X-bit labs

AMD Intros Mainstream Dual-Core Processor.

Category: CPU

by Anton Shilov

[ 08/01/2005 | 09:57 AM ]

Advanced Micro Devices on Monday formally introduced its latest addition to the AMD Athlon 64 X2 family of central processing units (CPUs). The new chip with two processing engines will enable mainstream market with modern technologies.

“The newest member to the AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual-core processor family provides consumers with an attractive entry point to dual-core computing on desktop PCs. Now consumers can experience exceptional dual-core performance at a mainstream price point,” AMD said in a statement.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 model 3800+ works at 2.00GHz clock-speed, each of the chip’s cores feature 512KB L2 cache and interact between each other using System Request Interface (SRI). Like all AMD64 microprocessors, the newcomer has built-in dual-channel PC3200 DDR memory controller. The Athlon 64 X2 3800+ is made using 90nm fabrication processor and is based on the core code-named Manchester . The central processing unit is designed for Socket 939 infrastructure and has official thermal design power of 89W, much lower compared to 110W of other AMD Athlon 64 X2 processors.

All AMD’s dual-core processors for desktops are able to operate within existing Socket 939 infrastructures provided that the mainboards have BIOS support for them and comply to AMD’s thermal and voltage specifications for all processors made using 90nm process technology.

“I would only like to say that according to the benchmark results, Athlon 64 X2 3800+ appeared a faster processor than its competitor from Intel, the Pentium D 830. So, it looks like this new AMD solution has pretty promising future ahead,” X-bit labs analyst Ilya Gavrichenkov wrote in his article called “AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ CPU: Dual-Core and 64-Bit Go Mass!”

The AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual-core processor 3800+ is priced at $354 for 1000-unit quantities. AMD usually declares availability of the processors when it is ready to ship them for revenue, which means that actual end-users would be able to buy the actual product a number of weeks after such announcement.