Athlon 64 X2

Last updated
Athlon 64 X2
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Processor Logo.svg
Original logo
General information
LaunchedMay 31, 2005
Discontinued2009
Marketed by AMD
Designed byAMD
Common manufacturer
Performance
Max. CPU clock rate 1.9 GHz to 3.2 GHz
HyperTransport speeds1 GHz to 1.8 GHz
Architecture and classification
Technology node 90 nm to 65 nm
Microarchitecture K8
K10 ("Kuma" based models only)
Instruction set MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, x86-64, 3DNow!
Physical specifications
Cores
  • 2
Sockets
History
Predecessor Athlon 64
Successor Phenom

The Athlon 64 X2 is the first native dual-core desktop central processing unit (CPU) designed by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). It was designed from scratch as native dual-core by using an already multi-CPU enabled Athlon 64, joining it with another functional core on one die, and connecting both via a shared dual-channel memory controller/north bridge and additional control logic. The initial versions are based on the E stepping model of the Athlon 64 and, depending on the model, have either 512 or 1024 KB of L2 cache per core. The Athlon 64 X2 can decode instructions for Streaming SIMD Extensions 3 (SSE3), except those few specific to Intel's architecture. The first Athlon 64 X2 CPUs were released in May 2005, in the same month as Intel's first dual-core processor, the Pentium D.

Contents

In June 2007, AMD released low-voltage variants of their low-end 65 nm Athlon 64 X2, named "Athlon X2". [1] The Athlon X2 processors feature reduced thermal design power (TDP) of 45 Watt (W). [2] The name was also used for K10 based budget CPUs with two cores deactivated.

Multithreading

The primary benefit of dual-core processors (like the Athlon 64 X2) over single-core processors is their ability to process more software threads at the same time. The ability of processors to execute multiple threads simultaneously is called thread-level parallelism (TLP). By placing two cores on the same die, the X2 effectively doubles the TLP over a single-core Athlon 64 of the same speed. The need for TLP processing ability depends on the situation to a great degree, and some situations benefit from it far more than others. Some programs are currently written for only one thread, and thus cannot use the processing power of a second core.

Programs often written with multiple threads and able to use two cores include many music and video encoding applications, and especially professional rendering programs. High TLP applications currently correspond to server and workstation situations more than the typical desktop. These applications can reach almost twice the performance of a single-core Athlon 64 of the same specifications. Multitasking also runs a sizable number of threads. Intense multitasking processes have sped up by considerably more than twice. [3] This is mostly due to the high overhead caused by constantly switching threads, and could potentially be improved by adjustments to operating system scheduling code.

In the consumer segment of the market, the X2 improves on the performance of the original Athlon 64, especially for multi-threaded software.

Manufacturing costs

Having two cores, the Athlon 64 X2 has an increased number of transistors. The 1 MB L2 cache 90 nm Athlon 64 X2 processor is 219 mm2 in size with 243 million transistors [4] whereas its 1 MB L2 cache 90 nm Athlon 64 counterpart is 103.1 mm2 and has 164 million transistors. [5] The 65 nm Athlon 64 X2 with only 512 KB L2 per Core reduced this to 118 mm2 with 221 million transistors compared to the 65 nm Athlon 64 with 77.2 mm2 and 122 million transistors. As a result, a larger area of silicon must be defect free. These size requirements necessitate a more complex fabrication process, which further adds to the production of fewer functional processors per single silicon wafer. This lower yield makes the X2 more expensive to produce than the single-core processor.

In the middle of June 2006 AMD stated that they would no longer make any non-FX Athlon 64 or Athlon 64 X2 models with 1 MB L2 caches. [6] [ failed verification ] This led to only a small production number of the Socket-AM2 Athlon 64 X2 with 1 MB L2 cache per core, known as 4000+, 4400+, 4800+, and 5200+. The Athlon 64 X2 with 512 KB per core, known as 3800+, 4200+, 4600+, and 5000+, were produced in far greater numbers. The introduction of the F3 stepping then saw several models with 1 MB L2 cache per core as production refinements resulted in an increased yield.

