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Written by Jeff_Tom
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Tuesday, 22 April 2008 01:03 |
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Page 1 of 5
Since AMD introduced the Athlon X2 with dual cores hype in the media has been
about supposed core wars that Intel and AMD might switch to away from the MHz
race that was previously popular. However, if there is a core war it certainly
is slow going because so far there have only been dual and quad core processors
released from Intel and AMD in the years since the Athlon X2 introduction. Not
much of a core war race though that might change in the future in the near
term four cores are as far as Intel or AMD will be going. That said, there
have been rumors for some time regarding a triple core Phenom processor and
those were told to be true from AMD going back some time. Today AMD has
officially released in the channel, B3 revision Phenoms of triple core
processors to try and find a consumer market somewhere between quad and dual
core processors. The CPU we'll be looking at specifically is AMD Phenom X3 8750.
There isn't a lot of new information go over with AMD's Phenom
X3 processors. First all the processors are denoted with an 8x50 series as
opposed to the 9x50 of the Phenom quad core counterparts so it should be fairly
easy to tell if a CPU is quad or triple core. Also all triple cores released to
the channel are the B3 revision with the TLB fix and no performance penalty,
although some OEMs have been selling 8x00 series triple core Phenoms without the
fix. Due to one less core power consumption is also lower with the Phenom 8x50
processors rated for a 95W max TDP.
The architecture on the triple core Phenom remains unchanged the
only difference is one core is disabled for whatever reason, whether a bad core
or because one core might be lagging behind in clockspeed compared to the others
it allows AMD to use as many dies as possible and provide a processor that fits
in between quad and triple cores for a very reasonable price. The 8750 which
runs at 2.4GHz will be launching at $195, $165 for the 8650 at 2.3GHz and $145
for the 8450 at 2.1GHz. Three cores for under $150 isn't bad at all. This also
allows for AMD to fill out it's Cartwheel platform, with a 780G motherboard for
around $100 you get good integrated video, UVD chip for HD decoding, add in a
triple for for $145 and for $245, a cost of Intel's cheapest quad core, you can
get a very good setup. This seems especially formidable for an HTPC or a
computer for those who want multi-tasking power but may not need the fastest
processor for gaming or are looking at a second PC.
Here are the technical specs from AMD.
AMD Phenom X3 8000-series processor TECH SPECS:
Processor Model / Frequency: X3 8750 / 2.4GHz
Processor Model / Frequency: X3 8650 / 2.3GHz
Processor Model / Frequency: X3 8450 / 2.1GHz
L1 Cache Sizes: 64K of L1 instruction and 64K of L1 data cache per core
(512KB total L1 per processor)
L2 Cache Sizes: 512KB of L2 data cache per core (1.5MB total L2 per
processor)
L3 Cache Size: 2MB (shared)
Memory Controller Type: Integrated 128-bit wide memory controller *
Memory Controller Speed: Up to 1.8GHz with Dual Dynamic Power Management
Types of Memory Supported: Support for unregistered DIMMs up to PC2 8500
(DDR2-1066MHz)
HyperTransport 3.0: One 16-bit/16-bit link @ up to 3.6GHz full duplex
(2.0GHz x2)
Total Processor Bandwidth: Up to 31.5 GB/s bandwidth
Packaging: Socket AM2+ 940-pin organic micro pin grid array (micro-PGA)
Fab location: AMD's Fab 36 wafer fabrication facilities in Dresden,
Germany
Process Technology: 65-nanometer DSL SOI (silicon-on-insulator)
technology
Approximate Transistor count: ~ 450 million (65nm)
Approximate Die Size: 285 mm2 (65nm)
Max Ambient Case Temp: 70o Celsius
Nominal Voltage: 1.05-1.25 Volts
Max TDP: 95 Watts
Let's move onto overclocking.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 22 April 2008 18:02 )
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