Ready to 
More on AMD DX11 and Intel’s Westmere
Robert Hallock
July 21, 2009 12:06 PM ET in Tech
UPDATE: 27 July, 2009 @ 11:57 AM
Ex-Inq journo and long-time Valley rabble-rouser Charlie Demerjian has recently offered new insight on the wild world of ATI’s DirectX 11 codenames in a brutal piece on plagiarism in the world of tech journalism. Here’s the breakdown:
Hemlock: Highest-end desktop part, probably dual Cypress GPUs a la the rumored Radeon 5870 X2.
Cypress: High-end single-GPU part. Similar to the Radeon HD 4870 when it launched.
Juniper: Mid-range desktop part. Similar to the Radeon HD 4850 when it launched.
Cedar & Redwood: Low-end desktop parts. Similar to the Radeon HD 4650 and 4670.
The confusion in the codenames contained in the original story is most likely owed to a simple transcription error on behalf of The Inquirer. It happens, especially when (as Chuck D points out) you’re being blitzed with PR, buzzwords and codenames. Anyone who’s been to a trade show or a press event understands.
Original story follows:
Today’s semiconductor news from the likes of AMD and Intel aren’t quite headline material, but they’re better than the proverbial page bury. Times like these call for a roundup, but our taskmaster editor doesn’t like them. Good thing he’s sleeping off a lake party and isn’t around to stop us.
AMD’s DirectX 11 codenames
DirectX 11 is just around the corner, and NVIDIA’s struggles to get its shit together at 40nm has left AMD the sole heir to the estate this winter.
While considerable speculation remains over just how AMD plans to get into the spirit of the season, we do have codename confirmations to tide you over.
The family of 40nm DirectX 11 GPUs is collectively known as the Evergreen. The Evergreen architecture will launch with five parts that will span the price spectrum:
- Cypress (Desktop: For those with more money than sense)
- Redwood (Desktop: An enthusiast part like the Radeon 4890)
- Juniper & Cedar (Desktop: Mainstream parts like the Radeon 4670 and 4650)
- Hemlock (Desktop: Poisonous parts for the cheapskates amongst us)
Word has it that AMD has already received functioning Evergreen silicon back from the fab. If that’s true, we are indeed looking at a DX11 launch timed to coincide with Windows 7. It’s like the Radeon 9800 coup all over again!
A Look at Westmere SKUs for Q1 2010
Intel’s upcoming Westmere family of architectures has received considerable attention as the desktop’s first 32nm processor, and the first architectural family to offer an APU (CPU with onboard GPU). While the time is not yet nigh to receive performance data, we are beginning to learn a thing or two about clockspeeds and model numbers.
TheRegister is talking about those very APUs today, and it offers details on a scad of such chips:
Arrandale (Low-voltage)
ULV Core i7 (Hyperthreaded dual core / 4MB L3 / DDR3-800 / 10-18W TDP)
1.06GHz-2.13GHz
1.20GHz-2.26GHz
LV Core i7 (Hyperthreaded dual core / 4MB L3 / DDR3-1066 / 17-25W TDP)
2.0GHz-2.8GHz
2.13GHz-2.93GHz
Core i7 (Hyperthreaded dual core / 4MB L3 / DDR3-1066 / 25-35W TDP)
2.66GHz-3.33GHz
Core i5 (Hyperthreaded dual core / 3MB L3 / DDR3-1066 / 25-35w TDP)
2.4GHz-2.93GHz
2.53GHz-3.06GHz
Clarksdale (Mainstream laptop)
Core i7 (Hyperthreaded quad core / 8MB L3 / DDR3-??? / ??-??w TDP)
Core i7-720QM: 1.6GHz-2.8GHz
Core i7-820QM: 1.73GHz-3.06GHz
Core i7-920XM: 2.0GHz-3.2GHz
You’ll notice that each processor in the line has quite a range of clockspeeds available to it. This is the result of a union between Intel’s SpeedStep and Turbo Mode functions which dynamically clock, or even overclock, the processor if the thermal conditions are right.
Keep those laptops cool, boys and girls!
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