AMD raises horizon for chip roadmap

By Matt Whipp

Posted on 26 May 2012 at 06:41

AMD has refreshed its processor roadmap, pinning down the 64bit successors and AMD's hopes for 64bit computing.

AMD's move to the smaller 90nm manufacturing process is reserved exclusively for its 64bit range, in the second half of 2004.

Prior to that, AMD's 'Newcastle' 64bit chip will launch in the first half of next year, as will the Mobile AMD Athlon 64.

The Athlon XP's next refresh won't be until the second half of next year as 'Paris', although it is rumoured to be a hobbled version of a 64bit chip and will continue to be manufactured using the 130nm process. Its next incarnation won't arrive until the second half of 2005 in the form of 'Palermo', by which time it will move to 90nm.

The mobile 32bit Athlon XP-M will be updated on a similar schedule.

The desktop 64bit chips at 90nm will be San Diego and Winchester, following on from the Athlon 64 and Athlon 64 FX chips respectively. There's no mention of the mythical Athlon FX-53 spoiler for Intel's Extreme Edition P4 that has just been announced. However, it will be the high end FX range that gets updated more frequently, with the Toledo processor making an appearance in the second half of 2005.

All of this would appear to be led by developments on AMD's server chip range - its 64bit Opteron chips get new versions in the second half of 1004 - 'Venus', 'Troy' and 'Athens' optimisations for 1-, 2- and 8-way systems respectively, with another refresh a year later. The company is leaving its 32bit multi-processor server chip range alone unless the market suddenly demands it.

The Duron value processor will disappear as 'as market requires', or doesn't...

You can find the AMD roadmap here.