AMD Zone heeft een artikel gepost over de AMD Sledgehammer, een 64-bit processor die met de door AMD in eigen huis ontwikkelde x86-64 extensie voortbordeert op de aloude x86 instructieset:
The Sledgehammer will not be able to boast the SPECfp performance of the Itanium, because it would not be using the same RISC FP architecture. AMD already predicts a 5% speed loss in both integer and floating point operations when compared to a native 64-bit application. Also, the Sledgehammer will be a bigger chip than the current Athlon. AMD has predicted a 5% gain in die size, which would mean about 30 fewer chips per 12-inch wafer. But, this size is nothing compared to some preliminary reports concerning the Itanium. People have said the Itanium could be used as a replacement part in an EZ-Bake oven if need be, a testament to its size and power consumption. The Itanium may be released as only an 800Mhz part, while the Sledgehammer could top 2Ghz. Also, there is speculation about AMD releasing the Sledgehammer with multiple chips on a single die. This coupled with AMD?s new Lightening Data Transport (LDT) protocol points to AMD edging into the multiprocessing market. For the next 4 years the Sledgehammer appears to be in the best position, but after that, the IA-64 standard will probably overtake the Sledgehammer. Of course, who knows what AMD has got in its SkunkWorks, a K9 perhaps?
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