AMD Bulldozer Rumors

An interesting collection of rumors and speculations about the next completely new AMD CPU has surfaced.

AMD hasn't officially announced the chip yet, so anything can change between now and the target launch date sometime in 2009.
AMD plans to launch its third-generation Opteron platform in 2009 with the Sandtiger octal-core processor. Beneath Sandtiger is AMD’s M-SPACE modular approach towards CPUs. M-SPACE allows AMD to mix and match CPU features for specific tasks.

The definition for M-SPACE is as follows:
  • Modular: Reconfigurable “building blocks” for design speed/agility
  • Scalable: Linear scaling of multi and single-thread performance
  • Portable: Energy-efficiency for increased mobility/portability
  • Accessible: Ongoing commitment to open innovation
  • Compatible: Backward compatibility and ease of upgrade
  • Efficient: Optimal on-chip and system level I/O efficiency
To clear up some naming issues, the current code-name for the first server chip family is Sandtiger, while Bulldozer is believed to be a generic name much as Sledgehammer was for the K8.

Current rumor and speculation are that the Bulldozer series of CPUs will feature 8-cores on their high-end parts, and that the cores will be capable of reconfiguring themselves to suit processing needs.
Tags:  AMD, rumors, Rumor, Bulldozer, BU, AM