Foreword

Already, and the launch of Athlon 64 FX (at that time in the Socket 754 and socket 940) in September 2003, one was clear: as soon as DDR2 has established itself as a standard, AMD will support this type of memory. Since this statement went some time in the country.

In June 2004, Intel lead a together with the socket 775 as memory also DDR2. Started with DDR2-533 (so 266 MHz real time) the storage technology has evolved and is the predecessor clearly dwarfed with DDR2-800 and DDR2-1066. Quite clearly: DDR2 has established itself on the market and is priced (even) faster modules on a level with the predecessor. With the launch of the new socket AM2 AMD solves a promise from 2003.

We had the opportunity to take a look at the new platform and introduce below in great detail. On the following pages, it will go exclusively to the new processor family from AMD. Boards we will introduce a separate article, as well as nVidias new “nForce 500″-chipset.

Bookmark

Due to the complexity of the subject “Processors”, it is not possible all subtleties repeatedly to us. At this point it should be referred to interesting related publications.

• Intel Pentium Extreme Edition 965
• Athlon 64 FX-60 vs. Pentium XE 955
• Living room PC: Intel’s Viiv takes off
• Intel’s “core solo” and “Core Duo”
• Display driver for dual core from ATi and nVidia
• Intel announces new processor architecture for second half of 2006
• Pentium D 840 and extreme Edition 840
• Intel: Great progress at 65 nm

Specifications and features

Although the performance of processors in the foreground, it is with the car from the House to make themselves familiar AMD and Intel. To do this, we opted to present the most important information in a tabular overview.

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Also the Athlon 64 in the socket AM2 is a real member of the K8 architecture (codenamed hammer) and therefore the differences in spite of the change of the base are not excessively radical. Set in the framework of article of treated Athlon 62 X 2 5000 +, 4600 +, 4200 + and 3800 + are all on the F2-stepping of the Windsor core. When the manufactured in 90 nm Athlon 64-X 2 processors (Toledo, Manchester) in the now detached Socket 939 the E4 and E6 stepping was used.

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The F-stepping the Athlon 64 provides support for DDR2 memory up to DDR2-800 in the case of Athlon 64 FX-62 and Athlon 64 X 2. Sempron and Athlon 64 (single core) are limited, as you can see from the table, with DDR2-667. Ultimately, the question of supported memory is only a matter of BIOS. The new, integrated memory controller is like his predecessor, able to operate the store far higher. In addition, rumors that support for DDR2-1066 is supplied in a short time abide.

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Thanks to the integrated memory controller has the Athlon 64 on a very low memory latency (see benchmarks Sciencemark). Very successful with this feature – Intel will take in future processors that are available after the architecture on the plan, at least in the server area a similar way – but if one enters a dependency on memory clock to processor clock. The memory frequency can be selected not more freely and thus e.g. DDR2-800 memory not always with the operated provided for 400 MHz.

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This peculiarity of the integrated memory controller is not new and already caused in the Socket 754, Socket 939 and socket 940 for not always entirely correct clock rates. In synthetic benchmarks such as SiSoft Sandra 2007 or Sciencemark an influence on the storage performance while demonstrate, in real-world applications, this state of affairs but not otherwise falls into the weight.

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On the feature page the Pacifica virtualization technology and the Presidio security technology are with the F-stepping. Thus, AMD Intel pulls the same and now also offers the technologies interesting primarily for enterprise. The concrete expression of the Presidio is still unclear, because this feature is not available in the BIOS or in the US is addressed this press kit to the socket AM2.

Chipset support

Gone are the days in which a processor was purchased solely due to his performance. Today is also the overall package, you get “AMD or Intel” after the landmark next to the performance or the power consumption. The following will concern the chipsets, which are available for the respective processors available.

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As a result of the HyperTransport interface used for the Athlon 64 for the connection of peripherals, theoretically any current chipset for Socket 939 is suitable for the socket AM2. Solutions with ATi RD580 (ASUS M2R32-MVP Deluxe), VIA K8T890 (e.g. ASUS m2v) or nVidia nForce 4 (Albatron K8NF4X-AM2), GeForce 6100 (Gigabyte GA-M51GM-S2) appear in fact. Mainboards with ULi M1697 (MSI K9N master A4R) or SiS 761GX (PC chips A33G) may also be expected. All provide support for the complete product portfolio with “Socket AM2″ processors and thus satisfy all tastes.

The majority of the Board partners but clearly sets the focus on the new “nForce 500″ family, to which we enter into a separate article (link from 3 pm available). By law, you may claim that nVidia hereby that placed best solution on the market for the enthusiasts without a doubt. Even Intel’s upcoming Broadwater chipset (G965, P965, Q965) not approaches likely to top solutions NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI or nForce 570 SLI.

Quite so lavish as in AMD the offer for Intel processors, however, not presents itself, as demonstrated below.

