Introduction and Processors

AMD’s new FX-55 processor raises the bar on performance. Can Intel ever hope to catch up now?

Introduction

The last flagship processor released from AMD came on June 1st of this year and brought us the 939-pin processor platform.  With that package, AMD finally promised us a long-term product line with a continuous socket that would allow users to have at least a reasonable upgrade path.  Today, AMD is finally proving that with their next processor release, the Athlon 64 FX-55. 

Anyone who has been following the hardware community for a decent amount of time will know that new processor releases mean two things — new speed records for the top processor, and lower prices for everything else.  Which of the two gets you more excited is really a personal preference. 

The Athlon 64 FX-55 and Athlon 64 4000+

The FX-55 is a 130nm core with 1MB of L2 cache, just like the previous FX processors.  The FX-55 runs at a slight speed increase of 2.6 GHz, leaving the rest of the pack behind.  Also today, AMD is announcing the availability of the Athlon 64 4000+ processor for the S939 platform as well.  The 4000+ is really just an FX-53 by a different name, to accomodate the rule that AMD set upon the FX’s launch that there would only exist a single FX processor at any given time. 

AMD Athlon 64 FX-55 and 4000+ Processor - Processors 40

The FX-55 on the left and the 4000+ on the right

FX-55 (939)
– L1 Cache: 128 KB
– L2 Cache: 1 MB
– Frequency: 2.6 GHz
– Memory: 128-bit (dual channel)
– Memory Type: Unbuffered, unregistered memory
– HyperTransport: 2 GHz
– Packaging: 939-pin organic
– Transistor count: 105.9 million
– Die size: 193 mm2

FX-53 (939) – technically discontinued
– L1 Cache: 128 KB
– L2 Cache: 1 MB
– Frequency: 2.4 GHz
– Memory: 128-bit (dual channel)
– Memory Type: Unbuffered, unregistered memory
– HyperTransport: 2 GHz
– Packaging: 939-pin organic
– Transistor count: 105.9 million
– Die size: 193 mm2

4000+ (939) – replaces the FX-53
– L1 Cache: 128 KB
– L2 Cache: 1 MB
– Frequency: 2.4 GHz
– Memory: 128-bit (dual channel)
– Memory Type: Unbuffered, unregistered memory
– HyperTransport: 2 GHz
– Packaging: 939-pin organic
– Transistor count: 105.9 million
– Die size: 193 mm2

Other than the frequency bump, we see no changes made to the processor at all from previous models.  Those of you that may have been looking for the 90nm migration at this point will just have to wait for the next processor release or look towards one of the slower processors that have recently been finding their way into the market that DO have the 90nm core.  You can find some of them right here

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