Dates for 45nm AMD CPUs and RV710, RV730

Author: Richard Swinburne
Published: 4th August 2008
Comments (11) Stumble
Dates for 45nm AMD CPUs and RV710, RV730

AMD's 45nm die - available to buy Q4. Apparently.

Just a short note to say that AMD confirmed with us today that its RV710 and RV730 mainstream and low end products will be available in September - just a month away. At least one of them (RV710) will be Hybrid CrossFire capable and despite the fact AMD were keeping mum about the details right now both should go up against Nvidia's recently launched GeForce 9500 GT and 9800 GT products. It should be a good month of choice for all looking to buy in the mainstream price bracket.

Fancy placing some guesses now? If the HD 3670 has 120 stream processors, will the HD4670* (a naming guess at this stage) have 240? 320? - a rebranded HD 3850? Will it be manufactured on the 55nm node like the rest?

It has been speculated elsewhere that both cards will feature 512MB or 1GB of graphics buffer memory - AMD made no apologies for this (wastefulness) today as it claimed it was a very common tactic to lure the uneducated public into buying your product because of this simple equation: more = better. Partners will be free to do what they like from the get-go so expect all sorts of clock speeds, memory quantities and cooling solutions across the field.

We also asked about how AMD was going to compete with Nehalem, and in true PR fashion the AMD guys were pumping it up because "[it] will have the leading multi-GPU platform at the time of launch thanks to Intel's X58 chipset supporting CrossFireX". That's not to say Nvidia might have something else up its sleeve by then because it also has an X58+NF200 SLI solution too.

We were told that AMD will absolutely have its 45nm products available in Q4, and clocks speeds are apparently "fast" although we've heard that one before. We'll cautiously wait for actual products, please - after all, we've already seen Nehalem working...

Not only has the cache been increased substantially, but AMD claimed the memory controller performance has been tightened up and even though it's still on the current K10 architecture, it went further to say that there has been plenty of improvements and optimisations but didn't go as far as to specifically comment on what they were.

Whether this actually makes a difference for Phenom (in the wise words of 80s pop: the only way is up), we'll have to wait and see.

Are you wanting RV710/730 or 45nm CPUs from AMD or have you got a GeForce 9800 GT or 9500 GT? What do you think 45nm Phenoms will be like? Speculate away in the forums.
Quote tonpal 4th August 2008, 12:49
The graphics market has certainly become more competitive in the last 6 months, it would be nice to see AMD make up ground in the CPU market too.
Quote Timmy_the_tortoise 4th August 2008, 13:05
I just got my 4850 this weekend.. I'll be testing it soon. Tonight, hopefully. My mate is giving me his copy of Crysis too.. I reckon it'll run well.
Quote Denis_iii 4th August 2008, 13:54
read abit on a quad 45nm phenom, it beat out same clock quad intel so I can't wait for them to hit the market to spice things up. hopefully force intel to introduce nehalem mid and low end cpu's alot sooner then they had planned...but i doubt the 45nm phenom will beat nehalem as I have high hopes for intels new bus and onboard mem controller......would be sweet if they did as i'd love an all ati/amd spider platform but until phenom outperforms similiar clock q9350 and have better overclocking thats a dream
Quote Jack_Pepsi 4th August 2008, 16:06
Any links to where you read that Denis, I'm very interested in seeing it beat a similar clocked Core 2 Quad.
Quote Jojii 4th August 2008, 18:14
Speculation iz da debil
Quote Goty 4th August 2008, 18:56
Quote:
Originally Posted by Denis_iii
read abit on a quad 45nm phenom, it beat out same clock quad intel so I can't wait for them to hit the market to spice things up. hopefully force intel to introduce nehalem mid and low end cpu's alot sooner then they had planned...but i doubt the 45nm phenom will beat nehalem as I have high hopes for intels new bus and onboard mem controller......would be sweet if they did as i'd love an all ati/amd spider platform but until phenom outperforms similiar clock q9350 and have better overclocking thats a dream

Depending on where you look, the 45nm Phenoms range from beating Intel clock-for-clock to being slower than a similarly clocked Agena. Only time will tell which will actually be the case.
Quote HourBeforeDawn 4th August 2008, 20:42
Well I am certainly looking forward to the 45nm phenoms and how they will OC, I really do hope that AMD can come at level or overtake Intel as that will help the market again.
Quote mrb_no1 4th August 2008, 22:15
ok, with reference to the more is better idea that the public has on graphics card memory, why isnt more better as i'd have thought that it would be? someone please give a fairly detailed answer rather than just calling me a noob,

oh, and nice to amd giving it large....hoorah!

peace

fatman
Quote cyrilthefish 4th August 2008, 22:53
Quote:
Originally Posted by mrb_no1
ok, with reference to the more is better idea that the public has on graphics card memory, why isnt more better as i'd have thought that it would be? someone please give a fairly detailed answer rather than just calling me a noob
not detailed, but two issues with it:

1: budget cards are using lots of cheap slow memory. in most cases a smaller amount of fast memory is better than bucketloads of slow memory, the budget GPU just won't be quick enough to get any benefit from the extra memory.
however, it looks great to bung a huge memory amount in big letters on the packaging, hence why this happens anyway.

2: budget GPU + fast memory = respectable
budget GPU + slow memory = slow, but cheaper

To sum it up: crippling the cards to give bigger numbers on the packaging/tech stats to get the more clueless users who (understandably) assume higher numbers = better product
Quote Nature 5th August 2008, 06:24
well, look at le differa'nce between 65nm and 90nm AMD cpu's and there ain't much, 45nm with out change in the architecture should lead to higher clock speeds and prudent effencientcy. What AMD should do sell low... very low with as great as hz as they can pump out.

Either that or unlock those darned multipliers....
Quote Cupboard 5th August 2008, 11:48
Quote:
Originally Posted by cyrilthefish
snip
also low end cards usually have low memory bandwidths so they cannot effectively talk to lots of memory. That is why there is little point for a G92 based card (8800GT, 8800GTS, 9800GT, 9800GTX) with a 256bit memory bandwidth having more than 512MB memory.

edit: using GDDR5/higher memory clocks do help here obviously...
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