AMD K10

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The AMD K10 is AMD's next generation of processor. It has been reported as a cancelled project,^[1] and was supposed to incorporate the in turn cancelled 8 issue K9 design. Recently, AMD's next generation chip has been referred to as K8L, a dual and quad core refinement of the Athlon 64 microarchitecture. In some of the online technology news press, K8L has also been referred to as K10.^[2] This would tend to confirm the claim that the original complex 8-issue K9 and K10 chip have been cancelled, and replaced with a multicore IPC enhanced K8 derivative.

AMD executive VP Henri Richard's June 2006 interview with DigiTimes comments on the future processor development:

“	Q: What is your broad perspective on the development of AMD processor technology over the next three to four years? A: Well, as Dirk Meyer commented at our analysts meeting, we're not standing still. We've talked about the refresh of the current K8 architecture that will come in '07, with significant improvements in many different areas of the processor, including integer performance, floating point performance, memory bandwidth, interconnections and so on. You know that platform still has a lot of legs under it, but of course we're not standing still, and there's a next-generation core that's being worked on. I can't give you more details right now, but I think that what's important is that we're establishing clearly that this is a two-horse race. And as you would expect in a race, sometimes, when one horse is a little bit in front of the other, it reverses the situation. But what's important is that it is a race.	”
	— AMD Executive VP, Henri Richard, Source: DigiTimes Interview with Henri Richard[3]

Contents 1 Possible Defunct Naming Convention 2 Preliminary Information 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Possible Defunct Naming Convention

It is likely that AMD no longer uses K-nomenclatures (originally stood for Kryptonite), since no K-nomenclature naming convention beyond K8 has appeared in official AMD documents and press releases after the beginning of 2005. K10 or any other K-nomenclature microarchitecture designations can no longer be relied on as valid public product designation. K8L is used as a shorthand of what AMD termed "Next Generation Processor Technology" and in some AMD technology day June 1, 2006 presentation slides simply as "New Architecture for Servers and Desktops".^[4]

In the same time frame, there will be an additional microarchitecture aimed at mobile, thin clients, small form factors, and Media Center PCs, which in the same June 2006 presentation was referred to simply as "New Mobile Core", which will debut late 2007 or sometime in 2008. On the December 2006 analyst day, Executive VP Marty Seyer announced the new mobile core code-named "Griffin" to be launched in 2008.^[5]

Codenamed "Fusion" is a CPU technology furthering the trend of continued system component integration onto CPU die (which was initiated by K8 with integrated SRQ, cross-bar switch, memory controller as well as Hypertransport links), planned beyond these two afore mentioned families of products, and will be due in late 2008 or sometime in 2009. It is not clear what additional code names will be given to these.

[edit] Preliminary Information

According to AMD’s Fred Weber in Microprocessor Forum 2003 (Slide:[2]), features to be deployed by the next-generation chips are as follows:

• Threaded architectures
• Chip level multiprocessing
• Huge scale MP machines
• 10GHz operation
• Much higher performance superscalar, out of order CPU core
• Huge caches
• Media/vector processing extensions
• Branch and memory hints
• Security and virtualization
• Enhanced Branch Predictors
• Static and dynamic power management

Note: As of 2006 several of these predictions have been shown to be prescient, however due to thermal limitations, clock speed has not increased as industry engineers expected at one time.

[edit] References

1. ^ AMD's K10 is delayed or dead
2. ^ AMD Talks About Future CPU Micro-Architecture Innovations
3. ^ AMD's vision for next few years - an interview with Henri Richard
4. ^ [1] AMD Technology Day June 2006 slides
5. ^ "AMD updates Opteron, Turion roadmaps", informationweek.com, 14 Dec 2006.

[edit] External links

• TechReport: AMD outlines Future Goals
• DarkVision Hardware: AMD talks about K9, K10 future innovations
• PC Watch report about K10 based on AMD Technology Analyst Day 2004 and 2005 (Japanese)
• PC Watch report about K10 based on Slides presented in Microprocessor Forum 2003 (Japanese)
• TweakTown Discussions (2003)

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