Features

CPU cores

Athlon 64 X2

AMD Athlon X2 processor family
AMD K9 Desktop
Code-namedCoreDate released
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Processor Logo.svg Manchester
Toledo
Windsor		dual (90 nm)
dual (90 nm)
dual (90 nm)		May 2005
May 2005
May 2006
Toledo
Windsor		dual (90 nm)
dual (90 nm)		Jan 2006
May 2006
AMD Athlon 64 X2 logo.png Brisbanedual (65 nm)Dec 2006
List of AMD Athlon 64 processors
List of AMD Athlon X2 processors

Manchester (90 nm SOI)

Toledo (90 nm SOI)

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ (ADA4200DAA5CD) AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ (ADA4200DAA5CD).jpg
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ (ADA4200DAA5CD)

Windsor (90 nm SOI)

AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ (ADA6000IAA6CZ, Windsor), having its heat spreader removed (decapping). The silicon die is soldered to the heat spreader, causing the CPU to be destroyed during removal. AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ (ADA6000IAA6CZ), heat spreader removed.jpg
AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ (ADA6000IAA6CZ, Windsor), having its heat spreader removed (decapping). The silicon die is soldered to the heat spreader, causing the CPU to be destroyed during removal.
  • Silicon on insulator (SOI)
  • CPU stepping: F2, F3
  • L1 cache: 64 + 64 KB (data + instructions), per core
  • L2 cache: 256, 512 or 1024 KB full speed, per core
  • MMX, Extended 3DNow!, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, AMD64, Cool'n'Quiet, NX Bit, AMD-V
  • Socket AM2, HyperTransport (1000 MHz, HT1000)
  • VCore: 1.25–1.35 V
  • Power use (TDP):
    • 35 Watt (3800+ EE SFF)
    • 65 Watt (3600+ to 5200+ EE)
    • 89 Watt (3800+ to 6000+)
    • 125 Watt (6000+ to 6400+)
  • First release: May 23, 2006
  • Clock rate: 2000 MHz–3200 MHz
    • 256 KB L2 cache:
      • 3600+: 2000 MHz
    • 512 KB L2 cache: (often mislabeled as Brisbane core)
      • 3800+: 2000 MHz
      • 4200+: 2200 MHz
      • 4600+: 2400 MHz (F2&F3)
      • 5000+: 2600 MHz (F2&F3)
      • 5400+: 2800 MHz (F3)
    • 1024 KB L2 cache:
      • 4000+: 2000 MHz
      • 4400+: 2200 MHz
      • 4800+: 2400 MHz
      • 5200+: 2600 MHz (F2&F3)
      • 5600+: 2800 MHz (F3)
      • 6000+: 3000 MHz (F3)
      • 6400+: 3200 MHz (F3)

Brisbane (65 nm SOI)

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+, Brisbane. KL AMD Athlon 64 X2 Brisbane.jpg
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+, Brisbane.
  • Silicon on insulator (SOI)
  • CPU stepping: G1, G2
  • L1 cache: 64 + 64 KB (data + instructions), per core
  • L2 cache: 512 KB full speed, per core
  • MMX, Extended 3DNow!, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, AMD64, Cool'n'Quiet, NX Bit, AMD-V
  • Socket AM2, HyperTransport (1000 MHz, HT1000)
  • VCore: 1.25–1.35 V
  • Die size: 126 mm²
  • Power use (TDP): 65 or 89 Watt
  • First release: Dec 5, 2006
  • Clock rate: 1900 MHz–3100 MHz
    • 3600+: 1900 MHz (G1)
    • 3800+: 2000 MHz
    • 4000+: 2100 MHz
    • 4200+: 2200 MHz (G1&G2)
    • 4400+: 2300 MHz (G1&G2)
    • 4600+: 2400 MHz (G2)
    • 4800+: 2500 MHz (G1&G2)
    • 5000+: 2600 MHz (G1&G2)
    • 5200+: 2700 MHz (G1&G2)
    • 5400+: 2800 MHz (G2)
    • 5600+: 2900 MHz (G2)
    • 5800+: 3000 MHz (G2)
    • 6000+: 3100 MHz (G2)

Athlon X2

'64' was omitted from the name of the Brisbane 'BE' series; the 64-bit marketing campaign initiated by AMD became insignificant once essentially all consumer CPUs became 64-bit processors.

