AMD Unveils First Native Quad Core

The 4x4 platform is out. And believe me, it wasn't such a success. But I guess no one was expecting it to be a head-twister so my words won't surprise anyone. At the same time, AMD knew that its actual CPU line wasn't going to be a match for Kentsfield. However, they're on to something.

The 65 nm native quad cores - Barcelona will be the first 65 nm CPUs that will integrate 8 GB HTT link, dual 128-bit SSE data interfaces, a new crossbar design with load balancing, enhanced power management, and support for DDR2 memory (and DDR3 with upcoming memory controller revisions). Comparable to Intel's Core technology, AMD can actually control the load on each of the CPU cores, so if there is no need to use all four of them, only one, two or a maximum of three cores will be filled up with instructions, with the rest of the cores remaining idle. As a result, power consumption and also TDP could drop dramatically.

Barcelona will be related to the Agena FX (Athlon 64 FX) and Agena (Athlon 64 X2) processors, which are due to be come out in Q3 2007. Agena cores will be clocked between 2.7 GHz and 2.9 GHz using 65nm process and will also come in 1207-pin LGA form factor.

As for INTEL's upcoming 45nm, "Penryn", it will give birth to "Bloomfield" (quad-core, single-die), "Yorkfield" (8-core, dual-die) and Ridgefield (dual-core, single-die) CPUs. AMD won't probably be able to match Intel's 45 nm technology at least until 2008 so it's safe to assume that the transition to 65nm combined with the release of native quad core is a very important issue for AMD.