[NextGen_Gamer]

In a story from X-bit Labs, some of the first details on AMD's second fusion processor, "Ontario," have been released. "Ontario" will be a monolithic system-on-chip that will contain two x86 cores, a DirectX 11-generation GPU ("Evergreen" architecture most likely, though unconfirmed) and a DDR3 memory controller. The two x86 cores will be based on AMD's brand new "Bobcat" architecture, which is designed for very low power consumption. In fact, AMD says that a single "Bobcat" core scale down to sub 1-Watt levels. "Bobcat" will have x86-64 (AMD64) and virtualization compatibility, contain support for the SSE/SSE2/SSE3 extension sets, and will be a single-threaded out-of-order execution unit. That last part is interesting, as it means that "Bobcat" will be fundamentally different from Intel's Atom, which is a dual-threaded in-order type of CPU.

The most surprising part though is the manufacturing process. At one point, it was thought that "Ontario" would be a multi-die type of package, with the GPU being built on a 40-nm process and the CPU using a 32-nm one. Not true; "Ontario" is actually a monolithic die completely built on a 40-nm bulk process. This will be the first time a AMD CPU is made using a non-SOI process since before the first Athlon 64 processor. At this point in time, it is unknown who is actually building the chips: it could either be TSMC, UMC, or Globalfoundries (most likely in my opinion) as all three have a 40-nm process either out or coming out soon.

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[power666]

Interesting. AVX seems to be missing from the Bobcat core here.

It'll be interesting to compare Llano and Ontario in terms of performance. Quad core Phenom II or dual core Bobcat?

[haylui]

sub 1W chip
we might able to see x86 phone really soon, running Win XP ?

[Teemax]

Originally Posted by haylui

sub 1W chip
we might able to see x86 phone really soon, running Win XP ?

A idle draw of 1W is actually HUGE for a phone. You realize that plenty of ARM chips won't even draw 1W at full load?


Ontario in a laptop/tablet form could be interesting though.

[haylui]

Originally Posted by Teemax

A idle draw of 1W is actually HUGE for a phone. You realize that plenty of ARM chips won't even draw 1W at full load?


Ontario in a laptop/tablet form could be interesting though.

if the Bobcat could deliver substantial performance especially in graphic department, I believe the power draw would be neglected. Since currently all smart phones draws a lot of power and make users to charge their cellphones max at 2 days interval.

[DreamerX]

idle at 1W. good to hear that --> it change the way it used to be --> AMD laptop no good, short battery time lah.. blablabla...

[pogsnet]

Wow that is cool! I hope that will become a reality not just on paper

[elu]

Originally Posted by haylui

if the Bobcat could deliver substantial performance especially in graphic department, I believe the power draw would be neglected. Since currently all smart phones draws a lot of power and make users to charge their cellphones max at 2 days interval.

You don't need Evergreen class GPU performance for a smartphone. And yes, 1W idle is huge for a phone, let alone the expected load wattages.