An Athlon 64 X2 clocked at 3 GHz? This is what AMD proposes with the 6000+. With recent price cuts will it be enough to make a comeback and compete with Intel?AMD’s second dual core at 3 GHz
The Athlon 64 X2 isn’t the first AMD dual core processor clocked at 3 GHz. The first one was the Athlon 64 FX-74, a Socket F processor that has to be used in pairs with Quad FX configurations. AMD has known how to produce this type of processor in small quantities for months now as was shown lately in overclocking recent A64 X2s.
More than 20 months after the release of the first Athlon 64 X2, the evolution in terms of frequency is anything but impressive. It’s at 600 MHz or a 25% improvement and we’ve seen better results. K8 architecture has reached the end of its potential as it shows in the serious difficulties in increasing frequency.
Delays in terms of the fabrication process add to this problem, because if the manufacturer started producing 65 nm CPUs a few months ago, performances obtained with this process are currently far from the 90 nm. So, the highest end processors in 65 nm are the Athlon 64 X2 5000+ at 2.6 GHz and AMD is planning on increasing to 2.8 GHz next quarter. You probably already understood that this A64 X2 6000+ is based on a 90 nm fabrication process.
Stepping increases from 2 to 3. We don’t know the exact differences but we may believe that AMD made sure to grab a few more MHz. Voltage remains at 1.4V like the FX-62. According to the CPU, the voltage of the 5600+ is between 1.3 and 1.35V.
AMD (finally) cut prices
Since the beginning of the year, AMD made serious price cuts for dual core processors. Here is the list of reductions.
If in the beginning of the year, they chose the 5200+ to compete with the Core 2 E6600, the 5600+ will now have to face the challenge. For the E6400, the 4400+ is replaced by the 5200+ and the 4200+ will have to compete with the E4300.
