AMD's 3GHz Athlon 64-FX 'due Q1 2006'

@ 2005/07/25
AMD will upgrade its Athlon 64 X2 and 64-FX processor lines early next year - potentially the chips' final Socket 939 incarnations before the company debuts its M2 interconnect in Q2 2006.

The FX-59, clocked to 3GHz, will ship in Q1 2006. So will a 2.6GHz dual-core Athlon X2, possibly with a 5000+ rating, according to AMD roadmaps seen by AnandTech. The two chips are derived from AMD's 'San Diego' and 'Toledo' cores, respectively.

The first Socket M2 parts will use two cores, 'Windsor' and 'Orleans' - the former is the dual-core version, the latter will be used for single-core products. The new interconnect is all about adding support for DDR 2 memory, which the new chips' integrated memory controller will cater for. They will also support 'Pacifica', AMD's answer to Intel's Virtualisation Technology, and 'Presidio', the chip maker's upcoming security system, which, again, will be pitched against Intel's 'LaGrande' security technology.

The roadmap points to Athlon 64s clocked at 2.2 and 2.4GHz, with either 512KB or 1MB of on-board L2 cache, yielding model numbers 3500+, 3800+ and 4000+. That suggests AMD will simply replace today's Athlon 64 processors with the new, DDR 2-supporting version.

Two M2-based X2s are listed: the 4800+ and the 5000+, clocked at 2.4GHz and 2.6GHz, respectively.

The desktop Sempron line-up will be updated sooner - sometime in Q3 this year, according to the roadmap - but won't make the shift to Socket M2 before Q3 2006 at the earliest.

The current quarter should see the arrival of Sempron 3400+ chips in both Socket 939 and Socket 754 varieties, along with core updates to the existing non-Socket A Semprons. The upshot will be a line of Semprons in Socket 754 and Socket 939 forms, offering either 128KB or 256KB of L2 cache, and clocked at 1.8GHz to 2.0GHz. The new core will bring 64-bit processing to the entire desktop Sempron range.

more @
Comment from Faiakes @ 2005/07/26
Will there be a performance gain by using DDR2 with AMD CPUs?