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As you can see the Intel chipset support is relatively limited, especially if one opts for processors from the extreme Edition-(XE-)Familie. On our own motherboards only with the i975 is express chipset with Crossfire support (2 x x 8 lanes for the graphics cards) possible. Who expected support for SLI and prefers not also an Intel chipset with an Intel processor, from a motherboard chipset for the most interesting product portfolio provides nVidia currently. The presented in the context of the socket AM2, New nVidia chipset nForce 500 see also the light of the world with support for Intel’s next generation of processors in June

As it comes to support of the complete Pentium-D 900-series ATi, SiS, ULi and VIA looks like, is, however, unclear. In the camp of AMD is much better, the dual-core support although here processors and chipset not from a single source.

Power consumption

Performance is not everything, as semiconductor giant Intel “impressively” demonstrated 4 with the introduction of the Pentium manufactured in 90 nm. The processor made even such problems that although a 3.4 GHz fast model was introduced was to test only the slightly more fuel-efficient 3, 2-GHz variant available. The times of a quick and “energy saving” desktop processor from the House of Intel were over.

To enter into the topic of “Power”, the official data of the manufacturers are to serve us. It is worth noting that Intel and AMD determine these numbers in different ways. AMD specifies the maximum consumption. Intel, however, called the numbers “thermal design power”, so the performance that has to curb a cooling solution in common application scenarios. The actual maximum consumption can be higher.

With the socket AM2 AMD covers all demands on power consumption. For lovers of performance a 2.8 GHz Athlon 64 FX-62 with 125 Watts maximum power. Followed by all mainstream Athlon 64-X 2 processors with 89 Watt consumption. For power-saving AMD introduces expensive Energy-Efficient-(EE-)Modelle something, which addition to X are available 2 4800 + and devour maximum 65 Watts. In addition starts an X 2 3800 + as “energy efficient small form factor” by and makes even notebook processors with 35 watts competitors.

The range of processors are as follows:

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What benefits have the “energy efficient” processors compared to the normal representatives, show our following measurements with a standard Voltcraft energy-check-3000-meter. None of the processors, special settings have been made. The Windows XP power management was set to the Profil “Desktop”. AMD’s Cool’n’ was cool quiet so not active, because for this profile “Minimum energy” would have to be loaded. Tests with enabled cool Cool’n’ quiet however showed that this power consumption in the idle state to further 10 Watt can be reduced.

Intel’s power C1E (but not enhanced SpeedStep, EIST) was active, as she operating system-transparent works by the processor clock is automatically lowered to up to 2.8 GHz. This applies to in our case but only on the Pentium 4 670 and Pentium XE 965. The extreme Edition 840 offers no C1E or EIST and the XE 955 this feature because of several times mentioned the defect is not available.

The Athlon 64 X 2 5000 + with a default voltage 1.35 Volt operated from. To simulate of the “energy efficient”- and “energy efficient small form factor” processors was lowered the voltage to 1.20 Volt and the clock on 2.4 GHz (is X 2 4600 + EE). Also, the tension of the X 2 3800 + EE SFF of 1,025 could we – to our own surprise – with the easily set 5000 + and stable to operate. The processor was operated here with 2.0 GHz.

The measurements were made in the Pentium XE 955 and Pentium XE 965 with an operating voltage of 1,3375 volts and 1,3000 volts. Both are the default values of the respective processors, which have been recognized by our motherboard. The tension of the “Athlon 64″ to compare registered processors in the Socket 939 was 1.35 volts.

One should be fooled by the numbers: the comparative measurements of Socket 939 was conducted on an ASUS A8N-SLI Premium is a single-chip solution with nForce 4 SLi. This provides maximum 2 x two existing graphics cards x 8 PCIe lanes available. The “socket AM2″ platform, however, was from an Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe nForce 590 SLI Board. This is the high-end variant with two chips for 2 x x 16 PCIe lanes. As a result, the power consumption of the socket AM2 system is necessarily higher than those of the Socket 939-reference solution.

One is still clear: with RES and EE SFF power can properly save. Extent to which the non-EE models with a significantly reduced voltage can be operated permanently stable, time will tell. It would be premature to make guarantees on the basis of our pattern provided by AMD. We have not had problems with lower voltages at least.

Overclocking

Although the Athlon 64 X 2 5000 + compared to the FX-62 with a fixed upward multiplier therefore comes and thus not specifically for the overclocking was designed, you can get more power out of it. Is possible to increase the reference clock an overclocking, is the default 200 MHz.

Plenty of room to the top does not provide 2 5000 + X. Stable operation with air cooling at 2.8 GHz (13 x 215 MHz) was possible without changing the voltage (1.35 volts). In addition, instabilities encountered.

Due to the extremely limited time which the socket AM2 system available to us, unfortunately no comprehensive statements are possible. The test systems equipped with FX-62 to – so we have experienced – up to a clock around 3 GHz can run it.

