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Rumor: AMD is busy getting its new Zen processor ready for launch

By Wong Chung Wee - on 6 Nov 2015, 12:24pm

Rumor: AMD is busy getting its new Zen processor ready for launch

(Image source: AMD)

According to a former AMD employee, the company has finished testing its next-gen Zen CPUs. The test results were within expectations, and no “significant design bottlenecks” have been found on its chip design. However, the former employee said the final clocks speeds and thermal envelopes haven’t been determined yet. Some details of the Zen processor were released in May this year during AMD’s Financial Analyst meeting.

A rendered block diagram of the Zen CPU core (right); (left) the Steamroller CPU core block diagram (Image source: WCCFTech)

A rendered block diagram of the Zen CPU core appears to indicate AMD has abandoned the old Steamroller CPU architecture. As observed by OC3D.net, AMD has essentially gone back to a single fetch, single decode design, with the aim of delivering a “single, more powerful” CPU in its CPU block. The previous-gen Steamroller microarchitecture consists of two traditional CPU cores, which shared the FP scheduler; however, each core had their own integer schedule. Collectively, the two CPU cores made up the Steamroller CPU module.

(Image source: AMD)

The new Zen CPU core has an improved FP scheduler that boasts of a pair of 256-bit FMACs, versus Steamroller’s pair of 128-bit FMACs that fed instructions to its shared FP scheduler. Also, the pipelines of the Zen CPU’s Integer Scheduler have been widened by 50%, in comparison with Excavator. As a result, the Zen CPU integer and FP performance per CPU core is definitely higher than Steamroller’s CPU core. In fact, OC3D.net has drawn a comparison between Zen CPU and the Phenom II X6 processor, and they lamented the latter’s lackluster successor, the Bulldozer CPU.

The AMD Zen CPU is slated for release in 2016, in a new CPU package (AM4 socket) with support for DDR4 memory modules. Since the Zen CPU is based on FinFET design, AMD claims they are able to scale chip production according to client computing, as well as enterprise-level requirements. We shall wait with bated breath to see if the Zen processor series will pose a credible challenge to Intel.

(Source: AMD, OC3D.net), WCCFTech)

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