5 replies to this topic

[Vulpesveritas]

For reference'
http://www.techpower...r-Detailed.html

As a self-proclaimed (and most likely many of you will attest to this) loyal user of ethically sold products, I have of course been following AMD's budget/laptop line of processors. Initial benchmarks are looking pretty decent so far for the cost, and the current debate I am currently wondering about; VLIW4 as initially stated or GCN as is being talked about now? This is the first time I'd read 384 cores, which to me wouldn't make sense with VLIW4 as I thought you could pack more cores into less space with VLIW4 than VLIW5. I may be wrong. Someone please correct me if I am, however to me it sounds like if the core count is correct it probably is GCN.

And then there is the new mesh being implemented in AMD's processors to either improve clock speeds by 10% or reduce power consumption by 10%. And given that before this AMD was stating a 10-15% IPC increase over bulldozer to the piledriver core... which means we could see a 20% increase in performance overall.
http://www.engadget....ant-clock-mesh/

So Radeon HD 7660 level integrated graphics (desktop level, not mobile. This is 7750ish level mobile) on a chip which either runs 4 threads at 3.8ghz, or 2 at 4.2ghz, and has both it's CPU and GPU unlocked, with 10-15ish% IPC increase over Llano.

Then it should support according to AMD RAM speed of 2133mhz with it.

Sooo.... with it being VLIW4 or GCN... rebranded last-gen VLIW5 cards wouldn't work with it in hybrid X-fire by all accounts... And given the 65xx graphics A6 and A8 worked with the 6670... perhaps the A10 will x-fire with the 77xx cards? That is another thing making me think AMD will run GCN, that is of course if they decide to continue supporting the hybrid x-fire.

Everyone else's thoughts?

Also, confirmation for FM2 not being compatible with FM1, and FM2 boards being released in June;
http://www.techpower...ve-in-June.html
Also given this, I think I'll be getting an Asrock Motherboard should I go Trinity (which I probably will- at least mobile. Depends.) http://www.techpower...5-Pro4-MVP.html

Edited by Vulpesveritas, 08 March 2012 - 12:49 AM.

[Catamount]

Definitely doesn't sound like VLIW4, you're right. In fact, it couldn't be, because even the 6620G had 400 stream processors, iirc (Notebookcheck supports that number).

Liano was the first integrated chip that supported acceptable gaming performance; Trinity seems like it's going to be the first chip to offer decent gaming performance, from the sound of it. Combined with considerable increases coming in the power of AMD chips, I think it's definitely going to be a winner.


This is bad news for Intel, of course (given that the HD4000 series still doesn't even match Liano, iirc), but they've never been able to get into the graphics market anyways, so no news there.

Edited by Catamount, 08 March 2012 - 05:33 AM.

[Vulpesveritas]

Alright so if it's real info, that would be 75% the cores of a 7750, the same clock speed, and approximately the same memory bandwidth if you're running 2133mhz RAM.
Which would make sense for hybrid X-fire, as the clock wouldn't be an issue with it.
As it stands, we'd be looking at with the above without X-fire something like a 6750-6770ish performance GPU wise. Not to mention the unlocked core overclocking
So that makes sense.
I'd be guessing that if AMD is speaking the truth we'll be seeing Core2 level IPC or thereabouts on the CPU, if not higher.

So if that A10 is priced around $150, that would be the most killer budget gaming center I could imagine. 100w TDP, unlocked CPU and GPU multipliers, Radeon HD 6750ish level graphics, able to be xfired with the 7770 (which would get you Nvidea GTX 560 ti/448 level performance in xfire friendly games) and a CPU on an i5ish level.

That would be... well awesome. (for budget gaming.)

I do hope this is the case.
Lets see... that would be $320ish for APU+GPU, $100-150ish for new mobo, and $60ish for 2133mhz RAM. If that were the case, you'd be looking at ~$500-550 for a new system that would be rather good for gaming, while being able to run on a sub-500w PSU most likely.
... so you could get a decent computer for gaming for$750.
*crosses fingers and hopes*
Oh and I'm wondering if it is GCN, what instruction sets will be pushed over to the GCN cores as they can execute some x86 commands. That would be interesting to see.

[Catamount]

WIth 100WTDP for GPU+CPU, I'd be highly surprised if a machine like that passed 200W during typical gaming. In fact, I'd be very highly surprised if it passed 150W, which is the power draw you'd get running 3dmark11, and Prime95, while ripping an optical disc, and thrashing the harddrive, all at the same time

So yeah, an Antec Eartwatts 380 would be overkill probably

Hell, you could run it on this http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817151085


As for x86 execution, we'll have to see what's easy for programmers. If an API is there to easily port those instructions over, we'll be seeing more of that in games, and I do expect to see that, because AMD seems to have this notion of having everything be GPU-accelarated, or even to have the line between GPUs and CPUs blurred to a point of almost no distinction. Given their expertise in GPUs, that would certainly play to their expertise nicely

Edited by Catamount, 08 March 2012 - 11:59 AM.

[Vulpesveritas]

well the above statement was for the APU + a Radeon HD 7770 as an idea. anyhow. It will be nice when/if (probably will) see low profile versions of the 77xx series too, seeing as they're pretty well placed for HTPC.

Anyhow.

Oh and we'll get zero core with that when it's not in use. Hmmm... that sounds like a great idea for a laptop. Especially since we're talking a mobile 7750 level integrated, plus a 78xx mobile series GCN to X-fire with?

Mobile/budget gaming would be.... quite possible if this is true and AMD comes out with some GCN mobile cards. Which I do hope for. (even if I think that theres a possibility for a no there, although given how well it would likely turn out a trinity 35/45w APU + discrete mobile GPU w/ zerocore = complete win for a low cost gaming laptop. Although I think they won't do that sadly. )

On another note... the 384 core would be impossible to be VLIW5, given that it's not a multiple of 5. VLIW4 wouldn't make sense for it to be 50% faster than the last gen of iGPU, and GCN sounds like it would be perfect with that number, as it would be exactly 75% of the GCN cores of the 7750, at the same clock, and more or less the same memory bandwidth.
So unless that's the count for the A6's 7540 iGPU, then I would say that it's a fair bet it is GCN.

Edited by Vulpesveritas, 08 March 2012 - 02:28 PM.

[Vulpesveritas]

And new "leaked" supposed benchmarks. Also note these scores are apparently having Trinity run on a 32bit OS with only 2GB of RAM whereas the A8 llano has 8GB of RAM.


If these are real I'm excited. Overall 33% ish faster with less RAM then it should have, with a faster CPU that is more energy efficient. I mean, that A10 is using 15% less power than the A8 Llano.

And if this is real, they're doing it on an engineering sample/ pre production silicon. Which would mean we'll see even better when the real thing comes out.

Until we find out more, I must say this is looking pretty nice if that A10 comes out around the same price as an A8.