BeHardware - News - July 23, 2005

AnandTech has published some information on AMD’s. First, the release of the new Socket M2 destined to accept the Athlon 64 revised F version managing DDR2-667 is planned for the second trimester in 2006. Incompatible with current processors, they will be equipped with a total of 940 pins. It’s important to note that if current motherboards provide a maximum of 80A for the processor, Socket M2 motherbards will increase to 95A. This is proof that AMD plans on releasing more powerful (and power hungry) CPUs for this Socket.

In terms of Athlon 64s, in the first trimester of 2006 we should see the arrival the Athlon 64 FX-59 at 3 GHz as well as a new Athlon 64 X2 at 2.6 GHz. These two processors will be in Socket 939 format and therefore be 200 MHz faster than the fastest AMDs in their field. The release of new mono and dual core Athlon 64s for the M2 Socket shouldn’t bring about any immediate raise in frequency. Innovations are mainly in the form of DDR2 as well as Presidio and Pacifica technology (the equivalent to LaGrande and VanderPool at Intel).

For Semprons, the release of 3000+ and 3200+ Socket 939 (1.8 GHz / 128 KB of cache and 1.8 GHz / 256 KB of cache) versions will be imminent. AMD will have to come out with different names in these two cache sizes and for these Sockets, to eventually have in the second trimester of 2006 the 3700+ on each of these two sockets. While were on the subject, according to AnandTech’s information the P-Rating of the Sempron Socket 939 is bizarre at this moment:

2.2 GHz, 256 KB of cache L2, Socket 939/754: 3700+/3700+
2.0 GHz, 256 KB of cache L2, Socket 939/754: 3500+/3400+
2.0 GHz, 128 KB of cache L2, Socket 939/754: 3400+/3300+
1.8 GHz, 256 KB of cache L2, Socket 939/754: 3200+/3100+
1.8 GHz, 128 KB of cache L2, Socket 939/754 : 3000+/3000+

Therefore, we have a P-Rating that improves to100 or not at all, which doesn’t really give us anything logical. All the more so, with the Athlon 64 in moving to the Socket 754 this brought about P-Rating figures that were not only quite varied but with 200-400 unit differences ! If this information is correct, the P-Rating will once again lose credibility (what’s left of it anyway). A Sempron on a Socket M2, the Manila, is also planned for 2006. It will manage DDR2 on two channels like the Athlon 64, but will not be equipped like the Presidio and Pacifica in security and virtualization technology.

Opterons should for their part pass to 2.8 GHz in the third trimester with the release of the 154, 254 and 854 versions. It’s important to note that the Opteron 154 will not be Socket 940 but 939! The passage to Socket F, equipped with 1207 pins, shouldn’t happen before the second semester of 2006, and nothing specific has come to our attention on the specifications of Opterons which use it. In terms of mobile and especially Turion, AMD plans on launching various versions of the « ML » (35 Watts) and « MT » (25 Watts) models. Ready in the fourth trimester of 2005 we’ll find a ML-44 at 2.4 GHz with 1 MB of cache L2, and in the first trimester of 2006 an MT-42 at 2.4 GHz with 512 KB of cache L2.