AMD's Next Gen. Korona High-End Desktop Platform
AMD's next generation high-end desktop platform codenamed "Korona", will fuse the processor silicon with the northbridge. Currently, the "Scorpius" platform which is partially launched, follows the slightly older platform layout of a processor with IMC, and a 2-chip chipset. The PCI-Express root complex is still in the chipset. Scorpius includes upcoming FX Series "Zambezi" processors, and AMD 9-series desktop chipset, with AM3+ socket. AMD has a parallel platform that caters to value-thru-mainstream segments, the "Lynx" platform, which has already transitioned to the 2-chip model in which the APU chip packs processor cores, an IMC, a PCI-Express root complex, and a GPU.
Korona platform, due for 2012, will consist of a new CPU architecture called "Piledriver", that succeeds the yet to be released "Bulldozer". Nothing else is known about Piledriver, except that the first high-end CPUs based on it will be codenamed "Komodo", and will pack 10 cores. Since this is a major platform layout rearrangement, Korona will introduce a new socket called FM2, it is quite logical to assume that the new socket will be incompatible with AM3+. Korona combines Komodo CPUs with Hudson D4 Fusion Controller Hub (FCH), which is just a glorified southbridge, much like the A75 chipset and Intel's Platform Controller Hub (PCH). The Hudson D4 packs no less than 8 SATA 6 Gb/s ports with RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 support; an integrated USB 3.0 controller with 4 ports, and 10 USB 2.0 ports. Given the particulars of this platform, we speculate that Komodo will be designed to be competitive with Intel's Ivy Bridge LGA1155 processors, or maybe even Sandy Bridge-E, if only we know the number of DDR3 memory channels Komodo will have. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't wait for Zambezi, "2012" is a vague date. For all you know, Korona could even be released by the very end of 2012.
