AMD K8

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AMD K8 (also known as AMD Hammer ) is the code name of a microprocessor generation from AMD , which succeeded the AMD K7 microprocessors in 2003 . The name AMD K8 is in the tradition of the K5 , K6 and K7 generations. The main innovation of the K8 generation is the AMD64 micro-architecture and the integration of the memory controller into the processor.

Technical details

Architecture of the K8 processors

The K8 processors achieve the greater part of their increase in performance compared to the K7 processors through enlarged or improved caches as well as improvements to the preliminary stages of the processing units ( TLB , jump prediction, etc.). In addition, the memory latencies have been significantly reduced because the memory controller has been relocated from the Northbridge to the processor itself. The pipelines were extended from 10 to 12 stages. “Pack” and the following “Decode”, which can be seen in the block diagram, are processed by these two additional pipeline stages.

Not all K8 generation microprocessors support AMD64. For the low-price range, AMD initially developed pure 32-bit CPUs and marketed them under the names Sempron and Mobile Sempron . All CPUs of the K8 generation support MMX , Extended 3DNow! and SSE the Streaming SIMD Extensions 2 ; more modern steppings also the streaming SIMD extensions 3 .

To "improve the security of a computer", AMD introduced the technology of the NX bit in the K8 generation . It should prevent programs from executing any data as a program and thus starting malicious code ( viruses , backdoors, etc.).

As a further important innovation, in addition to the energy-saving Silicon on Insulator process , which was used for the first time in large-scale production, with Cool'n'Quiet, a power-saving technology that was previously only found in notebook CPUs. Both measures led to a greatly reduced power loss when the CPU was operated under partial load and are certainly one of the reasons for the popularity of the Athlon 64 .

Market importance

Even the microprocessors of the AMD K7 generation were considerably less power-hungry than those of the Intel competition with NetBurst architecture , and the high power dissipation of these Intel processors led to considerable market shifts. While AMD was criticized as a “cheap supplier” in the K7 times because of the lower maximum clock rates compared to the Pentium 4 , AMD was now able to position itself on a par with Intel with the Athlon 64. AMD has now also succeeded in winning large companies that had previously been loyal to Intel as customers.

Naming

While AMD remained true to the product name Athlon with the desktop processors , a new brand was established with the Opteron in the server segment in order to get rid of the bad image of the hapless AMD Athlon MP and to be able to start a run in this profitable segment. The Opteron was able to gain a large market share within a few years.

At the same time, the brand name “Duron” was replaced by Sempron in the low-cost segment . Even if the first Semprons were still part of the K7 generation , this step also paid off, as the Sempron was much better received than the Duron.

After AMD was unable to achieve the desired success in the notebook sector, a special power-saving variant (K8L) was brought onto the market under the name Turion 64 , which also managed to gain some market share. However, there was no final breakthrough in this segment.

Processors of the K8 generation

The following processor families from AMD are based on the K8 generation:

Successors and Derivatives

At AMD, the low-power variants are also referred to internally as K8L , with the appended "L" standing for low (power). But they do not differ in their micro-architecture of the rest of K8 processors, only the current consumption is lower.

The dual core processors based on the K8 generation, on the other hand, are counted as part of the K9 generation.

The successor to the K8 and K9 is the AMD K10 .

Individual evidence

  1. http://www.google.com/patents?id=gkcEAAAAEBAJ&dq=6020222&ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html
  2. http://chip-architect.com/news/2000_11_07_process_130_nm.html
  3. Simonnet Isaïe - Trouffman: Interview du Nouvel AMD. February 28, 2007, archived from the original on July 12, 2009 ; accessed on January 1, 2014 (English, video interview with Giuseppe Amato (AMD Technical Director: Sales and Marketing EMEA) from February 2007 (no longer available)).
  4. AMD: K10 is in the Barcelona (heise.de) . April 14, 2007.