It's Official: AMD Confirms Hexa-Core Thuban CPU
It's Official: AMD Confirms Hexa-Core Thuban CPU
Posted 09/21/2009 at 1:00pm
| by Gordon Mah Ung
30
Comments
Print
Backwards Compatility with AM3 is the Big Surprise
Eat that Gulftown: AMD officials have not only confirmed that it will release a hexa-core processor next year – but it will be backwards compatible with existing AM3 and AM2+ motherboards.
Although heavily reported as a rumor that an AMD six-core was coming to consumer desktops, the company had not confirmed rumors. That is until Monday, when AMD officials told Maximum PC that the chip was a done deal.
“We are all about platform longevity and long-lived upgrade paths,” and AMD spokesman said in a sideways ding at its competitor Intel which has a penchant for requiring new sockets for its CPUs. Intel currently has three different socket infrastructures on its desktop computers – all incompatible. The confirmation also comes one day before Intel’s three-day IDF conference which usually blots out all news from competitors for days.
AMD’s chip is codenamed Thuban and will feature all six cores on single 45nm die. Thuban will feature an integrated DDR3 controller. The company didn’t confirm branding but the chip is expected to be labeled as the Phenom II X6. The chip is derivative of the six-core Opteron chip which made its earlier this summer.
Extrapolating from the hexa-core Opteron, Thuban is likely to be a 346mm2 chip and have a massive 904 million transistors. As a comparison, Intel’s Core i7-975 Extreme Editions have 731 million transistors on a 262mm2 die, the Core i5-750 has 774 million transistors with 296mm2 die and the Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition 758 million transistors on a 258mm2 die.
The chip is expected to have 3MB of L2 and 6MB of L3 cache. The company did not specific initial clock speeds but they are not expected to be as high as the quad-core parts. That’s likely due to added thermal output from the two additional cores.
Thuban is not due until sometime next year and is unlikely to beat Intel’s Gulftown to stores shelves. Intel’s Gulftown, likely to be called Core i9, when it is released, will slip into existing LGA1366 boards and will offer 12-threads to the OS with six of those coming from cores, and the other six from HyperThreading.
More like this
george22
March 21, 2011 at 2:13am
Hrmm that was weird, my comment got eaten. Anyway I wanted to say that it's nice to know that someone else also mentioned this as I had trouble finding the same info elsewhere. This was the first place that told me the answer. chemical engineer chemical engineer salary
george22
March 02, 2011 at 3:48am
I have been depressed and low in energy due to some personal problem, but after reading your article today, I suddenly felt a boost within me and guess what there was a sudden change in my behavior, that’s because your article gave me the best solution for solving the problems in my life. Thanks!!!
comptia a+
ccent certification
david22
January 12, 2011 at 4:02am
hello
Screenshots will be... delayed unfortunately. Hokie had the hardware for the tests but didn't have time to write the article, so I wrote it. However, I didn't realise the FX880M isn't DirectX11.... If anyone wants to run it and grab some screenshots, send me them as png or jpeg ideally, and 800 pixels 70-549 on the longest edge, to david [at] overclockers doot com I'll add them to the article and credit you appropriately.
regards
NeoCambell
October 28, 2009 at 6:06am
This processor is fantastic. I just tried it with Windows 7 and the results are fabulous.
The reality is I bought it for very less than Intel i7 as always.
Go ahead AMD.
Neo
http://www.expertcore.org
pcfxer
October 05, 2009 at 5:41pm
lol, bragging rights with an x6 for n00bs maybe. I love pimping my "old" dual core FPS's against online whores with Intel C2Qs and still having higher FPS than them ;).
94_xj
February 02, 2010 at 9:58am
For the games you play they probably only utilize 2 threads so yeah, your higher clock speeds probably do outperform slower clocked quads. However with x4s becoming commonplace even in notebooks your dual core will start showing it's age soon...unless you keep playing the same old games.
Also us "noobs" who do digital video production, 3d modeling and other multimedia tasks really benefit from more thread processing.
Not everyone plays your old 2 thread games.
Darth Matty
September 22, 2009 at 7:41pm
I think what's best about this, and the planned orochi chips is that where there is competition there's fair(-er) play. I was glad to here about AMD's company restructuring, I was glad to see that Intel lawsuit couldn't stop them. I was glad to see Intel get slapped with a $1.4 billion dollar fine for unfair rebate practices (drop in the bucket though it was), And I'm glad to see AMD still trying to crank out innovative product. Now all they have to do is get their chips to run faster and not just their clock speeds. Maybe someday we won't have to pay $1,000 bucks for a high end CPU.
