Are you eXPerienced?

Author : Martyn Date : 9th October 2001

3DVelocity would like to thank AMD and especially Theresa Zimmer for their help and courtesy in providing this processor for review.

 

 

Part Three: The Difference...

To clarify the major changes between the two generations I felt it would be clearest to utilize AMD's own promotional table. The differences are clearly outlined but remember this is AMD's work and thus you should evaluate it accordingly...

(Table One: 'A Comparison')

The first thing we notice is that AMD have kept to the popular Socket A design. If there is one thing that will help AMD boost sales in a business environment it's upgradeability. With the ever-changing face of Intel's sockets, it was wise for AMD to keep compatibility at its highest level possible. By utilizing a 0.18 micron design, AMD have done themselves a lot of favours. Indeed, if you have a relatively new motherboard you should be able to enjoy the XP. In most cases a simple BIOS update will be all the expertise required, however as always, check with your motherboard manufacturer for more specific details.

Five hundred thousand more transistors will certainly help the XP's performance provided AMD have optimized it's design, while the quoted twenty percent reduction in power consumption will no doubt please many.

AMD have included a thermal diode to help with potential heat problems. I understand it will help to cut the power if the CPU becomes too hot but the main point here is that you must have a motherboard that supports the design. Suffice to say our test board did not and thus I am unable to provide more details at this time. The clickable picture below illustrates the bottom of the chip and it's thermal features.

Part Four: Quantispeed Architecture?

Here is a quote from AMD's notes on 'Quantispeed Architecture' :-

''Delivers a “quantum leap” in application performance

An easy-to-understand name which encompasses theAMD Athlon™ XP processor’s core architectural features

QuantiSpeed architecture incorporates:-

1. 9 issue, fully pipelined, superscalar micro-architecture
2. Superscalar, fully pipelined Floating Point Unit (FPU) Hardware data pre-fetch
3. Exclusive & speculative Translation Look-aside Buffers (TLB)
4. Explains to end users how the AMD Athlon XP processor provides superior overall application performance

I won't bore many of you with taking the time to explain what it all means; I'm sure many of you know a little about CPU architecture and those who don't can easily do a quick search on the 'net for the various sites that will explain these features in varying levels of detail.

AMD's chips have always been strong performers where floating point calculations are concerned. It's impossible to understate the importance this unit plays as, in its simplest terms, what a computer basically does is perform millions of binary calculations every second. Thus having great FPU performance is undeniably advantageous to a CPU. What AMD are more concerned with however is that Quantispeed technology can become a memorable slogan, a buzzword for their CPU's. We think of Intel and MMX technology used to spring to mind, we think of AMD and 3DNow! technology springs to mind, and with the new batch of XP chips, AMD hopes you will think of Quantispeed. How effective a marketing tool this turns out to be remains to be seen. But as Intel and AMD have demonstrated in the past few years, the user need not understand what the slogan means to have a healthy respect for what they believe it signifies.

 

Page Three: More Key Features
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