Editing AMD (section)

===== High-power, high-performance Bulldozer cores =====
{{Main|Bulldozer (microarchitecture)|l1=Bulldozer microarchitecture|Piledriver (microarchitecture)|l2=Piledriver microarchitecture|Steamroller (microarchitecture)|l3=Steamroller microarchitecture|Excavator (microarchitecture)|l4=Excavator microarchitecture}}
Bulldozer was AMD's microarchitecture codename for server and desktop [[AMD FX]] processors, first released on October 12, 2011. This [[Zen 4|family 15h microarchitecture]] is the successor to the [[AMD 10h|family 10h (K10)]] microarchitecture design. Bulldozer was a clean-sheet design, not a development of earlier processors.<ref>{{Citation |title=Bulldozer 50% Faster than Core i7 and Phenom II |date=January 13, 2011 |url=http://www.techpowerup.com/138328/Bulldozer-50-Faster-than-Core-i7-and-Phenom-II.html |publisher=techPowerUp |access-date=January 23, 2012}}</ref> The core was specifically aimed at 10–125&nbsp;W [[Thermal Design Power|TDP]] computing products. AMD claimed dramatic performance-per-watt efficiency improvements in [[high-performance computing]] (HPC) applications with Bulldozer cores. While hopes were high that Bulldozer would bring AMD to be performance-competitive with Intel once more, most benchmarks were disappointing. In some cases the new Bulldozer products were slower than the K10 models they were built to replace.<ref>{{Citation |title=Analyzing Bulldozer: Why AMD's chip is so disappointing |newspaper=Extremetech |date=October 24, 2011 |url=http://www.extremetech.com/computing/100583-analyzing-bulldozers-scaling-single-thread-performance |publisher=extremetech.com |access-date=November 30, 2013|last1=Hruska |first1=Joel }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=Lab Tested: AMD's Bulldozer Packs Plenty Of Cores, But Not Enough Power |date=October 12, 2011 |url=http://www.pcworld.com/article/241812/lab_tested_amds_bulldozer_packs_plenty_of_cores_but_not_enough_power.html |work=PC World |access-date=November 30, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=October 20, 2011 |title=Can AMD survive Bulldozer's disappointing debut? |url=https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2011/10/can-amd-survive-bulldozers-disappointing-debut/ |access-date=November 30, 2013 |publisher=ars technica}}</ref>

The [[Piledriver (microarchitecture)|Piledriver microarchitecture]] was the 2012 successor to Bulldozer, increasing clock speeds and performance relative to its predecessor.<ref>{{cite news |last=Hruska |first=Joel |title=AMD's FX-8350 analyzed: Does Piledriver deliver where Bulldozer fell short? |url=http://www.extremetech.com/computing/138394-amds-fx-8350-analyzed-does-piledriver-deliver-where-bulldozer-fell-short |access-date=March 23, 2013 |newspaper=ExtremeTech|date=October 23, 2012 }}</ref> Piledriver would be released in AMD FX, APU, and Opteron product lines.<ref>{{cite web |date=May 15, 2012 |title=AMD launches widely anticipated "Trinity" APU |url=https://www.amd.com/us/press-releases/Pages/second-generation-amd-a-series-2012may15.aspx |access-date=January 16, 2014 |website=Press release |publisher=AMD}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=New AMD A-Series Processors Bring Faster Speeds, High Core Count and AMD Radeon HD 7000 Series Graphics to Do-It-Yourself PC Enthusiasts and Gamers |url=https://www.amd.com/us/press-releases/Pages/press-release-2012oct2.aspx |access-date=March 22, 2013 |publisher=AMD}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=New AMD FX Line-Up Brings Faster Speeds and Higher Performance Core over Previous Generation to PC Enthusiasts and Gamers |url=https://www.amd.com/us/press-releases/Pages/new-amd-fx-line-2012oct23.aspx |access-date=March 22, 2013 |publisher=AMD}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=December 4, 2012 |title=New AMD Opteron 4300 and 3300 Series Processors Deliver Ideal Performance, Power and Price for Cloud Applications |url=https://www.amd.com/us/press-releases/Pages/new-amd-opteron-2012dec04.aspx |access-date=January 16, 2014 |website=Press release |publisher=AMD}}</ref> Piledriver was subsequently followed by the [[Steamroller (microarchitecture)|Steamroller microarchitecture]] in 2013. Used exclusively in AMD's APUs, Steamroller focused on greater parallelism.<ref name="anandtech-kaveri-review">{{cite web |date=January 14, 2014 |title=AMD Kaveri Review: A8-7600 and A10-7850K Tested |url=http://www.anandtech.com/show/7677/amd-kaveri-review-a8-7600-a10-7850k |access-date=February 8, 2014 |publisher=Anandtech.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Su |first=Lisa |date=February 2, 2012 |title=Consumerization, Cloud, Convergence. |url=http://phx.corporate-ir.net/External.File?item=UGFyZW50SUQ9MTI1MTM5fENoaWxkSUQ9LTF8VHlwZT0z&t=1 |access-date=February 4, 2012 |website=AMD 2012 Financial Analyst Day |publisher=Advanced Micro Devices |location=Sunnyvale, California |page=26 |format=PDF}}</ref>

In 2015, the [[Excavator (microarchitecture)|Excavator microarchitecture]] replaced Piledriver.<ref name="PCWorld">{{Cite magazine |last=Hachman |first=Mark |date=November 21, 2014 |title=AMD reveals high-end 'Carrizo' APU, the first chip to fully embrace audacious HSA tech |url=http://www.pcworld.com/article/2850853/amd-reveals-high-end-carrizo-apu-its-first-fully-hsa-compliant-chip.html |magazine=PC World |access-date=January 15, 2015}}</ref> Expected to be the last microarchitecture of the Bulldozer series,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://bit-tech.net/news/tech/cpus/amd-zen/1/|title=AMD hints at high-performance Zen x86 architecture &#124; bit-tech.net|website=bit-tech.net}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Shilov |first=Anton |date=May 10, 2014 |title=AMD to Introduce New High-Performance Micro-Architecture in 2015 – Report. |url=http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/cpu/display/20140510165441_AMD_to_Introduce_New_High_Performance_Micro_Architecture_in_2015_Report.html |url-status=dead |access-date=May 22, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140513224717/http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/cpu/display/20140510165441_AMD_to_Introduce_New_High_Performance_Micro_Architecture_in_2015_Report.html |archive-date=May 13, 2014}}</ref> Excavator focused on improved power efficiency.<ref>{{cite web |date=August 28, 2012 |title=AMD Explains Advantages of High Density (Thin) Libraries |url=http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Steamroller-High_Density_Libraries-hot-chips-cpu-gpu,17218.html}}</ref>