Confusion reigns over Hammer launch date

TAIWANESE WIRE suggests AMD is still on course to deliver its super Athlon, based on the new Hammer core in December, despite possible hold-ups in the design.Either that, or the chipmaker has failed to communicate the possibility a delayed launch of Athlon or Operton versions of the core to its far-flung outposts.

Mooted problems with K8 Hammer's integrated memory controller are said to have caused the launch of the 32-bit code-running 64-bit processor to be put back to December, or beyond.

DigiTimes says the new chip may have been expected to tip up in October, though the INQUIRER had learned some time ago that October was a no-no. We have also learned that December is unlikely too and we've had chipset and mobo makers queuing up to tell us so.

K.J. Chou, general manager of AMD Taiwan, told DigiTimes that the outpost had received no official notice from Sandersville concerning any schedule or specification changes and were still planning to introduce the K8-based Athlon in the fourth quarter, with the server-use Opterons following 'later on'.

Chipset vendors, we learn, have been struggling with, er, perfecting, integrated video solutions for the Hammer platforms. Power saving features on Hammer have been claimed to turn off the memory controller, confusing the integrated graphics chipsets.

Here's the DigiTimes piece.

Meanwhile, AMD reports of support for Opteron from Zeus Technology. AMD demonstrated a 64-bit Zeus Web server application ported on a system based on the Opteron at PC Expo. The Zeus Web Server was demonstrated on a four-way AMD Opteron processor-based system using a 64-bit Linux operating system.

In it's announcement released yesterday AMD sticks to its "fourth quarter" schedule for the K8 Athlon. It says: "Shipments of the AMD Opteron processor for servers and workstations are planned to begin in the first half of 2003. Shipments of AMD's eighth-generation AMD Athlon processor for desktops are planned to begin in the fourth quarter of 2002." µ

See Also
Hammer chipsets delayed until 2003
AMD's Hammer may well be delayed
Clawhammer smurfs on a wave of speculation
Full Computex report with mobo pix
AMD shares fall heavily after Q2 profit warning