Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD)

[chipguy]

Do you agree with the general consensus that ZRAM is likely to be used in L3

If it is going to be used *at all* in AMD high end processors
IMO it will be for constructing huge L3s.

if so, how long do you think, realistically, it would be before it's put into a design for production? Would we be right in assuming that a good bit of work has been done checking it out and getting the ball rolling if they already have the agreement?

It probably would be used for a high end, big cache variant
of a 65 nm quad CMP MPU at the earliest. That is assuming
AMD thinks there is a big enough market for such a device
and doesn't run into any snags with the technology. Keep in
mind that 1) it would be a separate product line/mask set
than the rest of the Opteron/A64 family so it would operate
on its own cost/yield curve dictated by much smaller volumes,
and 2) OEMs get more conservative for bigger systems so
they would probably want to kick the tires of a ZRAM based
device for quite a while.