package, based on its latest Richland silicon. These chips stop short of being labeled APUs, for they lack integrated graphics. You need a discrete graphics card. Unlike its previous generation "Trinity" silicon-based Athlon X4 CPUs, AMD unveiled a few parts with high clock speeds, some even with unlocked base-clock multipliers, targeting consumers who want to build socket FM2-based gaming PCs, but don't intend to use the integrated graphics.

At the top of the stack is the Athlon X4 760K Black Edition (AD760KWOHLBOX). This chip offers 3.80 GHz of clock speed, and 4.10 GHz maximum Turbo Core frequency. Despite its lack of the graphics core, its TDP is rated on par with the A10-6800K, at 100W. In its consumer-friendly PIB (processor-in-box) package, the X4-760K Black Edition is priced around US $135. A variant of this exact chip, which lacks unlocked BClk multiplier, is named just Athlon X4 760K (the "K" here can be misleading), and is priced around $100. AMD has other quad-core and dual-core Athlon parts based on the "Richland" silicon planned for later.

AMD today unveiled its most powerful member of the legendary AMD FX family of CPUs, the world's first commercially available 5 GHz CPU processor, the AMD FX-9590. These 8-core CPUs deliver new levels of gaming and multimedia performance for desktop enthusiasts. AMD FX-9000 Series CPUs will be available initially in PCs through system integrators.

"At E3 this week, AMD demonstrated why it is at the core of gaming," said Bernd Lienhard, corporate vice president and general manager, Client Products Division at AMD. "The new FX 5 GHz processor is an emphatic performance statement to the most demanding gamers seeking ultra-high resolution experiences including AMD Eyefinity technology. This is another proud innovation for AMD in delivering the world's first commercially available 5 GHz processor."

Desktop variants of AMD "Richland" APUs in the socket FM2 package, will arrive this June. Three of the first models to be released to the market, the A10-6800K, the A10-6700, and the A4-4400, could already be in stock with certain retailers, and were pictured. The A10-6800K (AD680KWOA44HL) features four x86-64 cores based on the "Piledriver" micro-architecture, 4.10 GHz core clock speed, 4.40 GHz maximum Turbo Core frequency, and Radeon HD 8670D graphics, clocked at 844 MHz. It features an unlocked base-clock multiplier.

The A10-6700 (AD6700OKA44HL) features the same graphics core as the A10-6800K, but features 3.70 GHz CPU clock speed, 4.30 GHz maximum Turbo Core frequency, and an upwards locked base-clock multiplier. The A4-4400 (AD4400OKA23HL), on the other hand, is an entry-level dual-core chip with 3.70 GHz core, 3.90 GHz Turbo Core, and Radeon HD 8370D graphics.

AMD introduced two additions to its FX line of socket AM3+ processors, the six-core FX-6350, and the quad-core FX-4350. The two were released as OEM-only parts, late last year, and are now being released to the retail channel, in PIB (processor-in-box) packages. Based on the 32 nm "Vishera" silicon and "Piledriver" micro-architecture, the two chips are designed to hold two extremely catchy sub-$150 price-points.

The FX-6350 features a nominal core clock speed of 3.90 GHz, a maximum Turbo Core frequency of 4.20 GHz, 6 MB of total L2 cache, and 8 MB L3 cache. The FX-4350, on the other hand, features 4.20 GHz clock speed, with 4.30 GHz Turbo Core, 4 MB of total L2 cache, and 8 MB of L3. Both parts feature unlocked base-clock multipliers, modern instruction-sets such as AVX, AES-NI, SSE4.2, SSE4.1, FMA2, and XOP. Both further have TDP rated at 125W. The FX-6350 retail PIB package will be priced as low as US $132, while the FX-4350 will go for as low as $122. The two will also ship with AMD's newest case-badge design, pictured below.

AMD introduced the FX-4130 value quad-core processor. Although slotted in the 4100 series, which suggests it being based on the older "Zambezi" silicon, the new FX-4130 is in fact based on the newer "Vishera" silicon, and the "Piledriver" micro-architecture. AMD is following a competitive (price-performance) approach to its CPU lineup, rather than a pure-performance one, and the FX-4130 is pitted by the company against the similarly priced Intel Core i3-2100.

The FX-4130 features four cores spread across two "Piledriver" modules, 3.80 GHz nominal clock speed with 3.90 GHz Turbo Core frequency, 2 MB L2 cache per module, 4 MB shared L3 cache, and an up to date instruction-set that includes AVX, AES-NI, SSE4.2, FMA, and XOP. Similarly priced Intel chips lack some of these instruction sets. With the FX-4130, AMD is packing a chunkier stock fan-heatsink than older FX-4000 series chips, which spins at lower speeds to keep the chip cool, and is hence less noisy. The new FX-4130 is priced at $99.99.