Brisbane (65 nm SOI)

Kuma (65 nm SOI)

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Athlon</span> Brand of microprocessors by AMD

Athlon is the brand name applied to a series of x86-compatible microprocessors designed and manufactured by AMD. The original Athlon was the first seventh-generation x86 processor and the first desktop processor to reach speeds of one gigahertz (GHz). It made its debut as AMD's high-end processor brand on June 23, 1999. Over the years AMD has used the Athlon name with the 64-bit Athlon 64 architecture, the Athlon II, and Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) chips targeting the Socket AM1 desktop SoC architecture, and Socket AM4 Zen (microarchitecture). The modern Zen-based Athlon with a Radeon Graphics processor was introduced in 2019 as AMD's highest-performance entry-level processor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Opteron</span> Server and workstation processor line by AMD

Opteron is AMD's x86 former server and workstation processor line, and was the first processor which supported the AMD64 instruction set architecture. It was released on April 22, 2003, with the SledgeHammer core (K8) and was intended to compete in the server and workstation markets, particularly in the same segment as the Intel Xeon processor. Processors based on the AMD K10 microarchitecture were announced on September 10, 2007, featuring a new quad-core configuration. The last released Opteron CPUs are the Piledriver-based Opteron 4300 and 6300 series processors, codenamed "Seoul" and "Abu Dhabi" respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Athlon 64</span> Series of CPUs by AMD

The Athlon 64 is a ninth-generation, AMD64-architecture microprocessor produced by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), released on September 23, 2003. It is the third processor to bear the name Athlon, and the immediate successor to the Athlon XP. The Athlon 64 was the second processor to implement the AMD64 architecture and the first 64-bit processor targeted at the average consumer. Variants of the Athlon 64 have been produced for Socket 754, Socket 939, Socket 940, and Socket AM2. It was AMD's primary consumer CPU, and primarily competed with Intel's Pentium 4, especially the Prescott and Cedar Mill core revisions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sempron</span> Marketing name by AMD

Sempron has been the marketing name used by AMD for several different budget desktop CPUs, using several different technologies and CPU socket formats. The Sempron replaced the AMD Duron processor and competed against Intel's Celeron series of processors. AMD coined the name from the Latin semper, which means "always", to suggest the Sempron is suitable for "daily use, practical, and part of everyday life". The last Semprons were launched in April 2014. The brand was retired with the launch of the AMD A-Series APUs.

The AMD Family 10h, or K10, is a microprocessor microarchitecture by AMD based on the K8 microarchitecture. The first third-generation Opteron products for servers were launched on September 10, 2007, with the Phenom processors for desktops following and launching on November 11, 2007 as the immediate successors to the K8 series of processors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AMD Phenom</span> Series of CPUs by AMD

Phenom is the 64-bit AMD desktop processor line based on the K10 microarchitecture, in what AMD calls family 10h processors, sometimes incorrectly called "K10h". Triple-core versions belong to the Phenom 8000 series and quad cores to the AMD Phenom X4 9000 series. The first processor in the family was released in 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AMD Turion</span> Low-power mobile processors

AMD Turion is the brand name AMD applies to its x86-64 low-power consumption mobile processors codenamed K8L. The Turion 64 and Turion 64 X2/Ultra processors compete with Intel's mobile processors, initially the Pentium M and the Intel Core and Intel Core 2 processors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phenom II</span> Family of AMD multi-core 45 nm processors

Phenom II is a family of AMD's multi-core 45 nm processors using the AMD K10 microarchitecture, succeeding the original Phenom. Advanced Micro Devices released the Socket AM2+ version of Phenom II in December 2008, while Socket AM3 versions with DDR3 support, along with an initial batch of triple- and quad-core processors were released on February 9, 2009. Dual-processor systems require Socket F+ for the Quad FX platform. The next-generation Phenom II X6 was released on April 27, 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Athlon II</span> Family of central processing unit models

Athlon II is a family of AMD multi-core 45 nm central processing units, which is aimed at the budget to mid-range market and is a complementary product lineup to the Phenom II.

References

  1. ↑ AMD FAQ on removing the "64" Archived June 10, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ↑ "DailyTech report". Archived from the original on 2007-06-02. Retrieved 2007-06-04.
  3. ↑ "AMD's dual core Opteron & Athlon 64 X2 - Server/Desktop Performance Preview".
  4. ↑ "Transistors Reference". innoreviews.com. Archived from the original on 2016-11-20. Retrieved 2016-04-29.
  5. ↑ "AMD Athlon™ Processor Model Numbers and Feature Comparison". www.amd.com. Archived from the original on 2009-05-03.
  6. ↑ "HardOCP report". Archived from the original on 2006-06-17. Retrieved 2006-08-08.
  7. ↑ "List of Unlockable AMD CPUs".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.