XBit Labs published an Opteron roadmap the other day.
You may not be interested in ever buying an Opteron, but since an Opteron roadmap very roughly follows what happens with Athlon 64, provided you don’t take it too literally, you can glean certain types of information from it.
For instance, if you want to know exactly when a processor hitting a certain speed will come out, this isn’t too good for that. Opterons have been both leading- and trailing-edge products so far, often by a number of months.
The main piece of info we can get from this chart which should apply to A64s is:
We will see 3GHz, rated, from 90nm: The roadmap indicates that a 3GHz single-core Opteron will be available 1Q 2006. I think it is very safe to say that we’ll see a 3GHz A64 before or by then, and it’s probably 50-50 or better we’ll see a 3.2Ghz FX/A64 by that time.
This is additional confirmation that strained silicon really does help increase maximum speed significantly.
We don’t know yet if the average Revision E chip due very shortly will easily hit 3GHz with little fuss (i.e. high-end air, no more than 10% overvolting), but if it falls a little short, chips available later in the year should hit the target.
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