AMD Quad Core Support

8T8

I thought I'd post this to give folks a heads up if they are planning an upgrade path to AMD Quad variants in the future.

The bad news AMD wont be providing a bios update to enable quad core support instead a revised Socket AM2+ will be used and the new quad core CPU's based of the K8L architecture wont show until Q3 2007 which is still quite a while from now.

This should not be confused with AMD's 4x4 initiative this is nothing more than enthusiast dual CPU socket motherboards so basically you can install two X2's in one motherboard hence the quad marketing angle obviously these require new motherboards. This is what AMD will be using to go up against Intel's Quad core Core 2 systems initially.

So in short nothing with a single socket you buy now will allow quad CPU support

Cuddlesworth

8T8 wrote:

I thought I'd post this to give folks a heads up if they are planning an upgrade path to AMD Quad variants in the future.

The bad news AMD wont be providing a bios update to enable quad core support instead a revised Socket AM2+ will be used and the new quad core CPU's based of the K8L architecture wont show until Q3 2007 which is still quite a while from now.

This should not be confused with AMD's 4x4 initiative this is nothing more than enthusiast dual CPU socket motherboards so basically you can install two X2's in one motherboard hence the quad marketing angle obviously these require new motherboards. This is what AMD will be using to go up against Intel's Quad core Core 2 systems initially.

So in short nothing with a single socket you buy now will allow quad CPU support

I see a lot of "fact" but little proof. Do you have links to prove this. The only thing quad core would do differently would be a bios change and would require more power.

K8L was always going to use a new socket.

8T8

Sorry forgot the link DigiTimes fairly accurate when it comes to this topic;
http://digitimes.com/mobos/a20061003A2004.html

It was kinda disappointing to hear after the soundings AMD has made in the past over quad core and bios updates especially with the introduction of AM2.

Also not long after Socket AM2+ comes Socket AM3, S-AM3 CPU's can work in S-AM2+ or S-AM3 motherboards but S-AM3 motherboards will only allow CPUs from the S-AM3 line.

So 754/939 finished
AM2 introduced for DDR2
AM2+ introduced for K8L
AM3 for K8L & later plus DDR3 support.

Now that said DigiTimes is normally reliable HKEPC aren't too bad either and they say otherwise that AM2 will support K8L but with a lower HyperTransport speed.
http://www.hkepc.com/bbs/itnews.php?tid=678736

Be noticed that Altair is also compatible for the existing Socket AM2 main board, the only need is BIOS upgrade. Yet Hyper-Transport will get only 2GHz in Socket AM2 main board as ver. 2.0.

So the waters still look fairly muddy about upgrade paths for AM2.

Cuddlesworth

I would say that the HKEPC version of events sounds more likely, but it is a sad day for Amd as they lead the way with the dual core compatibility and Amd2 was only introduced recently.

astrofool

The lower HT speed won't make any significant difference, it's already light years ahead of Intel's FSB and north->south comms.

The hkepc version is what has been going around for the last few months, and may just be a confirmation of that. The Digitimes one sounds stupid on AMD's part, as AM2 and AM3 are meant to be forward compatable (AM2 fits into AM3, but AM3 won't fit into AM2). Having an interim AM2+ leaves many people annoyed (tho only enthusiasts as no one else upgrades chips these days really).

At the very least, it's a case of wait and see, though AMD can't bring out K8L and 65nm soon enough imo.

Ginger

Just on that whole subject. How will the likes of Windows XP handle quad core.. Because they are rated at 1-2 processors normally will the licencing have to be revised to support these new processors and systems.

I know that MS said that it would treat dual core as the number of physical processors (in the case of the 4x4 it will see 2 processors rather than 4 cores in terms of licencing)

Will that still be the case

8T8

Yeah it's licensed by the number of physical sockets so nothing should be changing in the immediate future anyway.

At the moment XP Pro supports the two/four physical sockets for the CPU whereas Home only supports the one, but the number of cores within the CPU are not restricted.

So for Intel they can get away with their Quad Core with the Home editions of XP but AMD's 4x4 setup will need to use the Pro version {I think..}.

astrofool

It's all per socket, so you could have 10,000 cores in one socket and be fine.

Home allows for 1 socket, pro allows for two.

Beyond that, you need to get Windows 2k3

Standard - 4

Enterprise - 8

Datacenter - 8(min) to 32