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*weta* · 10-17-2003, 12:49 AM

AMD sets date for son of Opteron

Advanced Micro Devices, which released its Opteron chip only six months ago, is already planning to come out with a successor in 2005.

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company is "working like crazy" on the K9, an underlying architecture, or blueprint, for a new generation of chips, said Fred Weber, chief technology officer of AMD's computational products group, during an interview at the Microprocessor Forum here Wednesday.

Chips based on the K9 architecture will likely be released--at least in sample quantities--by the second half of 2005, Weber said. AMD engineer Randy Allen is overseeing the project.

Chip companies release new architectures every three to four years, but the process is becoming increasingly difficult because of power consumption and the shrinking size of transistors. The K8 architecture, the basis for the Opteron released in 2003, was unveiled in 1999 by Weber at the same conference. Chips based on the K8 design were originally due at the end of 2001.

Although Weber declined to provide technical details about the K9, processors that are based on the architecture will likely be capable of containing multiple chip cores--the "brain" of the chip--and of running one or more application threads. Putting more than one core inside the processor boosts performance in a relatively efficient way, Weber and others at the conference said. Opteron, in fact, is designed in a way that enables a second core to be added, Weber noted.

"We will have a multicore product," Weber said.

AMD is also looking at adding threading to future chips. Simultaneous multithreading essentially enables a chip to run two applications, or two "threads" of the same application, at the same time--thereby reducing the time it requires to complete a task. Threading, however, does not provide as much of an improvement to overall performance as multicore technology does, according to Weber.

Most chips that come out over the next few years will likely feature a host of new materials and structures, such as multiple-gate transistors and strained silicon layers, according to analysts.

More information

Cnet

10-17-2003, 12:49 AM	#5 (permalink)
weta Moderator Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 1,661	AMD sets date for son of Opteron Advanced Micro Devices, which released its Opteron chip only six months ago, is already planning to come out with a successor in 2005. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company is "working like crazy" on the K9, an underlying architecture, or blueprint, for a new generation of chips, said Fred Weber, chief technology officer of AMD's computational products group, during an interview at the Microprocessor Forum here Wednesday. Chips based on the K9 architecture will likely be released--at least in sample quantities--by the second half of 2005, Weber said. AMD engineer Randy Allen is overseeing the project. Chip companies release new architectures every three to four years, but the process is becoming increasingly difficult because of power consumption and the shrinking size of transistors. The K8 architecture, the basis for the Opteron released in 2003, was unveiled in 1999 by Weber at the same conference. Chips based on the K8 design were originally due at the end of 2001. Although Weber declined to provide technical details about the K9, processors that are based on the architecture will likely be capable of containing multiple chip cores--the "brain" of the chip--and of running one or more application threads. Putting more than one core inside the processor boosts performance in a relatively efficient way, Weber and others at the conference said. Opteron, in fact, is designed in a way that enables a second core to be added, Weber noted. "We will have a multicore product," Weber said. AMD is also looking at adding threading to future chips. Simultaneous multithreading essentially enables a chip to run two applications, or two "threads" of the same application, at the same time--thereby reducing the time it requires to complete a task. Threading, however, does not provide as much of an improvement to overall performance as multicore technology does, according to Weber. Most chips that come out over the next few years will likely feature a host of new materials and structures, such as multiple-gate transistors and strained silicon layers, according to analysts. More information Cnet