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Thursday, November 30, 2006
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AMD Unveils AMD Quad FX Processors For "Power" Computer Users
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AMD officially unveiled three new high-end computer processors on Wednesday as the chipmaker battles rival Intel for the "power users" that often set industry buying trends.
AMD also announced aggressive pricing for the chips, known as the Athlon 64 FX-70 series, which will be sold in pairs for $599 to $999, depending on performance. The company's previous high-end chip, the FX-62, sells for $713. AMD Athlon 64 FX-70 series dual-core processors are expected to be available from NewEgg throughout North America on November 30. Worldwide product availability is expected by early 2007. For pricing details, visit: www.amd.com/pricing.
Computers equipped with more than one processor typically are servers or workstations -- machines meant to run business networks or crunch mountains of data -- rather than consumer desktop PCs.
"This market makes and drives everything. These are the ones people go to for PC advice. It is the most important market from the influential perspective," said Ian McNaughton, AMD's product manager for the Athlon 64 FX line.
Intel's latest offering for enthusiasts is its Core 2 Extreme, which is a quad-core chip made by sticking together two dual-core chips. Each core acts as a separate processor, allowing a computer to run several programs at the same time.
AMD popularized the use of dual-core chips, but it is not expected to launch a quad-core chip until next year, so it intends its new processors to be used in pairs (Dual Socket Direct Connect (DSDC) Architecture), and has partnered with computer component makers such as Nvidia to supply parts enabling such an arrangement.
NVIDIA, the chipset and multi-GPU launch partner for the AMD Quad FX platform, is excited about the potential of an enthusiast AMD dual-socket platform. "NVIDIA is pleased to be the launch partner for the launch of the new AMD Quad FX multi-GPU Platforms," said Drew Henry, general manager of MCP business at NVIDIA. "Our GeForce 8 series of graphics processing units and the NVIDIA nForce 680a media and communications processor deliver an ideal solution for megatasking enthusiasts who look to AMD and NVIDIA to provide the best products for multi-threaded games and applications."
AMD Athlon 64 FX-70 |
| Cache size |
L1 cache (Instruction + data): 128KB +128KB (64KB+64KB each core)
L2 cache 1MB+1MB exclusive each core |
| Process technology |
90-nm DCL SOI - "Dual Stress Liner" strained silicon-on-insulator |
| HypeTtransport Technology Links |
Multiple 16-bit/16-bit links @ up to 2000MHz full duplex |
| Memory |
Integrated DDR2 memory controller - up to 12.8GB/sec memory bandwidth |
| Chipsets |
nForce 680a SLI |
| Packaging |
Socket 1207 - 1207-pin organic land Grid Array (LGA) |
The AMD Athlon 64 FX family |
| Model |
Clock |
Hyper Transport |
Socket |
Voltage |
Max. temp |
TDP. |
LI Cache |
L2 Cache |
CMOC Tech. |
| FX-70 |
2600MHz |
2000MHz |
1207 |
1.35 - 1.40 V |
56-63 C |
125W |
128KB + 128KB |
1MB + 1MB |
90nm DSL SOL |
| FX-72 |
2800MHz |
2000MHz |
1207 |
1.35 - 1.40 V |
56-63 C |
125W |
128KB + 128KB |
1MB + 1MB |
90nm DSL SOL |
| FX-74 |
3000MHz |
2000MHz |
1207 |
1.35 - 1.40 V |
56 C |
125W |
128KB + 128KB |
1MB + 1MB |
90nm DSL SOL |
Dual Socket Direct Connect (DSDC) Architecture enables high-bandwidth communication between matched pairs of AMD Athlon 64 FX-70, AMD Athlon 64 FX-72, and AMD Athlon 64 FX-74 dual-core processors. DSDC Architecture is designed for the multi-core, multi-threaded future with planned platform upgradeability to eight cores.
AMD's partners are also ensuring that when the quad-core chips hit the market, consumers can upgrade their machines by simply swapping in the new processors with no changes to the other hardware.
"Windows Vista Ultimate is designed to take advantage of next-generation technology like AMD?s Quad FX Platform to provide amazing experiences for computer enthusiasts," said Mike Sievert, corporate vice president, Windows, Microsoft.
"What we're doing is we're bringing the workstation-type platform down into the mainstream," McNaughton said in an interview. "That's a really inexpensive way to get to four cores, and it's fully upgradeable to eight cores." |
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