AMD launches Athlon quartet

AMD has launched four processors at Computex in Taiwan, three of them on new sockets.

The chip maker is moving high-end 64-bit chips for both the Athlon 64 and 64 FX over to 939-pin sockets running on four-layer motherboards.

This reduces the size and cost of the motherboard, and means that one motherboard will now support both chips.

The chips come with dual-channel DDR memory controllers, AMD's Enhanced Virus Protection - which will begin working once Microsoft ships XP Service Pack 2 later this summer - and 2GHz HyperTransport technology giving 8Gbps of system bandwidth.

Although AMD does not officially support overclocking, the latest FX processors are unlocked so that users can squeeze out extra performance.

They also support AMD's Cool 'n' Quiet technology so that, if extra performance is not needed, the frequency can be reduced to allow the PC to run less noisily.

Dave Everett, European strategic marketing manager at AMD, said: "The FX is top of the range and aimed at the enthusiast who really wants to get inside the box."

The two Athlon 64s moving to the new sockets are the 3500+ and 3800+, running at 2.2GHz and 2.4GHz respectively.

Both have 512KB of level 2 cache and, like the other new chips, continue to be manufactured to the 130 nanometre process.

The Athlon 64 FX-53 is a 2.4GHz processor with 1MB of level 2 cache, and is aimed particularly at gamers and media heavy users.

The fourth chip, the Athlon 64 3700+, is a 2.4GHz processor with 1MB of level 2 cache but remains on the current 754-pin socket.

Looking to the future, AMD will shift its manufacturing process to 90 nanometres for upcoming versions of the Athlon (Intel has already begun manufacturing to this size) and will ship chips with a dual core to boost performance in late 2005 or early 2006.