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AMD Athlon64 FX-62 and X2 5000+ Socket AM2 Processors Reviewed
AMD Athlon64 FX-62 and X2 5000+ Socket AM2 Processors Reviewed  - PCSTATS
AMD Athlon64 FX-62 and Athlon64 X2-5000+ are both dual core, support DDR-2 667/800 MHz RAM, virtualization, and install into a new 940-pin socket called 'AM2'.
Filed under: CPU / Processors Published:  Author: 
External Mfg. Website: AMD May 24 2006   Max Page  
Home > Reviews > CPU / Processors > AMD Athlon64 FX-62 / X2 5000+

Behind the Heatspreader - Common AM2 CPU Features

The new socket AM2 Athlon64 FX-62 and X2 5000+ processors are both manufactured in AMD's Fab 30 wafer fabrication facility in Dresden, Germany. The fab uses a 90 nanometer Silicon on Insulator manufacturing process, and as a result the silicon core of the Athlon64 FX-62 contains mind blowing 227.4 million transistors in space no larger than 230mm2. The Athlon64 X2 5000+ has less L2 cache, so its 183mm2 silicon die contains 153.8 million transistors.

Common to both processors is a 940-pin organic micro PGA CPU package which has been termed "Socket AM2." The original nomenclature was socket M2, but the rumour is that name has some intellectual property rights already associated with it, hence the "A" for AMD was added.

All AM2 processors incorporate a DDR-2 memory controller, with an effective dual channel memory bandwidth of up to 12.8 GB/sec.

A single hypertransport link of up to 8GB/sec between the CPU and motherboard core logic is supported, so the total CPU bandwidth rounds out to as much as 20.8 GB/s. The Athlon64 FX and X2 series of AM2 processors will support unbuffered DDR-2 667 & 800 memory (PC2-5300 and PC2-6400 respectively), whereas Athlon64 and Sempron AM2 chips will operate with more affordable DDR-2 667 RAM. AMD Virtualization technology is integrated on-chip for all DDR-2 socket AM2 processors. As of this writing, virtualization is still very much in development, but its adoption by heavyweights Intel and Microsoft, ensures it will eventually find its way into the desktop computer.

On the topic of cache, each socket AM2 Athlon64 CPU has a total of 256KB of L1 cache. The L1 cache is split evenly between each core in the processor, where 64k L1 Instruction and 64K L1 Data are allocated. The L2 cache on socket AM2 processors gets a bit complicated as it varies with CPU class.

For the most part, socket AM2 CPU's follow the same rules as previous generations of Athlon64/X2/FX processors. For example, the Athlon64 FX line (including the FX-62) will contain 1024KB of L2 cache per core, which means the FX-62 effectively has 2048KB of L2 cache in total.

The Athlon64 X2 series on the other hand, contains half as much L2 cache per core. So for the Athlon64 X2 5000+, we find a total 1024KB L2 cache under the hood, with each individual core equipped to the tune of 512KB L2 cache.

Both the socket AM2 Athlon64 FX-62 and X2 5000+ processors utilize a single HyperTransport link to communicate with the rest of the computer system. The CPU-to-Northbridge HyperTransport link operates at 2 GHz (2x 1000MHz DDR) and provides up to 8GB/sec bandwidth. As previous Athlon64 systems have demonstrated, the HyperTransport architecture is superior to every other alternative on the market - it provides the most bandwidth, and is currently the most scalable.

Both processors integrate a shared 128bit memory controller, and support the DDR2 memory speeds we've already quoted. With the dual channel DDR2-800 (PC2-6400) installed, the memory subsystem will provide up to 12.8GB/s worth of bandwidth at any given time. The Athlon64 architecture uses a memory controller embedded onto the CPU core, so it also operates at the CPU clock speed. In other words, there is no delay in moving data from the processor to the memory controller. Thus the memory controller on the X2 5000+ runs at 2.6GHz, and the memory controller for the FX-62 operates at 2.8GHz.

While the added bandwidth that DDR-2 provides is certainly not going to hinder things, the Athlon64 processor still as a very big sweet tooth for higher quality lower latency DDR-2 RAM. In fact, memory latency has more of an impact on the AM2 processor than memory bandwidth does.

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Contents of Article: AMD Athlon64 FX-62 / X2 5000+
 Pg 1.  AMD Athlon64 FX-62 and X2 5000+ Socket AM2 Processors Reviewed
 Pg 2.  Complete Socket AM2 CPU Family
 Pg 3.  — Behind the Heatspreader - Common AM2 CPU Features
 Pg 4.  AMD Virtulization Technology
 Pg 5.  Performance-Per-Watt Metrics
 Pg 6.  Socket AM2 System Power Draw
 Pg 7.  Hello DDR-2, the AM2's Memory of Choice
 Pg 8.  VIA / SIS Chipsets for Socket AM2
 Pg 9.  nVIDIA, the AMD chipset market leader
 Pg 10.  Socket AM2 Heatsinks and Retention Frame
 Pg 11.  Overclocking the Athlon64 X2 5000+ and FX-62!
 Pg 12.  Flagship AMD Athlon64 FX-62 Overclocking
 Pg 13.  Prelude to Benchmarks - Test System Configuration
 Pg 14.  Pure 32-bit Benchmarks: SYSMark 2004
 Pg 15.  Pure 32 bit Benchmarks: Office Productivity, SiSoft Sandra 2005
 Pg 16.  Pure 32-Bit Benchmarks: Maya Render Test, Super Pi
 Pg 17.  Pure 32-Bit Benchmarks: PCMark05
 Pg 18.  Pure 32-Bit Benchmarks: 3DMark05
 Pg 19.  Pure 32-Bit Benchmarks: 3DMark06
 Pg 20.  Pure 32-Bit Benchmarks: Doom 3
 Pg 21.  Pure 32-Bit Benchmarks: Quake 4
 Pg 22.  Pure 32-Bit Benchmarks: FarCry
 Pg 23.  Pure 32-Bit Benchmarks: FEAR
 Pg 24.  64 Bit Benchmarks: ScienceMark 2.
 Pg 25.  64 Bit Benchmarks: Mini-GZip, DiVX Encoding
 Pg 26.  Multi-Threaded Benchmarks: 3DMark05
 Pg 27.  Multi-Threaded Benchmarks: Doom 3
 Pg 28.  Multi-Threaded Benchmarks: FEAR
 Pg 29.  Welcome to the family Socket AM2!

 
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