AMD to enter K8L era in 2H 2007
2006-10-4 23:04
In 2H 2007, AMD is entering a new K8L era. Besides the Quad Core, K8L architecture will be introduced to all of the product lines. With great compatibility of Hyper-Transport, whatever K8 or K8L processors will also be supported in both AM2 and AM2+ main board.
According to the latest roadmap for Desktop processor from AMD, the first AMD’s K8L based Quad Core Altair will be available in Q3 2007. With 65nm SOI technology, Altair is introduced as Athlon 64 FX and Athlon 64 X4. The Athlon 64 FX (Socket F+) one is designed for performance enthusiast with 4x4 platform supported, while the Athlon 64 X4 (Socket AM2+) one targets for the mainstream segment with SMP (Symmetric Multi-Processor) technology. Altair would be clocked somewhere between 2.7-2.9GHz, with 512KB L2 Cache for each core such that 2MB L2 Cache in total, and shared 2M L3 Cache. With 65nm SOI technology, its TDP is designed in 125W.
Alongside with Altair, there are also K8L based Dual-Core Antares coming in Q3 2007 and Arcturus coming in Q4 2007. Starting from 2GHz to 2.9GHz, Antares features 512KB L2 Cache for each core and 2MB shared L3 Cache. 2.0GHz & 2.1GHz versions will have 35W TDP, while 2.4GHz to 2.7GHz versions have 65W TDP, and 2.6GHz to 2.9GHz versions have 89W TDP. The first release will only have versions between 2.6GHz and 2.9GHz, while others will be releasing in late Q3 2007.
When we look deep in Arcturus, there are many similarities between Arcturus and Antares. The biggest difference is that Arcturus has no L3 Cache, just 512KB Cache for each core. Starting from 2.1GHz to 2.3GHz, Arcturus is the replacement to single-core Orleans Athlon 64, and with 65W TDP only. On beyond Q4 2007, single core products are only left for the value market, and there is new K8L Spica corresponding to this market.
Socket AM2+ is now confirmed to be the upgraded interface for all K8L products. As AM2+ and AM2 are compatible to each other, K8 or K8L processors will also be supported in both AM2 and AM2+ main board, just different in the bandwidth of I/O.
In addition, the AM3, which was planned to release in 2H 2007, is now postponed to introduced to 45nm models.
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