X-bit labs

AMD Plans to Return Single-Chip Configurations for Enthusiasts.

Category: CPU

by Anton Shilov

[ 05/16/2007 | 03:36 AM ]

Advanced Micro Devices may return single-chip configurations for performance desktop computing enthusiasts in the coming months while not getting rid of its dual-chip enthusiast platforms, sources close to the company have indicated.

In a bid to offer computer enthusiasts and gamers something truly unique, AMD introduced platform that allowed to install two AMD Athlon 64 FX chips on it last year. But while AMD’s solution offered the power of four processing engines, its rival Intel Corp. unveiled Intel Core 2 Extreme quad-core chips that did not require expensive motherboard, provided higher performance and consumed less power, which resulted in lower noise levels of actual computers. As a consequence for AMD, its code-named 4x4 platform did not get popular among enthusiasts.

Even though AMD will continue to offer dual-socket platforms for enthusiasts who want to remain on the leading edge of technology with its Phenom FX processors, there will be a chip that will be compatible with single-socket mainboards, according to the company’s roadmap.

Currently it is projected that AMD will introduce two AMD Phenom FX quad-core processors with clock-speeds ranging from 2.20GHz to 2.60GHz for its FASN8 platform with two sockets 1207+, and one AMD Phenom FX quad-core chip with 2.20GHz – 2.40GHz clock-speed for AM2+ platform. While power consumption of the new Phenom FX processors is unclear, it is expected that typical quad-core chips from AMD at 2.40GHz clock-speed with 512KB L2 cache per core and 2MB shared L3 cache will fit into 89W thermal envelope.

As a result, those enthusiasts who seek for performance of eight processing cores, will be able to choose the “fascinate” platform and two AMD Phenom FX processors, whereas those, who want to have the new quad-core technology from AMD with some advantages provided by the “FX” moniker, will have an opportunity to have it as well.

AMD Phenom processors are based on the company’s next-generation micro-architecture and will be produced using 65nm process technology. Among the highlights of AMD Phenom its manufacturer lists shared L3 cache, 128-bit floating point units (FPU), Hyper-Transport 3.0 bus, support for dual-channel PC2-8500 (1066MHz) memory and other innovations.