Replies to post #60472 on Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD)

[wbmw]

Yonah first half of January 2006

Mas, from your link:

On the mobility side, Intel is quickly approaching the finish line of the development of the Napa platform which includes the Yonah single- and dual-core processors. Napa is prepped as a late Christmas present and scheduled to be launched in the first half of January 2006. Yonah will make a broad debut, targeting all notebook segments as well as entertainment PCs and Mac mini-like small form factor PCs in combination with the 945GT chipset. The processor will receive a major refresh in the second half of 2006: The "Merom" chip will bring a 64-bit upgrade and 4 MByte L2 cache (twice the size of Yonah's L2) and continue to offer a 667 MHz FSB.

That's sooner than I expected. Intel usually doesn't launch that early in the year. I can't remember the last time they did, at any rate. It also looks like Pentium M will have EM64T in time for Vista. The 2006 Intel roadmap is starting to look very impressive. Where's AMD's?

[wbmw]

Re: Conroe

Re: Documents seen by Tom's Hardware Guide now indicate that the new processor architecture code-named "Conroe" and scheduled for the second half of 2006 will deliver on this promise. If we believe our sources, then Intel is targeting a power consumption of about 60 to 70 watts per processor - or 30 to 35 watts per core.

One would hope that the actual power dissipation is less than 30-35W per core, since AMD's Venice core already dissipates ~30W on benchmark apps at 90nm. Either that, or it would have to be a lot higher performance. Mas, have you found any other info on Conroe micro-architecture improvements?

Re: According to an updated roadmap, Conroe will carry over the 900 sequence number that will be introduced with Presler, the 65 nm version of the current Pentium D 800. Conroe will launch as 940, 950 and likely as 960 version with clock speeds that have not been specified yet. However, we know that Conroe will fit in the LGA775 package of the Pentium D 800 and 900, support Intel's virtualization technology, and will not offer Hyper-Threading capability. The processor will be available in two versions - with 2 MByte and 4 MByte of L2 Cache.

Naming it the same as Presler would be a mistake, unless Intel has a plan for different branding. "Pentium D2 950", for example. Calling Conroe the exact same thing as Presler seems ludicrous. As for being package compatible, that's a good thing, and it will be even better if it supports the same motherboard specifications. Lastly, I would expect Conroe to support VT, and all the other *T and SSE-1/2/3 extensions, but this seems to verify that HT will be out of the design. I guess this makes sense if Merom leveraged some of the existing Pentium M design. SMT would require quite a redesign. 4M of cache sounds about right, too. Intel has been doubling with each new process.