The Socket 754 platform, although still selling has actually nearing the end of its day in the sun as the new Socket 939 makes its debut on June the 1st of 2004. There really is not a lot of difference in the actual makeup of the 939 CPU, but we see changes in the platform as a whole and that is what this about. AMD claimed that the 939 would have been out a lot earlier than this date, and in the interim we have all seen the Athlon 64 in its present 754 incarnation start to seriously compete with Intel's top of the line Prescott CPU line, even with its single-channel memory support.
Really what we have here is the AMD Opteron 150 technology packed into a new 939 pin configuration CPU when you are looking at the MSI FX-53 939 in its current form. The only difference in the MSI FX-53 939 and the 3800+ is the amount of available L2 CACHE, as the MSI FX-53 939 boasts 1MB of CACHE versus the 3800+ with its 512MB. They did not remove a pin as some people might think to make the 939, as the chips pin configuration is actually different as we see the pins rearranged. The 939 will not work in any of the 940 boards either due to these design changes.
The advancement of the 5X multiplier on the HyperTransport bus will be a cushion for performance and its 2.2GHz bandwidth will really come into play when we see the introduction of the PCI Express bus later this year. The HyperTransport connection is the link between the CPU and the rest of the system and since the memory controller is now located on the CPU itself that frees up a lot of bandwidth in the HyperTransport bus. Dual-channel memory support is now the norm and dropping the requirement for buffered DIMMS should help the memory bus and allow for better (lower) latency times equating in even better performance.
At the time of this release AMD reveals their latest four CPUs we are reviewing two of them the MSI FX-53 939 and the 3800+ but they are also releasing two additional chips that just aren't getting all the media attention. The additional chips are the 939-pin Athlon 64 3500+ running at 2.2GHz with 512K of L2 cache, and the Athlon 64 3700+ with 1MB of L2 cache and a 2.4GHz clock speed. The Athlon 64 3700+ is a Socket 754 platform CPU and may be the last CPU released for the 754 line. The MSI FX-53 939 arrives with a suggested retail price of $799 Each in 1000 unit quantities, the 3800+ at $720, the 3700+ at $710 and the cost efficient 3500+ comes in at $500.
939-PIN AMD ATHLON 64 MSI FX-53 939 TECH SPECS:
- L1 Cache Size: 64KB data + 64KB instruction = 128KB Total
- L2 Cache Size: 1MB (exclusive)
- CPU Core Frequency: 2.40GHz
- CPU to Memory Controller: 2.40GHz
- Memory: Integrated 128-bit wide memory controller
- Types of Memory: PC1600, PC2100, PC2700 and PC3200 DDR memory
- HyperTransport Links: 1
- HyperTransport Spec: 2GHz
- Effective data bandwidth: Up to 14.4 GB/sec (8GB/sec HyperTransport bandwidth plus 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: 130nm (.13-micron) Silicon on Insulator (SOI)
- Approximate Transistor count: 105.9 million
- Approximate Die Size: 193mm2
- Nominal Voltage: 1.50 V
- Max Ambient Case Temp: 70 degrees Celsius
- Max Thermal Power: 89 W
- Max Icc (processor current): 57.4A
939-PIN ATHLON 64 TECH SPECS:
- L1 Cache Size: 64KB data + 64KB instruction = 128KB Total
- L2 Cache Size: 512KB (exclusive) ["Newcastle" core]
- CPU Core Frequency: 2.20GHz for 3500+, 2.40GHz for 3800+
- CPU to Memory Controller: 2.20GHz for 3500+, 2.40GHz for 3800+
- Memory Controller: Integrated 128-bit wide memory controller
- Types of Memory: PC1600, PC2100, PC2700 and PC3200 DDR memory
- HyperTransport Links: 1
- HyperTransport Spec: 2GHz
- Effective data bandwidth: Up to 14.4 GB/sec (8GB/sec HyperTransport bandwidth plus 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: 130nm (.13-micron) Silicon on Insulator (SOI)
- Approximate Transistor count: 68.5 million
- Approximate Die Size: 144mm2
- Nominal Voltage: 1.50 V
- Max Ambient Case Temp: 70 degrees Celsius
- Max Thermal Power: 89 W
- Max Icc (processor current): 57.4 A