AMD's A-series "Trinity" line of APUs may have helped make the APU outsell CPUs in 2013, but it won't be long before they're replaced by the new "Richland" A-series APUs for desktops and mainstream notebooks. "Richland" is a tweaked version of "Trinity" which sees AMD stick to the 32 nm process, and retain the "Piledriver" CPU micro-architecture, but increase CPU clock speeds, add a faster DDR3-2133 MHz dual-channel IMC, and integrate a Radeon HD 8000 series Graphics CoreNext iGPU into the silicon. Desktop APU models will take up with A##-6000 series numbering scheme.

The series will be led by AMD A10-6800K, which features every component on the "Richland" silicon unlocked, which includes two "Piledriver" CPU modules amounting to four x86-64 cores, and all stream processors on the iGPU unlocked, with the highest CPU and iGPU clock speeds enabled in the lineup. The iGPU model for this chip is Radeon HD 8670D. The A10-6800K features unlocked multipliers, making overclocking a breeze. Trailing it is the A10-6700, which features all physical components unlocked, but with slightly lower clock speeds, and locked BClk multipler. It features the same iGPU as its bigger sibling, the HD 8670D.

AMD today unveiled nine new mid-range and entry-level AMD Opteron 4300 Series and 3300 Series server processors increasing performance per watt versus the previous generation to maximize compute capabilities in power-constrained environments1, while delivering outstanding value to cloud providers and web hosts. The AMD Opteron 3300 Series processors provide enterprise-class features in a low power envelope at a desktop processor price, making it ideal for web hosts and small- and medium-sized businesses.

The AMD Opteron 4300 Series processors offer up to 15 percent better performance versus the prior generation, based on SPECint benchmark results2. And SPECpower results show up to a 24 percent improvement in performance per watt. As with the AMD Opteron 6300 Series processors, these are socket compatible with the previous generation processor, providing an effortless upgrade path for customers.

AMAX, a leader in High-Performance Computing (HPC) solutions, today announced the immediate availability of its latest, most advanced CPU-based HPC solutions built upon the world's fastest 16-core x86 processor, the AMD Opteron 6300 series "Piledriver" CPUs.

The new server solutions target HPC, Big Data, Cloud, and Datacenter users with large scale-out applications seeking the highest performance and scalability to accelerate, transform and advance scientific discovery and business analytics. Multi-threaded workloads are becoming increasingly popular, but also ever more complex and demanding, and users are challenging AMAX to deliver solutions that provide a rich mix of performance, scalability and efficiency -- precisely what AMAX's ServMax server solutions with AMD Opteron 6300 series processors are engineered for.

Global supercomputer leader Cray Inc. (NASDAQ: CRAY) today announced the Cray XE6 and Cray XE6m supercomputers are now available with the new AMD Opteron 6300 Series processor, using its next-generation "Piledriver" core. With a performance-per-watt that is up to 40 percent higher than prior generations, these new AMD (NYSE: AMD) Opteron processors are designed to enhance power efficiency with more application performance within the same power budget.

"Cray supercomputers are specifically designed to allow our customers to easily upgrade their systems so they can take advantage of the latest, most innovative processing technologies while also reducing their total-cost-of-ownership over the life of the system," said Peg Williams, Cray's senior vice president of high performance computing systems. "We believe the new AMD Opteron 6300 Series processors will significantly improve the performance and efficiency for Cray customers upgrading their current Cray XE6 and Cray XE6m systems. We look forward to delivering this capability to our customers."

AMD today unveiled its new AMD Opteron 6300 Series server processors based on its next-generation "Piledriver" core architecture. The new AMD Opteron processors deliver superior performance and scalability for virtualized server platforms that are central to private and public cloud deployments, big data systems and high-performance computing (HPC) clusters. The AMD Opteron 6300 Series processors strike the ultimate balance between performance, scalability and cost effectiveness to help IT organizations lower total cost of ownership (TCO).

The AMD Opteron 6300 Series processors offer industry-leading performance in SPECjbb2005, a server benchmark used to evaluate Java performance, with up to 24 percent higher performance versus the prior generation AMD Opteron 6200 Series processors. Java is a critical element of the software ecosystem for next-generation data centers. Performance per watt is up to 40 percent higher than the prior generation solutions(2), which means businesses running robust large-scale software systems will be able to enjoy high performance as well as low TCO.

AMD's FX "Vishera" socket AM3+ processors are in for a long haul. According to a DonanimHaber report based on a leaked company roadmap slide, the company plans no new processor architecture to succeed it in 2013. The company recently launched its FX "Vishera" line of eight-, six-, and four-core chips just an year following FX "Zambezi," leading analysts to believe the company would launch a new micro-architecture each year to keep up with Intel's "tick-tock" product development strategy.

The roadmap slide, pictured below, shows AMD FX "Vishera" continuing through 2013 as the flagship desktop platform, followed by "Richland" third-generation desktop APU, which combines "Piledriver" CPU components with "Radeon 2.0 cores" (we're guessing those are Graphics CoreNext stream processors), which maintains socket FM2 platform; and low-power "Kabini" APU, which carries the mantle from "Brazos."