AMD prepares three-core processors

[Nocutius]

This (http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=42369) does comes from the inquirer, but they can be right sometimes. It appears to be an interesting choice for amd, and the inq makes some points as to why they would do it.

What do you guys think about 3-core processors, do they make any sense. I'm not entirely sure how games are programmed, but they should take advantage of an extra core, that is, when they become fully multithreaded. Right now quads are still too expensive, 266€ just for the processor is out of my league at the moment.
I guess if this rumor is true, we'll have to wait for the price of the thing and the first benchmarks to be truly able to decide.

[AJ.]

Huh.. sounds interesting. I haven't heard about this yet. I suppose a three core processor would be an upgrade from a dual core processor. Although, I'm not sure if this would be an advantage worth taking. I think the only way this would sell is if they are close to or on par with quad core performance, and are cheaper by a decent margine. They'd be like a 8800GTS. They're arent quite a GTX in performance, but they are cheaper by a huge margine and offer big bang for your buck.

But then again, this is the inquirer we're talking about here lol.

[sushrukh]

This news about the Phenom X3 is maybe true.X-bit Labs has also published this news.

Advanced Micro Devices may not be in position to release its new dual-processor enthusiast-class platform this year, however, it may be thinking about a different product, according to some unofficial information. Apparently, the company may be mulling about a triple-core microprocessor for desktops.


According to a news-story at Hard Tecs 4U web-site, AMD is working on a processor that would have three processing engines. The company reportedly told its partners about the AMD Phenom X3 chip at a closed meeting, explaining that the chipmaker plans to release such a product because of “market demand”.

The new triple-core microprocessors will feature the same silicon as quad-core chips, but with one core disabled. Nevertheless, the chips will still include 2MB of shared L3 cache and will take advantage of other K10 micro-architecture features, such as SSE4A instruction set, 128-bit floating point units (FPU) and so on. Obviously, the chips will also have advanced power management capabilities.

Technically AMD can easily make microprocessors with odd amount of processing engines thanks to its DirectConnect architecture. However, it is not completely clear how AMD plans to position such chips, considering that it will have to fight both dual-core and quad-core Intel Core 2 processors with its AMD Phenom and AMD Athlon 64 X2 offerings.AMD did not comment on the news-story though.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/images/news/2007-09/3core.png

Link :- http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/cpu/display/20070914212726.html

[Enigmachine]

You could take a quad a kill a core. :)

Most people don't need quad core anyways, there's very little software written to take advantage of it. But going multiple core is inevitable, so why not?

With virtualization I could replace all the computers I have here with only a couple multicores... and they'd be faster. :)

So I guess it comes down to a matter of the cost. If AMD can make them cheap, they'll sell for sure. I think 3 cores is a bit odd (eh) but we'll just have to wait and see... I won't rush out to buy one.

[Kougar]

It's likely true and likely a good idea for AMD to look into. For every Barcelona with a defective core their only choice would be to disable two cores and sell it as a dual-core processor. This way they can avoid disabling a good core, and sell the chip at a better price. Regardless of whether it is sold as a Quad, Triple, or Dual core it still cost the same amount to fabricate.

If Intel makes a Kentsfield and something goes wrong with one of the previously good dies, they simply disable the two cores and sell it as a dual-core instead of a quad.

[trueg50]

Good to hear that they have a plan to salvage units with a bad core.

I just hope that this doesn't mean that they are having any troubles with bad yields.