AMD's Next Generation 'Zen' - What we know so far

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."



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.

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.

AMD to Manufacture 'Zen' CPU with TSMC at 16nm instead of Globalfoundries

An overview of AMD's new x86 high performance processor

Allegedly AMD have decided to contract TSMC to produce it's make-or-break 'Zen' CPU on its 16nm FinFET process over fears that Globalfoundries will be unable to manufacture the Zen on the 14nm FinFET process on time and further delay it's crucial launch during 2016.

If the rumours are true then it comes as no surprise. AMD have had issues with Globalfoundries in the past, most notably in 2011 where AMD's Bulldozer based FX chips were delayed for 9 months and eventually launched in Q4 2011. At that time Globalfoundries had several challenges getting the Bulldozer manufactures in the 32nm SOI process.

AMD's new Zen is very important for the company. It will be a whole new x86 architecture built from the ground up, focusing on IPC (Instructions Per Clock), greater performance per watt, high bandwidth low-latency cache system, DDR4 support, and most notably Simultaneous Multithreading (SMT) which will be similar to Intel's Hyperthreading.

If successful, AMD's Zen will finally be able to compete with Intel's high performance CPU's, something AMD was struggling with in nearly half a decade. That is why AMD can't afford anymore delays and need to ship Zen next year, even if it means contracting with TSMC using a larger 16nm manufacturing process.

Source wccftech.com

Intel announces it's Skylake embedded processor lineup

Intel's Skylake Architecture using 14nm technology

Earlier in September Intel has announced its new Skylake desktop processors. Starting with the enthusiast level 'K' Series Core i5 6600k & i7 6700k processors followed by it's powerful 'S' Series  and more recently it's mobile Skylake-H and Skylake-U processors.

Now Intel announces it's consumer level Skylake-T and embedded Skylake-TE processor series to it's lineup. These processors will all be on the new LGA1151 socket. The 'T' series lineup will start off with the entry level Pentium G4400T, and on to the Core i3-6100T, i5-6500T and i7-6700T. The embedded 'TE' series share the same processors as the Skylake T but with slightly different CPU clock speeds. Here is the a table of the lineup below.

Model	Cores / Threads	Frequency / Turbo	L3 cache	Graphics	GPU Frequency	TDP
Pentium G4400T	2 / 2	2.9 GHz	3 MB	HD 510	350 / 950 MHz	35W
Pentium G4400TE	2 / 2	2.4 GHz	3 MB	HD 510	350 / 950 MHz	35W
Core i3-6100T	2 / 4	3.2 GHz	3 MB	HD 530	350 / 950 MHz	35W
Core i3-6100TE	2 / 4	2.7 GHz	4 MB	HD 530	350 / 1000 MHz	35W
Core i5-6500T	4 / 4	2.5 / 3.1 GHz	6 MB	HD 530	350 / 1100 MHz	35W
Core i5-6500TE	4 / 4	2.3 / 3.3 GHz	6 MB	HD 530	350 / 1000 MHz	35W
Core i7-6700T	4 / 8	2.8 / 3.6 GHz	8 MB	HD 530	350 / 1100 MHz	35W
Core i7-6700TE	4 / 8	2.4 / 3.4 GHz	8 MB	HD 530	350 / 1000 MHz	35W

The new embedded desktop series replace the current 'Haswell' Pentium G3320TE, Core i3-4340TE, i5-4570TE and i7-4770TE and have a slight performance increase with about 100MHz increase in clock speed, a lower TDP thanks to Skylake's 14nm manufacturing process and support for DDR4 memory.