McJimbo - Re:"Drew Prairie confirmed that AMD had ATHWiper SMP systems "running in the lab" in June or July of 1999."
Do you have a link?
Link please... "
You want a LINK ??
You said PLEASE ??
My my - how polite !!!
Whatsammata, Jimbo - don't believe me ?
Here's your LINK !!!! from July 28, 1999
"EH: Have you tested the Athlon extensively in SMP configurations?
AMD: Me personally, no. :-) (I wish). We do have dual processor implementations currently running in the lab. "
Paul
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extremehw.com
AMD Athlon Q&A
With AMD's Drew Prairie
Written by: Michael Brinton
Date: July 28, 1999
Extreme Hardware: When can people expect to buy the Athlon chip itself (from resellers at the OEM level, not necessarily the retail level)?
Drew Prairie: The AMD Athlon processor is planned to be featured in systems that are available for sale in August.
EH: When can we expect to see full systems based on the Athlon to appear?
AMD: Ultimately, exact system availability dates are controlled by our OEM and reseller partners. We plan for systems to be available for purchase in August.
EH: Will these systems have a significant retail presence (in other words, when you walk into a Best Buy or CompUSA, will they be easy to find and/or prominently displayed?)?
AMD: Systems are planned to be available for purchase in August. As for the specifics on where, when, and what sort of retail presence they will have --- we haven't gone into that level of detail yet.
EH: Will the Kyrotech 750-1000Mhz systems ship the same time as "plain" Athlon systems? If not, do you have any idea when we will see these systems
available?
AMD: You will have to talk to Kryotech about the availability of their product. I believe some of the Kryotech partners have already been advertising their initial AMD Athlon systems. There is no difference between the CPU featured in the Kryotech systems and the parts we sell to other customers. All the extra juice is derived from the specifics of the Kryotech implementation.
EH: How readily will the Athlon be available internationally? More specifically, how about in Canada and the United Kingdom?
AMD: Can't get into specifics with too much granularity. Systems are planned to be available for purchase in August in the major regions of the world.
EH: Define "major regions"
AMD: Sure. North America, Asia, Japan, and Europe would all be defined as major regions. Not to say availability will only be limited to these regions....
EH: What will the initial clockspeeds and L2 cache configurations be for the
Athlon? What will be the L2 cache speed?
AMD: The AMD Athlon is already shipping to OEMs in speeds of 500, 550, and 600Mhz. The initial L2 cache size is 512Kb, operating at ½ the core speed.
Pricing:
AMD Athlon 500=$324
AMD Athlon 550=$479
AMD Athlon 600=$699
All these prices are in 1K lots.
EH: What is a rough price range for a complete Athlon system?
AMD: These prices are entirely controlled by our partners. Based on suggested system configurations we supply to our partners, system prices are planned to range from $1,299 to $2,599+ for an extremely high-performance configuration. You'll have to ask Kryotech about their planned system pricing.
EH: What is AMD's pricing strategy with the Althon? With past processors
(K6,K6-2/3) AMD has kept prices 25% below competing Intel chips (at the same
clockspeed). Will the Athlon follow any similar pricing scheme?
AMD: Our pricing strategy is based on our analysis, with customer input, of what processor price should be for each system price point, enabling our customers to offer superior products at all price points.
EH: If Intel were to lower Pentium-III prices so that P-IIIs would be cheaper than competing Athlons (at the same clockspeed), would AMD respond by equaling or beating Intel's Pentium-III prices?
AMD: You know our strategy. Superior products at all price points. However we get there, we plan to enable this.
EH: What's your take on the rumors that Intel is lowering Pentium-III prices to undercut the Athlon?
AMD: I don't know anything about Intel's pricing strategy, so I can't really offer any comment. Look at the performance numbers on the benchmarks we have released so far. Regardless of the pricing strategy they take, we plan to demonstrate a significant performance advantage over the current generation of x86 CPUs.
EH: Does AMD have the fab capacity to produce a large number of Athlons to fit
the demand?
AMD: We plan to build hundreds of thousands of AMD Athlon processors in Q3 and more than one million in Q4. This represents a significant production ramp that we plan to implement for the AMD Athlon.
EH: How many Athlon processors do you expect to sell in the first few
months(and year) after its release?
AMD: Got to keep going back to my previous answers. Obviously we don't plan to build more processors than we can sell or to over commit fab capacity.
Technology:
EH: With 3Dnow!/Athlon optimizations, we know that the Athlon is faster than a Pentium-III. However, how does its floating performance compare versus the Pentium-III in applications optimized for Pentium-II/III CPUs and not 3DNow!?
