AMD's upcoming Thuban processor range is ship with a dynamic overclocking technology dubbed Turbo Core.
According to The Tech Report, AMD's next-generation processor is set to take a leaf out of Intel's book and include a dynamic overclocking technology similar to - although simpler than - Turbo Boost.
Designed for use with the 6-core Thuban series - although it's likely to hit the quad-core editions as well, despite no confirmation on that from AMD - Turbo Core increases the performance for poorly multithreaded applications by boosting a group of processing cores by up to 500MHz providing other groups aren't doing any real work.
The idea of splitting the processor into two groups of three cores means that while one group is idle, the other group can be given a 500MHz clockspeed boost without increasing power draw or going over the processor's designated TDP. As an example, if a six-core Thuban chip is running at 3GHz but only three of the cores are in use, it will temporarily overclock to 3.5GHz.
The Turbo Core technology is handled entirely internally and without the need for user interaction - and once more applications are launched, or if a massively multithreaded application rears its head, the boost state will drop back down to stock speeds in order to meet the TDP.
While AMD hasn't taken the opportunity of the Turbo Core announcement to provide hard details on the expected clock speeds for its Thuban range, the company is quoted as suggesting that the Black Edition of its six-core Thuban chip - aimed at enthusiasts and overclockers - will ship at speeds "over 3GHz, substantially" before the 500Mhz Turbo Core overclock is taken into account.
Does the idea of a processor that can dynamically give you a half-a-gigahertz overclock if you're only using certain cores fill you with joy, or is Intel's Turbo Boost - with its multiple speed increments and dynamic temperature monitoring - the better technology? Share your thoughts over in the forums.
According to The Tech Report, AMD's next-generation processor is set to take a leaf out of Intel's book and include a dynamic overclocking technology similar to - although simpler than - Turbo Boost.
Designed for use with the 6-core Thuban series - although it's likely to hit the quad-core editions as well, despite no confirmation on that from AMD - Turbo Core increases the performance for poorly multithreaded applications by boosting a group of processing cores by up to 500MHz providing other groups aren't doing any real work.
The idea of splitting the processor into two groups of three cores means that while one group is idle, the other group can be given a 500MHz clockspeed boost without increasing power draw or going over the processor's designated TDP. As an example, if a six-core Thuban chip is running at 3GHz but only three of the cores are in use, it will temporarily overclock to 3.5GHz.
The Turbo Core technology is handled entirely internally and without the need for user interaction - and once more applications are launched, or if a massively multithreaded application rears its head, the boost state will drop back down to stock speeds in order to meet the TDP.
While AMD hasn't taken the opportunity of the Turbo Core announcement to provide hard details on the expected clock speeds for its Thuban range, the company is quoted as suggesting that the Black Edition of its six-core Thuban chip - aimed at enthusiasts and overclockers - will ship at speeds "over 3GHz, substantially" before the 500Mhz Turbo Core overclock is taken into account.
Does the idea of a processor that can dynamically give you a half-a-gigahertz overclock if you're only using certain cores fill you with joy, or is Intel's Turbo Boost - with its multiple speed increments and dynamic temperature monitoring - the better technology? Share your thoughts over in the forums.
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