AMD shaves 800 million transistors from Bulldozer chip, swears nothing's wrong

When a company cuts 40 percent of its transistors from an upcoming processor, one question comes to mind: why. According to ExtremeTech, AMD issued an update stating that its Bulldozer eight core / four module CPU would feature 1.2 billion transistors, as opposed to the previously stated two billion transistors. The reduction occurred despite the fact that the die size remains unchanged at 315 square millimeters - putting it on par with AMD's lesser Llano chip - and depriving the chip of valuable horsepower before I/O, an integrated memory controller or HyperTransport are added.

Engadget, AMD shaves 800 million transistors from Bulldozer chip, swears nothing's wrong