AMD FX-8150 Processor Performance Secrets Detail Architecture Review - Bulldozer

AMD Brings Bulldozer To The Yard

Today is a huge day in terms of significance for AMD, who just moments ago launched the first major redesign of their processor architecture since 2003. AMD has not been able to keep the new architecture much of a secret as the new 'Bulldozer' core architecture is widely known amongst enthusiasts and gamers. Another reason that so many people know about Bulldozer-based CPUs is because AMD already announced Valencia and Interlagos processors for the server market. Today is significant in the sense that AMD is launching the  first new Bulldozer-based desktop CPUs that are codenamed Zambezi and feature up to eight cores.

Bulldozer will be the first major redesign of AMD’s processor architecture since 2003, when AMD launched its Athlon 64/Opteron (K8) processors. Bulldozer features two 128-bit FMA-capable FPUs that can be combined into one 256-bit FPU. This design is accompanied by two integer cores each with 4 pipelines (the fetch/decode stage is shared). Bulldozer will also introduce shared L2 cache in the new architecture. A 16-core processor design would feature eight of these modules, but the operating system will recognize each module as two physical cores. The module, described as two cores, can be contrasted with a single Intel core with HyperThreading. The difference between the two approaches is that Bulldozer provides dedicated schedulers and integer units for each thread, whereas in Intel's core all threads must compete for available execution resources.

The Bulldozer die is built by GlobalFoundaries using the 32nm DSL SOI (silicon-on-insulator) technology process and measures in at ~315mm² in size with a transistor count of ~2 billion.

The AMD Bulldozer lineup consists of seven high-end consumer desktop processors that are clearly aimed at performance minded individuals.

AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Quad-Core Processor Performance Unlocking core Secrets Review

The Fastest Quad-Core AMD Has Ever Released - 980 BE

When Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) first introduced the Phenom II line of processors, we were still stuck in the days of the AM2+ socket. The processor that the Phenom II launched with was the AMD Phenom II X4 940 back in 2009. The Phenom II X4 940 is a quad core processor that cruised along at 3.0GHz and proved to be a very capable processor. Here we are though, a little more than two years later, looking at the latest variation of the original Phenom II X4 940, the AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition. It's been over two years since the original AMD Phenom II X4 processor was released using the 'Deneb' core architecture and, believe it or not, the core architecture remains exactly the same. The clock frequency has increased from 3.0GHz to 3.7GHz over the past two years, though, and that is good news for those that don't overclock. If you overclock your processor then you are likely going to yawn right about now as we were able to hit 3.8GHz on the AMD Phenom II X4 940 processor way back in 2008 when we overclocked the first Phenom II X4 that we laid our hands on.
There are a couple of serious differences between the two processors. We will touch on those differences in a bit, though. Though I'm betting you're familiar with them already, or at least some of them.

In the last 2+ years AMD has increased the speed of the Phenom II X4 processors 700MHz which is nearly 25%!.