AMD: The AMD Athlon processor has two parallel x87 pipelines compared to one for the PIII, enabling twice the peak x87 floating point execution rate of the Pentium II/III. According to the SPECfp_base95 benchmark, the floating point performance of the AMD Athlon processor is more than 40% higher than that of an equally clocked Pentium III Xeon! We haven't released any performance numbers comparing the Athlon on non-optimized sw to the PIII running with optimized software. The SPEC numbers should speak for themselves though. :-)
EH: What's your view on PC133 SDRAM? Can you ever foresee it being officially
used with the Athlon?
AMD: All of the next generation memory technologies (DDR, Rambus, PC133) are all going to be important for future platforms. This support is dependent on specific chipset implementations. We plan for all of these memory technologies to be supported on the AMD Athlon processor platform during 2000.
EH: What's your view on RAMBUS technology? Do you realistically see it making an effect in mainstream computers or workstations anytime soon?
AMD: We have a license with RAMBUS. My understanding is that our customers (the OEMs) are leaning more towards other memory technologies for more near-term implementations.
EH: What types of memory will be available for use with the Athlon initially and
in the near future?
AMD: We haven't disclosed the feature set of our initial chipset, which determines the memory supported on the motherboard. All of our public demonstrations to date have been with PC100 memory implementations. Again, we plan for the AMD Athlon platform to incorporate support for next-generation memory technologies during the year 2000.
Athlon Motherboards
EH: Who will be producing Slot-A Motherboards?
AMD: FIC and Gigabyte have announced plans to offer Slot A motherboards. We are working with a number of tier one motherboard providers that will be announcing products or product plans very soon.
EH: Why is there so little announced support for the Athlon from motherboard
manufacturers?
AMD: I can't really speak about our partner's marketing or communications plans. I can say that we have been working with a number of partners to ensure the infrastructure required exists to support the volume of processors we plan to make throughout the year --- and beyond.
EH: What percentage of Athlon motherboards will be produced by AMD?
AMD: We don't plan to produce any productized motherboards. They will all be offered by our partners.
EH: What percentage of Athlon motherboards will feature AMD's chipset?
AMD: At launch, the AMD chipset will be the only chipset available for the AMD Athlon system platform. By default then it will be 100% for the time being. I wouldn't expect this to be the case moving forward.
EH: Will Athlon motherboards offer ISA slots?
AMD: You'd have to talk to the specific motherboard companies about their product plans. The public demonstrations we gave of the AMD Athlon processor used an AMD-designed motherboard that did feature ISA slots.
Software
EH: Do you have ISV's implementing your new instructions in their software?
AMD: Yep. 3DNow! has been well received by the ISV community --- hence Intel's adoption of a similar technology. The potential to deliver a better computing experience through optimizations for specific hardware platforms is a compelling reason for ISVs to support the 3DNow! technology.
EH: Where will the biggest gains come in your Athlon/3Dnow! instruction set?
AMD: First off, most of the non-optimized software written with the P2/P3 architecture in mind will automatically run fast on the AMD Athlon processor. Further performance gains in terms of both floating point and integer performance can be had with specific optimizations. The biggest gains will likely come just from the software running on the AMD Athlon processor, with integer/floating point optimizations increasing this performance.
EH: What new 3DNow! instructions have been added with the Athlon?
AMD: We have added 19 additional integer extensions to offer data streaming capabilities. We have also added 5 extensions that address DSP functionality (soft modem, soft DSL, AC-3, etc.)
EH: How will these new instruction help performance? Will they make a noticeable difference?
AMD: On applications that can take advantage of the new extensions, a performance delta can be realized. We didn't just add these new instructions for marketing reasons. They serve an engineering purpose and will enable ISVs to reach new performance levels on x86 machines.
EH: What types applications/games will take advantage of the new instructions?
AMD: The 19 new instructions enbale cache control and streaming acceleration. So any applications that utilize this type of functionality (Internet plug-ins, streaming audio/video, speech recognition, etc).
EH: I've heard in the past that one reason AMD's K6 line of CPUs has always been behind in terms of FPU is because most applications and games today are
optimized for the Pentium-II and not the K6. Is this true?
AMD: The floating point unit on the K6 family of processors was not as robust or powerful, as the FPU in the P6 family of processors (Pentium Pro, P2/P3, etc). This was addressed with the AMD Athlon processor - and now we offer the CPU with the most powerful floating point unit ever delivered in an x86 processor. I think your question will answer itself to some degree when we release additional benchmarks later this summer.
EH: And 3Dnow! support fixes this disadvantage, correct?
AMD: 3DNow! technology (on the K6 family) enables a single instruction to return multiple data (hence the acronym SIMD for single instruction, multiple data). This enables a significant performance gain in sw that supports 3DNow!. A prime example of the potential of the technology on for the K6 family is Quake2. The 3DNOw! optimized version of the game offers nearly a 50% increase in performance over the non-optimized version of the game.
