AMD shows off Bobcat and Bulldozer cores for 2011

AMD believes that processor cores should be built to purpose, unveiling its plans for "Bulldozer" architecture offering performance and "Bobcat" cores that are built for smaller devices.

AMD is keen to compete with Intel in the processor world, and believes that the best way to do this is with two defined core strategies.

Bulldozer

Chips with Bulldozer architecture, which will be manufactured with the latest 32nm SOI technology, will offer 'performance and scalability' and will be aimed at mainstream client and server markets.

The high performance processor core technology will be appearing in the company's chips in 2011 and is a completely new design.

It features what AMD describes as an 'innovative design that delivers true core functionality by pairing two integer execution cores with components that can be shared as needed."

There are instruction set extensions to increase capability and extensive new power efficiency innovations.

This, AMD believes, offers 33% more cores and an estimated 50 per cent increase in throughput 'in the same power envelope as Magny-Cours'.

Bobcat

Next up is "Bobcat" – a small efficient low power x86 core that is likely to be utilised in portable devices.

It is a sub-one-watt capable core which features an out-of-order execution engine, is easy to re-use and offers complete ISA support.

It will make its appearance in AMD's first APU "Ontario" next year, and the estimate is that it will offer "90 per cent of AMD's current mainstream notebook CPU in less than half the area and a fraction of the power".

Interesting stuff, and we will see if AMD reaps the benefit in 2011.