Test systems

To allow a possible fair comparison between the competitors, all tests in a closed MIDI tower with complete fan Assembly (two inlet at the back, blowing one side when the hard drive cage) were carried out, to be attentive so also on thermal problems in the car.

There up to Intel’s new mobile processors “Core Duo” and “core solo” all “firsts” from now on will be equipped with 64-bit support, have we us to resolutely all measurements on Microsoft’s Windows XP Professional x 64 carry out again to reveal advantages and disadvantages of the implementation. All in all thought the problems within limits. Only Aquamark 3 completely refused and the PCMark05 disturbed on the 64-bit version of Windows Media Encoder 9. Here, only the 32-bit version may be installed. More details will follow in the section “Benchmarks”.

• Processor
  • AMD Athlon 64 FX-60 (2.6 GHz)
  • AMD Athlon 64 FX-57 (2.8 GHz)
  • AMD Athlon 64 X 2 5000 + (Windsor F2)
  • AMD Athlon 64 X 2 4800 + (Toledo E6)
  • AMD Athlon 64 X 2 4600 + (Manchester E4)
  • Intel Pentium Extreme Edition 955 (Presler B1)
  • Intel Pentium Extreme Edition 965 (Presler C1)
  • Intel Pentium Extreme Edition 840 (Smithfield A0)
  • Intel Pentium D 670 (Prescott 2 m E0)
• Motherboard
  • Athlon 64 Socket AM2 platform:
    Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe (nForce 590 SLI) – BIOS: 0401

  • Athlon 64 Socket 939 platform:
    ASUS A8N-SLI Premium (nForce 4 SLI) – BIOS: 1009
  • Pentium 4-socket 775 platform:
    Intel D975XBX (i975X Express)-BIOS: BX97510J. 86A. 0354 2005. 1208-1112
    Intel D975XBX (i975X Express)-BIOS: BX97510J. 86A. 0807 2006. 1403
• Memory
  • 2x512MB DDR400 OCZ elite Platinum Ed PC4800 (DDR400 Cl2.5 3-2-6, AMD Socket 939)
  • 2x512MB DDR2-667 crucial Ballistix (DDR2-667 CL5-5-5-12, Intel socket 775)
  • 2 x 512 MB DDR2-1066 Corsair CMS2X512-8500 (DDR2-800 CL4-4-4-12, AMD Socket AM2)
• Graphics card
  • Gigabyte GeForce 7800 GT (PCI Express)
• Peripherals
  • Hitachi HDS722516VLSA80
• Power supply
  • Tagan TG480-U22
• Driver versions
  • nVidia ForceWare 81.98 (x 64) (SYSmark)
  • nVidia ForceWare 91.27 (x 64) (other tests)
  • nVidia nForce 5 9.34 Edition (x 64)
  • Intel chipset driver 7.2.2.1006 (x 64)
  • Intel audio driver 5.10.4825 (x 64)
  • Intel network driver 10.2 (x 64)
  • Intel southbridge drivers 5.5.0.1035 (X 64)
• Software
  • Microsoft Windows XP Professional x 64
  • Microsoft DirectX 9.0 c December 2005
  • Microsoft Windows XP x 64 security patches < div > show all < div >
    KB898715, KB890046, KB893756, KB896358, KB896422, KB896424, KB896428, KB896688, KB899587, KB899588, KB899591, KB900725, KB901017, KB902400, KB904706, KB901214 (patches on SYSmark 2004 SE were not installed)

Benchmarks

All benchmarks were carried out in a resolution of 1280 x 1024 at 75 Hz. The games has been tested without forced FSAA or AF.

• Synthetic
  • PCMark05 1.1.0
• System
  • 7-Zip 4.32 32-bit
  • 7-Zip 4.32 64-bit
  • SYSmark 2004 SE
  • Photoshop CS 2.0
  • WinRAR 3.51
• Rendering
  • MAXON Cinebench 2003 32-bit
  • MAXON Cinebench 2003 64-bit
  • Newtek Lightwave 8.5
• Multimedia
  • Nero Recode 2.0 (Nero 7.0)
  • Tsunami MPEG video encoder Xpress 3.3.7.116
  • Apple QuickTime 7.03 Pro
  • Microsoft Windows Movie Maker
  • Apple iTunes 6.0
  • Vorbis Oggdrop XP
  • Lame 3.97 (b) 32-bit
  • Lame 3 97a 32-bit
• Games
  • 3DMark03 3.6.0
  • 3DMark05 1.2.0
  • Battlefield 2 1.03
  • FarCry 1.31 32-bit
  • FarCry 1.31 64-bit
  • Fear multiplayer demo
  • Half life 2 lost coast
  • Quake 4 1.20
  • Serious Sam 2 demo
  • Unreal Tournament 2004 32-bit
  • Unreal Tournament 2004 64-bit

Sandra 2007

Sciencemark

PCMark05