EH: Do you have companies interested in the Athlon for high-end server applications?
AMD: Look at the SPECfp and SPECint numbers we have already disclosed. They clearly demonstrate the AMD Athlon processor offers workstation/server class performance, exceeding that of the Intel's server product Xeon. Given the ability of the processor to form the foundation for a very powerful server implementation, the interest is definitely there. There are obvious platform requirements that must also be in-place for high-end server applications, and we have said in the past that we plan to move the AMD Athlon processor into this space once the appropriate platform is in place.
EH: Could you please clarify some of these "obvious platform requirements" for high-end servers? Also could you give us an estimate on when we will begin to see Athlon servers? Q3? Q4? 2000?
AMD: Sorry about that. Obvious platform requirements for high-end servers include (but are not limited to) multi-processor support, extreme reliability of the platform, manageability, security. Sorry to be ambiguous about the date, but at this time I can't go into details on when we plan to introduce a part targeted at this market.
EH: What compiler support for 3DNow! optimization is currently available?
AMD: MSFT announced plans to support the technology in future versions of Visual Studio. In addition, the AMD Athlon processor is supported by other development tools offered by Metrowerks, Numbega, and AMD's own Code Analyst software tool.
EH: When will we see full 3DNow! compiler optimization support (non-beta)?
AMD: Sorry, that information has not been disclosed publicly.
EH: Could you give a brief rundown of the current support for 3Dnow! via video card drivers? In other words, which companies offer 3Dnow! support currently?
AMD: The guys supporting 3DNow! technology in their cards now are nVidia, 3dfx, Matrox, ATI and S3.
EH: What about 3DLabs?
AMD: We work closely with a number of additional graphic card and chip vendors. The above list should not be seen as an exhaustive list of all the companies we are working with. At this time though, I don't have anything to add about a specific company.
EH: What company has optimized their code the most for 3DNow!?
AMD: I'm not sure. A single company (no matter how large) isn't as important as getting support from a large group of developers --- something our developer relations team has worked very hard over the past 2+ years to accomplish. Again check out the 3DNow! website (www.3dnow.com) to see an extensive listing of the companies that either support or plan to support 3DNow! technology in their products.
EH: Could you give us an update on developer support for 3Dnow!? Approximately how many developers do you have working with 3DNow!?
AMD: Our developer relations team works with hundreds of ISVs and IHVs to ensure a broad section of the developers are working with/on our platforms. Anytime you try to make a list or offer a count, you are bound to forget some people --- so I'd rather not even hazard a guess as to an approximate number of ISVs/IHVs we are working with. Again, check out our web site to see the type of support we have in the industry, in terms of both the number of applications and developers who either offer or plan to offer optimized applications.
EH: How far have you come in terms of developer support for 3DNow! since the K6-2 release?
AMD: Immeasureable. Our developer relations group has worked tirelessly since before the launch of the K6-2 to ensure SW/HW support exists for 3DNow! technology. The group has been working like mad to provide platforms, technical support, and development support for the leading ISVs/IHVs. Additionally, the developer relations group has undertaken significant co-marketing programs that have gotten the AMD message out to as broad an audience as possible. The proof is in the pudding, so go check out www1.amd.com to see a complete list of products that support 3DNow! technology. Keep scrolling, keep, scrolling, keep scrolling. :) Yeah, we've come a long way and plan to continue along the same path.
EH: Have you been able to attract more 3DNow! developer support due to the Athlon's high performance?
AMD: The ISVs/IHVs I have spoken with have been EXTREMELY excited with the performance of the AMD Athlon systems we have provided them for development purposes (see John Carmack's .plan file for one example). The ISVs/IHVs recognize that we are the first x86 CPU guys to get to the seventh generation, and that the AMD Athlon processor exhibits performance capabilities in-line with that claim. Anytime they get more power to play with they like it and will find ways to take advantage of the performance increase with their products. Likewise, we will continue to innovate on our side to ensure their performance demands can be met.
Other
(A Reader Question): "Besides the larger L1 cache, and a floating point unit that has advantages for particular situations, the other biggest advantage is the kryotech cooling. What makes AMD think Intel won't simply copy this?"
AMD: I'd actually disagree with the premise of the question. In addition to an L1 cache that is 4x larger than Intel's current CPUs, and the industry's most powerful x86 FPU, the AMD Athlon processor also incorporates several additional technical innovations. A deeply pipelined 9-issue superscalar microarchitecture, enhanced 3DNow! technology for data streaming, and a 200Mhz system interface that can scale to 400Mhz in the future. That is not to say that the Kryotech systems won't kick some serious butt. 800Mhz! I got to keep saving those pennies.
EH: Have you tested the Athlon extensively in SMP configurations?
