The successor to AMD Bulldozer and the FX series, Vishera will launch in Q3 according to the latest sources. The nwe processors will maintain compatibility with current AM3+ motherboard and have similar specifications as current FX processors, but deliver better performance.
The launch of the long anticipated architecture Bulldozer was anything but a success last year and resulted in many crushed hopes of an AMD that could compete with Intel in terms of performance. The second generation APU, Trinity was equipped with the new Piledriver cores, which builds on Bulldozer and have corrected many of the things that went wrong. Besides 10 – 20 percent lower leakage, performance at the same clock frequency was improved on average 6 percent.
Many small improvements adding up for better performance and efficiency
Zambezi is the code name of the cirucit used in the AMD FX series today, and Vishera is the name of the circuit based on the Piledriver architecture. It uses the same 32 nanometer manufacturing process and just like the current lineup AMD is planning models with four, six and eight cores.
Leading the pack we have FX-8350 that gets eight cores with 4 x 2 MB L2 and 8 MB L3 cache, and will replace FX-8150 with 125W TDP. The exact clock frequencies of FX-8350 are still unknown, but it will be higher than 3.6 GHz with 4.2 GHz Turbo mode, which is what FX-8150 offers.
The rest is pretty straight forward. FX-6300 gets six cores and replaces FX-6200 with 14 MB total cache, clocked at 3.8 GHz and 4.1 GHz Turbo mode. Last we have FX-4320 that gets four cores with 12 MB total cache and replaces FX-4170 clocked at 4,2 GHz and 4.3 GHz Turbo mode. Both are rated 125W TDP and higher clock frequencies.
Fudzilla reports that the new FX series will be available in the middle of Q3, which means around August. While this seems very optimistic, Trinity did launch only eleven months after Llano so this may very well be the case. Intel continues to pressure AMD with lower prices in the budget segments. Our hopes are that AMD will make a glorious return to the market and finally deliver more competitive alternatives than we have today.
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So will they deliver this time?
It may be better than Bulldozer but that’s not saying much. Right now a single Sandy Bridge / Ivy Bridge cores has more than 50% faster performance per clock. Also, this will launch by Q3 2012 but Intel will add at least another 10-15% instructions per clock increase with Haswell next year and increase clock speeds even more. The gap in performance will continue since whatever 10-15% AMD can gain, Intel will always respond with at least that.
Do I get a belt buckle?