The next generation of CPUs incoming.

[Irloki]

It looks like AMD's Bulldozer CPUs are going to be launched on Oct. 12.

lenzfire. com/2011/07/amd-bulldozer-release-date-finalised-24475/

Looks like The top Bulldozer will beat the 2600k in many areas as well as smashing the 2500k in all areas.

lenzfire. com/2011/09/amd-bulldozer-fx-processors-benchmark-results-vs-core-i7-2600k-70406/

Looks like AMD has caught up with the last generation of intel CPUs. With Ivy Bridge not set to take the stage until the first part of next year, does anyone think AMD will compete in the high end of the market again?

For those who do not care to go to the link here are the prices of the first wave on Oct 12:

AMD FX-8150 3.6Ghz (4.2GHz with Turbo) 8MB L2 + 8MB L3 125W U.S. $ 245
AMD FX-8120 3.1Ghz (4.0GHz with Turbo) 8MB L2 + 8MB L3 125W U.S. $ 205
AMD FX-6100 3.3GHz (3.9Ghz Turbo) 6MB L2 + 8MB L3 95W U.S. $ 175

The 6 series will be quad cores with 8 series being octo core.

With AMD really stepping it up I am excited to see what Intel has on the horizon.

[Milkshake86]

Well looks like ill be Changing to an AMD for a bit poor poor 2500k going to be burned alive lets see how long 5ghz lasts O.O

Problem i see is the market is swayed toward intel no matter what. i5 and i7 will compete long enough for the Ivy's to drop which will be workable in 1155 where as im pretty sure i read only 1 of the bulldozers will fit an AM3 board. I could be mistaken on that but im pretty sure that alone would make Intel the bigger sales number.

However the bulldozer might bring amd back to the look our chips can take higher OC's market as they broke the record w/ a bulldozer recently. What does this have to do w/ normal folks well it basically means that we may see a chip which will hit 5.0+ghz on air with liquid possibly pushing to near 6.0ghz all clearly speculation however still quite possible.
AMD at one point was the gamers choice if they can take that back id be happy. Besides Phenom and Bulldozer sound cooler than a sandy or ivy bridge damn it.

[Arcilux]

Hmmm, well, I'm not planning my build until February/March after Christmas bonuses, birthday gift cards, and hopefully income tax returns. Might have to trade up from an i5 2500k to an AMD. I'll at least have time to read reviews.

Then again, maybe the Intel prices will drop, depending on the noticeable difference I would go for a cheaper i5.

[Uggorthaholy]

That article says the BD performs worse per core, meaning it will perform worse in games as games aren't utilizing >4 cores.

EDIT - I'm also not taking it as gospel until we get some actual gaming tests between the processors.

[Milkshake86]

Games didnt run good w/ 4 6 months ago software is slow to catch up apparently. However i doubt it will run worse it just wont utilize full potential of the 8 cores. Still im sure it will be monsterous as will the Ivy's but AMD FX may take back that gaming zone /crossfingers

[Cilraaz]

EDIT - I'm also not taking it as gospel until we get some actual gaming tests between the processors.

I agree. That site seems incompetent at best and shady at worst. The benchmarks have zero backing (testing methods, etc), the site is full of typos, and it seems they're using random screenshots from another website. They don't even know what data they're spouting.

[Uggorthaholy]

I agree. That site seems incompetent at best and shady at worst. The benchmarks have zero backing (testing methods, etc), the site is full of typos, and it seems they're using random screenshots from another website. They don't even know what data they're spouting.

I'll agree with this, and advise everyone to wait until a more legitimate site comes around to give us some true benchmarks and comparisons. Especially gaming wise on the i5 vs the BD chips. This site has horrible grammar, horrible information, and is just poorly thrown together.

Patiently awaiting real benches from someone like anandtech until I pass any judgement.

[Sephiracle]

Well looks like ill be Changing to an AMD for a bit poor poor 2500k going to be burned alive lets see how long 5ghz lasts O.O

Performance per core is a lot more important than what clock speed the cores are at.

[Irloki]

There are no misspellings, unless you are talking about the title "finalise" which is the brits way of spelling it. The benchmarks may not be accurate, who knows if they are real or what equipment was supposedly used. The prices are very competitive and with 4 actual cores the multi-threaded performance will most likely exceed the current i7. I do agree I would like to see something from anandtech on it, the only reason I found this was because I was curious today and couldn't find anything about even the official release announcement from AMD.

[Uggorthaholy]

There are no misspellings, unless you are talking about the title "finalise" which is the brits way of spelling it. The benchmarks may not be accurate, who knows if they are real or what equipment was supposedly used. The prices are very competitive and with 4 actual cores the multi-threaded performance will most likely exceed the current i7.

if you read the whole thing, the grammar gets sloppier on the pages that less people will view. Like really horribly awful.

[Irloki]

I wonder if it will even be worth going to BD instead of waiting 5-6mo for Ivy, which will probably blow AMD out of the water....again.

[noremac]

I think what is funny is that AMD's new architecture barely competes with Sandy Bridge which is already almost a year old. AMD used to be the best gaming CPU long ago when the FX series was out, but ever since Core2Duo and beyond Intel has just been so far ahead I really just don't see AMD competing for that market ever again. It is almost like they have switched roles so to speak, where AMD used to be the high end gaming CPU when Intel was more for general use and office applications, now it seems like Intel is the high end gaming CPU yet it also seems it is also still the preferred general use/office application CPU as well.

