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Product: AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Processor
Company: AMD
Website: http://www.amd.com
Estimated Street Price: $696
Review By: Byron Hinson

Introduction

Table Of Contents
1: Introduction
2: Setup and Components
3: Installation
4: SiSoft Sandra
5: Windows Performance
6: Windows Vista
7: Half Life 2: Lost Coast
8: Doom 3
9: F.E.A.R.
10: 3D Mark 2006
11: PC Mark 2005

12: Conclusion

AMD has been the king of 64-bit computing for some time now and no matter what Intel has attempted to throw in front of them, AMD have hurdled over it. With the release of the new AMD AM2 Motherboards and processors AMD are now not only pushing the envelope on the 64-bit and Dual Core front, they are reducing the amount of energy and power that the processors take up, thus producing quieter and cooler PC's. The big question is, has the wait for the new AM2 processors and motherboards been worth it? Do we see any benefit from using DDR2 memory compared to the old DDR2 on the previous Socket 939 processors, read on and we'll find out. This review will also concentrate on the future impact the processor will have when used with Windows Vista, we'll be putting it through its paces on the newly released beta 2 version of the upcoming Microsoft operating system.

AMD's AM2 parts share the following common features:

  • Manufactured in Fab 30 in Dresden, Germany on a 90 nm SOI process
  • 940-pin micro-PGA AM2 packaging
  • DDR2 memory controller supporting DDR2-667 for all chips and DDR2-800 for the X2 and FX
  • Single HyperTransport channel for up to 8 GB/sec combined I/O
  • Reduced power consumption, including new Energy Efficient models (details below)
  • AMD Virtualization support (hardware virtualization on-chip)
  • Redesigned 4-bolt heatsink mount for better stability
  • Keyed ZIF socket to ensure only correct AM2 processor can be installed

The initial AM2 line-up consists of the following:

  • Athlon 64 FX processor: FX-62
  • Athlon 64 X2 processors: 5000+, 4800+, 4600+, 4400+, 4200+, 4000+, and 3800+
  • Athlon 64 processors: 3800+, 3500+
  • Sempron processors: 3600+, 3500+, 3400+, 3200+, and 3000+

 

 


Can you notice the 1 pin difference?

 

The industry's first true on-die dual-core x86 processor
  • Inter-core communication at CPU speed
  • Provides dual-core system capability in single-core system configurations
The AMD64 core provides leading-edge performance for both 32-bit and 64-bit applications
  • AMD64 technology provides full-speed support for x86 code base for uncompromising performance
  • 40-bit physical addresses, 48-bit virtual addresses
  • Sixteen 64-bit integer registers
  • Sixteen 128-bit SSE/SSE2/SSE3 registers
  • AMD Digital Media XPress™ provides support for SSE, SSE2, SSE3 and MMX instructions

A high-bandwidth, low-latency integrated DDR memory controller

  • Supports PC-3200 (DDR-400), PC-2700 (DDR-333), PC-2100 (DDR-266) or PC-1600 (DDR-200) SDRAM unbuffered DIMMs (socket 939); Supports PC2-6400 (DDR2-800), PC2-5300 (DDR2-667), PC2-4200 (DDR2-533) or PC2-3200 (DDR2-400) SDRAM unbuffered DIMMs (socket AM2)
  • Support for 64-bit DDR (socket 939) or DDR2 (socket AM2) SDRAM memory
  • Up to 6.4GB/s (socket 939) or 12.8GB/s (socket AM2) memory bandwidth
HyperTransport™ technology for high speed I/O communication
  • One 16-bit link up to 2000MHz
  • Up to 8GB/s HyperTransport™ I/O bandwidth
  • Up to 14.4GB/s (socket 939) or 20.8GB/s (socket AM2) total delivered processor-to-system bandwidth (HyperTransport bus + memory bus)

Large high performance on-chip cache

  • 64KB Level 1 instruction cache per core
  • 64KB Level 1 data cache per core
  • Up to 1MB Level 2 cache per core
Cool'n'Quiet™ technology for quieter operation and reduced power requirements
  • Recognized in 2005 by the US Environmental Protection Agency for the advancement of energy efficient computer technology

Processor Type Model Frequency Socket Wattage  
AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core 5000+ 2600Mhz Socket AM2 89W View Details
AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core 4800+ 2400Mhz Socket AM2 89W View Details
AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core 4800+ 2400Mhz Socket AM2 65W View Details
AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core 4800+ 2400Mhz Socket 939 110W View Details
AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core 4600+ 2400Mhz Socket 939 110W View Details
AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core 4600+ 2400Mhz Socket AM2 65W View Details
AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core 4600+ 2400Mhz Socket 939 110W View Details
AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core 4600+ 2400Mhz Socket AM2 89W View Details
AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core 4400+ 2200Mhz Socket AM2 89W View Details
AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core 4400+ 2200Mhz Socket 939 110W View Details
AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core 4400+ 2200Mhz Socket AM2 65W View Details
AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core 4400+ 2200Mhz Socket 939 89W View Details
AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core 4200+ 2200Mhz Socket 939 89W View Details
AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core 4200+ 2200Mhz Socket AM2 89W View Details
AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core 4200+ 2200Mhz Socket AM2 65W View Details
AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core 4200+ 2200Mhz Socket 939 89W View Details
AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core 4000+ 2000Mhz Socket AM2 89W View Details
AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core 4000+ 2000Mhz Socket AM2 65W View Details

 

  Setup & Components »

 

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