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Introduction:::...
In
a market evolving faster than most reviewers can keep pace
with, making it to the top of the heap in any given discipline
takes a level of expertise, marketing and engineering excellence
that few can achieve.
Once
the massively unfancied underdog beavering away in the shadow
of the mighty Intel, AMD ave made huge strides with their
processor lineup, and though there are people who'd argue
the point with their dying breath, there's a general, begrudging
acceptance in the industry that for single-core gaming and
dual-core generally, AMD currently hold top honours.
Love
them or hate them, you can't help but doff your cap to AMD.
Against the tide of industry acceptance, and in spite of
Intel wielding their significant influence in the retail
sector, AMD have somehow managed to create a range of precessors
that are not only competitive, they actually lead the way.
Today
I'm taking a swift look at the latest addition to AMD's
FX line, the FX57. While it does feature a 200MHz speed
increase that's not all AMD have done. They have also migrated
over to the 90nm "San Diego" core, which means
SSE3 support, a generally more flexible memory controller
and what AMD mysteriously refer to as "a few tweaks
here and there", which could mean anything...or nothing.
First
let's glance over the specs:
| AMD
ATHLON 64 FX-57 PROCESSOR TECH SPECS: |
| Frequency |
2.8GHz |
| Cache
Sizes |
64KB
L1 Data + 64KB L1 Instruction Cache / 1MB L2 Cache (Exclusive)
|
| CPU
to MC |
2.8GHz
|
| Memory
Controller |
Integrated
128-bit wide memory controller |
| Supported
Memory |
PC1600,
PC2100, PC2700 and PC3200 DDR memory |
| HyperTransport
Links |
1 |
| HyperTransport
Spec |
2GHz
(2x 1000MHz / DDR) |
| Effective
data bandwidth |
14.4
GB/sec [8GB/sec x1 HyperTransport link + 6.4GB/sec memory
bandwidth] |
| Packaging |
939-pin
organic micro-PGA |
| Fab
location |
AMD's
Fab 30 wafer fabrication facility in Dresden, Germany
|
| Process
Technology |
90nm
(.09-micron) Silicon on Insulator (SOI) |
| Approx.
Transistor count |
114
million |
| Approx.
Die Size |
115
mm2 |
| Nominal
Voltage |
1.35-1.40V
|
| Max
Thermal Power |
104
W |
| Max
Icc (processor current) |
74.9A |
| Max
Ambient Case Temp |
49-63
degrees Celsius |
| CPU |
Athlon64
FX-53
|
Athlon64
FX-53
|
Athlon64
FX-55
|
Athlon64
FX-57
|
| Pin-Out |
Socket
940
|
Socket
939
|
| L2
Cache Size |
1 MB
|
| Clock
Frequency |
2.4 GHz
|
2.6
GHz
|
2.8GHz
|
| Memory
Interface |
128-bit
(dual channel) Registered
|
128-bit
(dual channel)
|
| Transistors |
105.9 Million
|
114
Million
|
| Die
Size |
193 mm2
|
115
mm2
|
| Process
Technology |
130 nm
|
90
nm
|
| VID |
1.5V
|
1.35
- 1.4V
|
AMD
Athlon 64 FX-57 processor $1,031 each (PIB / 1KU pricing)
AMD Athlon 64 FX-55 processor $827 each (PIB / 1KU pricing)
Apparently
bowing to public pressure, AMD are to release the FX57 alongside
the FX55 giving potential users a choice of price-points
at which to break in. How long the FX55 remains available
remains to be seen. It's a fair bet that most FX55s will
happily run at 2.8GHz FX57 speeds though.
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