Bulldozer Maybe Delayed and Need More Tuning

Advanced Micro Devices may further delay release of its highly-anticipated FX-series microprocessors code-named Zambezi that are based on the Bulldozer micro-architecture, according to leaked slides published by a Chinese web-site.


The slides also point to new model numbers for the chips: FX-8150, FX-8100, FX-6100 and FX-4100, which may indicate that the company intends to alter previously set specifications of the chips.

Earlier it was believed that AMD would launch its FX-series of chips in June, 2011. It was also reported that the highest-performing eight-core offering would cost $320, which is in line with the top-of-the-range Core i-series "Sandy Bridge" CPU.

The long-awaited CPUs are now fully-functional and work without flaws, according to a person who wished to remain anonymous. The problem with the delay of the AMD FX family of chips is that they currently cannot operate at truly high-speeds and thus cannot achieve performance levels that AMD wanted them to. As result, AMD will need to design a new stepping of the processor and therefore delay the commercial launch to September.

The currently available B0 and B1 stepping Zambezi/Bulldozer processors can function at around 2.50GHz/3.50GHz (nominal/turbo) clock-speeds and at such frequency they cannot deliver performance AMD considers competitive, a person with knowledge of the situation said on Monday. As a consequence, AMD needs to tune the design of the processor and create B2 stepping of the chip with better clock-speed potential amid similar thermal design power (TDP), which will take several months to complete.

This will slowdown revenue growth of the chip-maker and will also hit its reputation, as this is by far not the first or second delay of Bulldozer in general and Zambezi in particular.

Llano Competitive Positioning

According to some new leaked slides, systems based on AMD's top-of-the-line, A8-series Llano APUs will in fact compete against those based on higher-end Core i5 and lower-end Core i7 processors, with prices of $699 and upward. A6-series Llano chips look set to go against higher-end Core i3s and lower-end Core i5s, while the A4 series will seemingly tackle the lower end of the Core i3 family.


More shocking still, the slide suggests that PCs based on AMD's next-generation E-series processors—Zacate's successor—will compete dollar-for-dollar with systems based on Intel's Pentium processors. However, the slides are dated May 17, which predates the introduction of Intel's new Sandy Bridge-based Pentiums.

AMD's Llano APUs Expected to be Affordable

Desktop versions of Fusion - Llano accelerated processing units (APUs) by Advanced Micro Devices are likely to be rather inexpensive, which may make them popular among PC builders as well as end-users. According to media reports, the new desktop chips will cost starting from $70.

The initial family of AMD A-series "Llano" APUs will include five chips and beside that, AMD will also offer a low-end E2-series solution featuring Llano design. The most affordable solution in FM1 form-factor will cost $70 (E2-3250), whereas the most powerful A-series chip will be priced at $170 (A8-3550P).


AMD A-series desktop APUs will have either four K10.5+/Husky x86 cores as well as Radeon HD 6000-class "BeaverCreek" (320 or 400 stream processors) graphics core or two x86 cores and "WinterPark" (160 stream processors) integrated graphics engine. The chips will support dual-channel DDR3 memory controllers, up to 4MB of cache, select processors may also feature AMD Turbo Core dynamic acceleration technology as well as a special multi-GPU graphics support.

AMD A8- and A6-series APUs set to compete against Intel Core i3-2100-series microprocessors, whereas the A4- and E2-series chips will rival Pentium and Celeron solutions.

MSI WindPad 110W

MSI's WindPad 110W slate has appeared at ExcaliberPC online store, where it's listed with a June 1st arrival date and a $599 price tag. This new 10.1-inch device runs Windows 7 Home Premium and is based on AMD's Brazos platform.

The WindPad 110W has an 1280 x 800 touchscreen, an E-350 APU (two x86 core @ 1.6 GHz, Radeon HD 6310 DX11 graphics), 2GB of RAM, a 32GB SSD, an SD card slot, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0, a webcam, USB 2.0 and mini HDMI ports, and a 4200 mAh battery.