AMD Displays Llano Die: 4 x86 Cores, 480 Stream Processors

From X-bit Labs: Advanced Micro Devices on Wednesday demonstrated the first die shot of its code-named Llano microprocessor that features both general-purpose x86 cores as well as graphics processing engine. The picture reveals some of the basic specifications of the chip. More importantly, AMD said that the Llano chip is due in 2011, no changes in the roadmap.

Based on the die shot displayed by Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager of AMD’s products group, the first Fusion processor from AMD will feature 4 x86 cores that resemble those of Propus processor (AMD Athlon II X4) as well as 6 SIMD engines (with 80 stream processors per engine) that resemble those of Evergreen graphics chip (ATI Radeon HD 5800), PC3-12800 (DDR3 1600MHz) memory controller, possibly, with some tweaks to better serve x86 and graphics engines.

The processor lacks unified L3 in order to reduce manufacturing cost, but will have 2MB of L2 cache (512KB per core), which contradicts to previously available information that the chip has 4MB of L3.

AMD’s Llano will feature around 1 billion of transistors, which is logical since AMD’s Propus processor has around 300 million of transistors, whereas 480 stream processors and additional special purpose logic includes around 600 million of transistors. The chip will be made using 32nm silicon-on-insulator fabrication process.

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