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| AMD's Next Generation 'Zen' x86 Processor |
Back in September 2014 AMD have confirmed that they will be building a whole new x86 processor from scratch and putting its current Bulldozer based processor architecture finally to rest. AMD promises that the new x86 architecture codenamed 'Zen' will finally be able to complete head on with Intel's high performance processors. AMD claim there will be significant improvements in performance, efficiency and power consumption which AMD currently lags behind its competitor Intel.
Work on the new processor started in early 2015 shortly after AMD hired Jim Keller, the engineer responsible for designing the highly successful Athlon64 codenamed
'ClawHammer' back in 2003. Most recently Jim Keller has left AMD, indicating that the processor design has been completed. It is also known that for the very first time in several years that the engineers working on 'Zen' have been given total freedom in designing the new processor architecture. As stated by Zen team leader Suzanne Plummer:
"It is the first time in a very long time that we engineers have been given the total freedom to build a processor from scratch and do the best we can do. It is a multi-year project with a really large team. It’s like a marathon effort with some sprints in the middle. The team is working very hard, but they can see the finish line. I guarantee that it will deliver a huge improvement in performance and (low) power consumption over the previous generation."
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| A comparison of the current 'Excavator' & the new 'Zen' core. |
Here are the key features that will be delivered to AMD's 'Zen' processor.
SMT (Simultaneous Multithreading)
AMD will abandon it's hugely unpopular modular CMT (Clustered Multithreading) that is currently used in AMD's microarchitecture since Bulldozer to SMT (Simultaneous Multithreading) which is a similar model to Intel's current Hyperthreading model, a technique that allows multiple tasks to be executed on one CPU core, improving the CPU's overall efficiency.
DDR4 Support
It is confirmed that AMD's 'Zen' will fully support DDR4 memory. DDR4 memory is currently supported in Intel's Haswell-E, Broadwell and Skylake processor family.
Improvement in IPC (Instruction Per Cycle)
One of AMD's biggest focuses on Zen will be improving IPC, by increasing the number of instructions executed per clock cycle and allowing the processor to perform more efficiently at lower clock speeds. Currently AMD must rely on significantly higher CPU clock speeds to achieve a similar performance of its counterpart Intel.
Another way AMD will achieve a better IPC is to have an individual FPU (Floating Point Unit) per CPU core. Since 'Bulldozer' AMD have been using a shared FPU per 2 cores, although this setup allowed AMD to pack more cores in their CPU's, their single-threaded performance was hampered and fell behind Intel.
14nm or 16nm FinFET
AMD currently manufactures its processors in 28nm SHP and 32nm SOI, which is far behind Intel who started manufacturing their entire CPU lineup on 14nm process since 'Broadwell'. AMD will produce 'Zen' on 14nm FinFET with GlobalFoundries. There is a possibility that AMD may choose TSMC over GlobalFoundries to manufacture 'Zen' due to GlobalFoundries' poor track record and delays with manufacturing previous generation AMD processors. If AMD is to contract TSMC over GlobalFoundries, 'Zen' will be manufactured on a slightly larger 16nm FinFET fabrication process.
Switching to a smaller 14nm or 16nm fabrication process will allow AMD's 'Zen' to use larger CPU cores with a single Floating Point Unit per core.
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| A diagram of a Quad Core Zen processor. |
AMD has generated a lot of hype since it's announcement in 2014. Many people are being cautious and waiting to see the final result. Since the launch of 'Bulldozer' AMD have hyped up the market but ended in disappointment with 'Bulldozer' performing worse in some cases compared to it's predecessor.
