Athlon 64 FX-57 in Detail

Before getting right to the new processor we want to remind you some facts about the previous CPU in this series. The Athlon 64 FX-55 had a frequency of 2.6GHz and was manufactured on 0.13-micron tech process combined with Dual Stress Liner technology. The fact that some special tricks were necessary to release a 2.6GHz model meant the potential of the older tech process was exhausted.

It is quite natural then that the new model in the Athlon 64 FX series is manufactured on a more advanced tech process. Fortunately, AMD’s 90nm technology has been used in manufacture for a long while already. So even though the Athlon 64 FX-57 is the first 90nm processor in its series, it doesn’t have anything new about itself. This CPU is based on the same core as is used in senior 90nm Athlon 64 model.

The Athlon 64 FX-57 has raised the frequency of processors of this series by a next 200MHz. It means AMD’s processors have reached 2.8GHz clock rate. This CPU is traditionally equipped with a 1MB L2 cache and a dual-channel memory controller that supports DDR400 SDRAM, and is intended for ordinary Socket 939 mainboards. This combination of characteristics means only one thing: this processor is based on the San Diego core which is a close relative of the currently popular Venice. So, the Athlon 64 FX-57 has got all the advantages of this core, particularly SSE3 support and the improved memory controller that boasts a higher performance and enhanced compatibility (it can work in DDR400 mode even if you install four memory modules). For more information about these improvements refer to our review of the Venice core.

The formal specification of the Athlon 64 FX-57 is listed in the following table:

And this is what the diagnostics utility CPU-Z has to say about this processor: