AMD Readies Two Desktop Platforms for May 2010

DigiTimes, citing anonymous sources, claims that AMD plans to announce new high-end desktop and mainstream platforms in May of 2010.

Leo will consist of a 45nm Phenom II series or upcoming six-core Thuban CPU with either 890FX or 890GX (RD890) northbridge and SB850 southbridge chipsets and an ATI Radeon HD 5000 series graphics card, the sources noted. Dorado will comprise an Athlon II CPU, 880G (RS880P) northbridge and SB810 southbridge and HD 5000 series GPU.

I don't think this is much of a secret.

This is from Tom's Hardware's new benchmark of the 125W Phenom II X4 965.

What will the 890 and SB850 bring to the table? The 7xx already has support for DDR3 and plenty of PCI-E lanes, and the SB750 fixed most of the flaws of the SB600... Will the 6-core CPU still work with a 7-series chipset? If so, what do you get if you combine a 6-core CPU and a 5800-series video card with the older chipset? Half a Leo? Or a Dragon on steroids?

It's getting a bit confusing to know what actually makes up a "platform" and what is just a collection of components. For example, is my system a "Dragon"? I have a Phenom II and a 4800-series video card, but only DDR2 RAM and the SB600 southbridge. Is the SB750 a requirement to turn the non-platform in a Dragon platform? Or do I still have the old Spider platform, but with a few extra legs?

And damnit, I just upgraded to a Phenom II 940 >.< Can't wait to see these though!

Originally Posted by JimmiG

What will the 890 and SB850 bring to the table? The 7xx already has support for DDR3 and plenty of PCI-E lanes, and the SB750 fixed most of the flaws of the SB600... Will the 6-core CPU still work with a 7-series chipset? If so, what do you get if you combine a 6-core CPU and a 5800-series video card with the older chipset? Half a Leo? Or a Dragon on steroids?

SB850 has the new SATA 6gb/s controller on it, I don't think it supports USB3 natively. No idea about the new northbridge. I'm more interested in the zambezi cpu listed as "AM3r2". This should be the bulldozer architecture cpu, and I wonder if it'll be backwards compatible initially with current AM3 motherboards.

Originally Posted by djBon2112

And damnit, I just upgraded to a Phenom II 940 >.< Can't wait to see these though!

I have been running that chip for 6 months and it is great. This new line looks like the skip generation unless it is too hard to pass up. I am having a hard time doing the skip method with my 4850 to the new 5850 though, so we will see...

Why do I feel so sad when I see this? Damn computer hardware keeps changing. *looks at his boxed core i5 and p55 mobo* Return and wait? lol

Originally Posted by Yoda4561

SB850 has the new SATA 6gb/s controller on it, I don't think it supports USB3 natively. No idea about the new northbridge. I'm more interested in the zambezi cpu listed as "AM3r2". This should be the bulldozer architecture cpu, and I wonder if it'll be backwards compatible initially with current AM3 motherboards.

Can't say for sure until we have one in our hands but word on the street is that those will work on AM3. They haven't made an announcement yet though so we'll see.

And I'll be pretty frustrated with a chipset that supports 6gb/sec and not USB3, what a waste that would be.

Originally Posted by Kenworth

I have been running that chip for 6 months and it is great. This new line looks like the skip generation unless it is too hard to pass up. I am having a hard time doing the skip method with my 4850 to the new 5850 though, so we will see...

Yeah, it's the same architecture as the Phenom II X4, just with two extra cores, which are useless for gaming and only really useful for a couple of specific workloads (maybe movie conversion and 3d rendering). AMD needs a new architecture badly, Phenom will never be able to compete with any Nehalem CPUs even when you pit 6 cores against 4 (especially when you consider the advantages of hyperthreading). A 5800-series video card is a much better upgrade for a gamer.

Certainly unfortunate, but at least USB3 add-in boards shouldn't be too hard to find, and as long as you have a pci-e x4 or better slot available won't be bandwidth limited either.

so AMD is still just rehashing the Phenom tech? Is there anything from them to compete with the Core i5/7 (or even the Core 2 line)?

5000 series integrated video?

Originally Posted by Deviationer

so AMD is still just rehashing the Phenom tech? Is there anything from them to compete with the Core i5/7 (or even the Core 2 line)?

The 945 and above compare favorably with the i5 750, yeah they're a bit slower in workstation applications, but the 965 seems to actually be a hair faster in gaming benchmarks. Clock for clock no, but with the new 125w 965 at least they have similar performance-per watt. They do not and will likely not have anything to compete for the performance crown until 2011, at which point they could still be playing second fiddle to what intel brings to the table.

Originally Posted by Deviationer

so AMD is still just rehashing the Phenom tech? Is there anything from them to compete with the Core i5/7 (or even the Core 2 line)?

not til bulldozer. they are stuck competing on price/performance. except maybe the hex core. but intels is likely to top that anyway when it comes out.

So pretty much the whole next year for amd is going to be borig for new cpu's. Gpu's and chipsets will be fairly decent though. Hoping they pull through with bulldozer, if they execut that like their gpu's we should see them give intel a little more challenge.

Amd's chipset (NB) Is superiour when it comes to PCI-E performance/watt compared to any other company.
Amd's gpu's are rather very good, remains to be seen what nvidia can make, when they get their ass in gear.
As for cpu's, a nice fight vs the I5 is there, vs i7, no chance.

Well, there is compotition, they can fight at a better level than vs the Core 2 i'd say (the A64/PH1 vs c2d)

Originally Posted by Daemas

5000 series integrated video?

im wondering about this myself.