Gailim
September 22, 2009 at 7:01pm
I think you guys meant to say "Backwards Compatility with AM2+ is the Big Surprise"
AM3 is the current socket so it wouldnt make much sense
MeTo
September 22, 2009 at 7:26am
I think this is just hype. True or False ? After 3 cores you see little or no improvement in test with x1,x2,x3,x4 cores?
dag1992
September 22, 2009 at 11:18am
Not hype at all for some of us. It's great for us 3D modeling and CAD guys. Of course it just gives you bragging rights if your a gamer.
LGA1156
September 22, 2009 at 1:40am
I have a hard time cooling my I7 860 oc'd to 3.8 with turbo on, with a Zalman Extreme, how does intel and Amd expect to cool a 6 core?
punditguy
September 22, 2009 at 6:38am
What temps are you getting? I've got a 920 @ 3.6 idling at 41C and under load (all 4 cores, more than an hour) at 64C with a CM Hyper 212 Plus. I'm curious, because I built this rig last week and I've never used aftermarket cooling before.
___________________________________________
Preferred boot, but will give this Maximum PC thing a try.
dag1992
September 22, 2009 at 5:10am
Well you can always turn turbo off... My V8 cools my i7 950 quite well with turbo to 3.4.
eudolus
September 21, 2009 at 4:32pm
WIN
I new it was a smart move to avoid the quad-core generation.
My x2 5200+ still works wonders, and since ill be able to upgrade to their new ones... more win for me.
Ill still get another mobo though, its just more fun that way.
Havok
September 21, 2009 at 3:58pm
I'm sorry if I don't get too excited over the die size (does it really matter? Don't flame me, just explain it to me), but I like the fact that my mobo can accept this hexacore chip (most likely) when it comes out. When Intel launches their hexacore, most users are going to need to upgrade their mobo, if they currently follow 'the best' Intel architectures. I'm still confused about what's a Core i5 or i7 these days, but I sure as heck know what's an AM2+ or AM3 capable CPU.
OMGWTFBBQ
Nipyf2
September 21, 2009 at 3:14pm
Does it matter if intel comes out with a 32nm proc before amd...
rockntrumpet
September 21, 2009 at 2:59pm
Thanks AMD, 6 cores, awesome..oh but wait...you're still on 45nm technology. Last I checked, Gulftown is gonna be 32nm technology...hmmm, right.....ok then...
dag1992
September 21, 2009 at 1:04pm
AMD back in the high end market? I know they make a good portion from run of the mill budget boxes, but I'd sure like to see them going after Intel at the top. Competition is good for everyone.
paradissis.1
September 26, 2009 at 5:25am
Hell when I left the PC desktop market 4.5 years ago, the AMD FX55 was THE cpu to own. I come back and the game is dominated by Intel :( I do have MUCH respect for AMD for not trying to screw over their current customers by allowing their customers to use their current mobo. This is why I am building a 2nd PC but going the AMD route this time around vs my Q9550.
Q9550 @ 4.33gh nough said!
[URL=http://img182.imageshack.us/i/4335windows.jpg/][IMG]http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/6350/4335windows.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
paradissis.1
September 26, 2009 at 5:25am
Hell when I left the PC desktop market 4.5 years ago, the AMD FX55 was THE cpu to own. I come back and the game is dominated by Intel :( I do have MUCH respect for AMD for not trying to screw over their current customers by allowing their customers to use their current mobo. This is why I am building a 2nd PC but going the AMD route this time around vs my Q9550.
Q9550 @ 4.33gh nough said!
[URL=http://img182.imageshack.us/i/4335windows.jpg/][IMG]http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/6350/4335windows.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
bikerbub
September 21, 2009 at 1:22pm
if AMD comes out with their hexacore before intel, the intel will come out cheaper! everybody cross your fingers
mattman059
September 22, 2009 at 10:56am
Seriously...Intel will come out twice as expensive and label it as "high performance Elite" just to justify the cost.
Connect with MaximumPC
Featured Content
Where have all the memorable videogame enemies gone?
This month's issue
Feature
How to Set Up A New PC
Feature
The State of GPU Computing
How-To
Benchmark an Android Phone
Build It
Sandy Bridge-E
Most Commented Articles
Latest Max PC Tweets
- maximumpc: We referred to "motherboad" prices in an earlier tweet. Not to be confused with motherboard prices, which are ALSO going up.5 hours 27 min ago
- maximumpc: Oh hooray. Motherboad price hikes inbound. http://t.co/nacDWfjJ8 hours 1 min ago
- maximumpc: AMD's New Direction For 2012: Heterogenous Computing, Trinity, and Hondo http://t.co/2KzhCT1N1 day 19 min ago
