Advanced Micro Devices, the world’s No. 2 maker of x86 central processing units (CPUs), plans to supply nearly 100% of its microprocessors in AM2 form-factor by the end of the fourth quarter this year, according to the company’s recent desktop processor update document.
By the end of the year AMD will not produce processors for socket 939 at all, whereas socket 754 chips will account for less than 5% of the company’s output, according to the company’s transition plans. The vast majority of chips – over 95% – will be designed for socket AM2 infrastructure. It is interesting to note that the company did not include any share of its new AMD Athlon 64 FX processors for its 4x4 platform into the document describing socket transitions.

AMD’s AM2 microprocessors support dual-channel DDR2 memory (up to PC2-6400 or 800MHz). Additionally, some processors in AM2 form-factor feature virtualization technology and some are available in low-power “energy efficient” versions with power consumption as low as 35W.
The same document also confirms that in November AMD will release Athlon 64 X2 5400+ (2.80GHz, 1MB L2 cache [512KB per core]), 5600+ (2.80GHz, 2MB L2 cache [1MB per core]) and 6000+ (3.00GHz, 2MB L2 cache [1MB per core]) microprocessors. The 5400+ and 5600+ chips will fit into 98W power envelope, whereas the 6000+ will consume up to 125W.



| Date: 10/18/06 04:12:17 AM]