The only edge AMD has over Intel is they have more accessible pricing. Sure with this release AMD may have the top CPU for a short while, but why would you want to invest in the whole AMD platform now when you know Ivy Bridge is going to just shred it apart?

[Uggorthaholy]

I think what is funny is that AMD's new architecture barely competes with Sandy Bridge which is already almost a year old. AMD used to be the best gaming CPU long ago when the FX series was out, but ever since Core2Duo and beyond Intel has just been so far ahead I really just don't see AMD competing for that market ever again. It is almost like they have switched roles so to speak, where AMD used to be the high end gaming CPU when Intel was more for general use and office applications, now it seems like Intel is the high end gaming CPU yet it also seems it is also still the preferred general use/office application CPU as well.

The only edge AMD has over Intel is they have more accessible pricing. Sure with this release AMD may have the top CPU for a short while, but why would you want to invest in the whole AMD platform now when you know Ivy Bridge is going to just shred it apart?

we can't say anything for sure. IB is just a die shrink from SB, so we may not see MASSIVE performance increases. We just have to play the waiting game while things develop now.

[noremac]

we can't say anything for sure. IB is just a die shrink from SB, so we may not see MASSIVE performance increases. We just have to play the waiting game while things develop now.

Well considering the highest end Bulldozer is about on par with a 2600K, it doesn't really make sense for Intel to release Ivy Bridge with the intention of it being on par with their previous Sandy Bridge CPU's or what would be the point of buying it?

Looking at all the past CPU releases from both AMD and Intel it will be most likely that Ivy Bridge will be faster than Bulldozer, but will cost more. I was able to get a 2500k for $170 and a 2600k for $240 the day they came out, so I am glad that I went with that instead of waiting all this time just to see that Bulldozer was just about the same performance.

They don't even compare overclocking performance either. Most 2500/2600K's can reach 5.0GHz with average air cooling. I have never really thought AMD to be stellar overclockers either. Sure in the article it says that they got a world record frequency but I am sure any cherry-picked chip could do that. The only reason Sandy Bridge can't get up that high is how they changed from FSB to multiplier based overclocking. The base clock on those chips needs to remain as close to 100 MHz as possible or else you risk damaging other components.

[Irloki]

For the world record they went up to 8.4, I would have kept pushing it until it exploded lol. They used liquid helium cooling, so yea I bet a 2600k could get there on that kind of insanity as well.

[Cilraaz]

For the world record they went up to 8.4, I would have kept pushing it until it exploded lol. They used liquid helium cooling, so yea I bet a 2600k could get there on that kind of insanity as well.

That was also a single-module, specially created CPU. It was nowhere near a standard Bulldozer fab.

[noremac]

For the world record they went up to 8.4, I would have kept pushing it until it exploded lol. They used liquid helium cooling, so yea I bet a 2600k could get there on that kind of insanity as well.

I doubt it. The 2600K is a very good overclocker for practical applications (IE. under 5 GHz) but for those who wish to use Dry Ice, Liquid Nitrogen, etc. you won't actually get much higher than that. Reason being that the Base Clock of the new chipset links everything to the same frequency. So while the CPU itself may be able to take a higher frequency you will start harming other components by continuing to raise the base clock. The multipliers of the chips only go so high (I think the max was around 60x) which means to get higher than 6 GHz you have to start raising the base clock. Going any higher than 105 MHz is risky so that is about where most 2500/2600K's hit their limit.

Also according to the HWBot rankings that score just barely beat out an Intel Celeron. It just goes to show that the overclocking potential doesn't increase with technology since a Celeron is almost the same as a top end AMD CPU that hasn't even been released. As a comparison the highest 2500K is around 5900MHz and the highest 2600K is around 6GHz both done on LN2. They simply cannot go higher than that. It will most likely be the same story with Ivy Bridge as well since they will share the same Base Clock limitation. So AMD may put up all the records from their absurdly high overclocks but from a practical standpoint at a frequency that both CPU's can reach it will be a different story.

[DeltrusDisc]

I agree. That site seems incompetent at best and shady at worst. The benchmarks have zero backing (testing methods, etc), the site is full of typos, and it seems they're using random screenshots from another website. They don't even know what data they're spouting.

Willing to bet the OP of this thread is from their site, with how he seems to be more advertising than just a simple poster on a forum. In fact, for all we know, he could be like an AMD advertiser gone bad. XD Sure doesn't know much though, we all know Bulldozer is equal in actual generation as Sandybridge, AMD just took 9 months longer to get it out, so in essence they already failed and are very tardy if you ask me. They've lost millions of potential customers by not getting their shit straight many moons ago. Bulldozer-E to compete with Sandybridge-E will probably not be out till mid-next year at the earliest, if we use history as our basis for knowledge. So Intel will continue to be ahead of the curve unless AMD shifts into Turbo.

*props if you caught the Power Rangers reference*

[Irloki]

I actually work for Amazon, so I could care less who wins from a marketing standpoint as long as they keep selling. I am trying to get as much information about the next generation coming and normally like to get opinions from others as yes I am still inexperienced being 21 with only a year and a half of college under my belt so far.

[DeltrusDisc]

Don't come here and knowingly post most likely bullcrap then. Doesn't make you look good, and if you actually work for Amazon, it also makes them look bad.