AMD: Me personally, no. :-) (I wish). We do have dual processor implementations currently running in the lab. SMP configurations are on the road map, and I believe public statements have been made by some of our chipset partners (HotRail and API) regarding SMP support within future chipsets.
EH: When will we first see multiple-processor Althon motherboards available?
AMD: Again, this is a motherboard vendor issue and I can't speak for their product plans. We haven't disclosed any details on our end in terms of this one either.
EH: When will we begin to see multiple-processor Athlon Systems?
AMD: Well....this would be an OEM issue and I don't won't to speak for them. :) Without being too frustrating (have I passed that point yet?) I'd say that you should expect to see some product plans from additional chipset guys that provide details on MP Athlon processor support. I know HotRail and API have already announced product plans in this space for high-end implementations. If you are asking about SMP stuff for "power" desktop users, there really isn't anything I can say in terms of timeline other than stick close and wait for some of our other partners to announce chipset features.
EH: Will we be seeing any television ads for the K7 (similar to the K6 ads,which were great BTW)?
AMD: Can't get into the details, but the short answer is yes we plan to have a complete television and print advertising campaign for the AMD Athlon processor. As evidenced by the question, it sounds like one of the first things we need to do is let people know that the product now has an official name as opposed to the K7 codename. Hopefully, you will like these ads as much as the older one.
EH: What voltages will the Athlon ship at?
AMD: We haven't disclosed this level of detail yet.
EH: Will there be any bus speed or multiplier locking on the Athlon (to prevent overclocking)?
AMD: As far as I know, there are no plans to lock either the multiplier or bus frequency on the AMD Athlon processor. Overclocking may not be as easy as it is on the Super7 platform, but it won't be locked.
The Future
EH: Could you give us a rough indication of planned future clock speeds for the Athlon, and when we might see them?
AMD: 650Mhz in Q3 and 700Mhz in Q4. We have also said we plan to introduce 1Ghz in the year 2000. Hold on to your hats.
EH: What improvements (such as moving to a .18micron die and copper) are
planned for when might we see them?
AMD: Here is what we have disclosed to date. We plan to begin shipping .18 micron versions of the Athlon from our Austin Fab in Q4 of this year. .18 micron copper versions of the AMD Athlon are planned to ship during the first half of 2000. Other planned improvements (that do not have publicly disclosed dates attached to them)include: ramping the FSB frequency, enabling chipsets supporting additional memory technologies, and obviously increasing the speed of the processor.
EH: Do you expect the slower Athlons (500 initially) to quickly take over the low-end, $100-200 market?
AMD: Short answer is no. The AMD Athlon, in its current implementation, is not targeted to compete in this market. This is the space where the K6-2/K6-III have competed and have done a great job of earning market share by offering competitive performance with Intel CPUs at lower prices points.
EH: How long do you realistically expect the K6-2/3 to remain in the OEM/reseller market?
AMD: We have no plans to discontinue the K6 product family any time in the near future. We still plan to ship in excess of 20 million K6 family CPUs this year alone.
EH: What are AMD's plans with the Super 7 platform? Will there be a successor to the K6-2/3?
AMD: We haven't disclosed any additional plans for the K6 family of products. We know what is needed to remain competitive in the markets that the K6-2/III compete in, and we plan to fulfill these requirements moving forward.
EH: Have you ever considered creating a Socket-370 K6-2/3 for compatibility purposes?
AMD: I've never considered it, but that is probably good since I was an english major in college. Jokes aside, we have not stated any plans to implement a Socket-370 implementation for any of our CPUs.
EH: Will Slot-A ever cater to low-end CPUs?
AMD: A future version of the AMD Athlon processor will be targeted at the value PC market. We haven't disclosed details on what the product features on this version of the chip may be, or when the part is planned to be available.
EH: Does AMD have plans to produce a 64-bit CPU in the future?
AMD: We haven't disclosed any details on future CPUs beyond the AMD Athlon. Just like in the performance PC space, we know what future products will be needed to remain competitive across the entire performance spectrum and we plan to continue competing in all of these areas.
EH: Is AMD working on an unannounced, undisclosed, unofficial, unnamed 64-bit processor for some undetermined time in the future? <g>
AMD: I can neither confirm nor deny the existence of said product, being developed under said timeline, incorporating said features. ;) With that out of the way, the answer is yes.
EH: Does AMD plan to stay with the Slot-A bus for future CPUs (at least the next generation)? In other words, for the next version of the Athlon, will users need to upgrade their motherboards?
AMD: We haven't disclosed any details about future versions of the AMD Athlon processor. If you are asking whether someone who buys an AMD Athlon CPU/MB combo at launch and is worried about having an obsolete product 3 months down the road --- that should not be a concern.
I would like to thank AMD's Drew Prairie for taking time to participate in this EH Q&A session. |
