Back in the summer of 1999, AMD introduced a new processor that would replace the aging K6 CPU and its many variations. This new generation of processors was given the name Athlon. Stories on whether or not AMD could compete with Intel, toe to toe, were everywhere. Soon those stories changed from skepticism to support. AMD did just what no other manufacturer had done up to that time and that was beat Intel in their own arena.

The Athlon CPU clearly dominated the Pentium II, which was Intel's fastest at the time, and had succeeded where the K6-2 or K6-III could not even come close. Certainly AMD always kept the K6 prices down low enough to attract buyers that were unwilling to pay top dollar for the Intel CPU line, but that hurt AMD's profits. Not only that, the K6-2 and K6-III processor had run out of wind. There was not much more headroom if any to increase its clock speed. AMD had to get faster in order to raise the price of their processors to help their bottom line. The Athlon CPU did just that. Finally AMD could push a processor out the door and ask a good price for it without hearing how inferior it was to its Intel counterpart.

For three years after the Athlon introduction AMD held the performance crown as the Athlon CPU went from the "Classic" to the "Thunderbird" and now the "XP". As the level of performance has grown for the Athlon XP processor, so has the competition. Last year Intel gave their Pentium 4 processor a shot in the arm by boosting them L2 cache to 512K and then upping the Front Side Bus to 533MHz. This was enough for Intel to regain the performance crown and keep it as they have continued to tweak the Pentium 4 line since.

Last fall AMD brought out Revision B of the Athlon XP "Thoroughbred" CPU and later added another 256K of L2 for a total of 512k. This revision allowed the Athlon XP move to its current speed of a performance adjusted rating of 3200+. With this new revision we also began to see where the Athlon XP would soon run out of steam. Yes moving the FSB to 400MHz helped but the ceiling would soon be found around 2200MHz, which is the XP 3200+.

When the Athlon Classic was introduced AMD had hoped to gain 30-40% of the market for processor sales. Today the tally is more conservatively estimated at 15%. Obviously it will take something more than the Athlon XP to get them to that number that I am sure they would be very happy to attain in the next two years or so.

Now AMD finds itself in similar circumstances as seen in 1999 just before the Athlon "Classic" debut. They are behind Intel in the performance arena and their top performing CPU is running out of headroom. Now is the time for AMD to introduce their much anticipated Athlon XP replacement, codenamed ClawHammer.

Four years since the introduction of the Athlon Classic, we step into the fall of 2003 and AMD has introduced the next processor they look to carry through the next few years. With this new CPU, AMD hopes to build on the success that the Athlon Classic started. So much so they will continue to use the Athlon name. The processor known for some time as ClawHammer will be called the Athlon 64.

The Athlon 64 makes some dramatic changes to the current line of Athlon XP processors. Let there be no mistake that this is not a simple upgrade in speed for the Athlon XP. In fact, when AMD introduced the Opteron processor this past spring you got the best view of the Athlon 64 up until today. The Athlon 64 will come in two flavors. The Athlon 64 will be geared toward the Desktop and the Athlon FX will appeal to the Workstation. The Athlon 64 FX is essentially a single CPU version of the Opteron processor which we know as the 100 series. Our engineering sample of the Athlon 64 FX was not unlocked, but we have been told that is how AMD will distinguish the 100 series and the Athlon 64 FX.

One of the changes the Athlon 64 brings is a need for a new CPU interface. No longer will AMD fans see the ever so familiar 462 Pin Socket A used to plug in the Athlon XP. Now you will find a new 754 Pin Socket on the new Athlon 64 motherboards. The Athlon 64 FX uses an even different socket. The same Socket 940 used for the Opteron will be used for the Athlon 64 FX.

As you would expect, there is a need for a new Heatsink arrangement for the new sockets as well. The heatsinks will now be attached much like the Pentium 4 heatsinks are. With a bracket hooked to the motherboard, the heatsink is clamped to the motherboard bracket instead of the socket as was done with the Socket A.

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Another improvement to the Athlon 64 processor is the integration of the Memory Controller on the processor. By running at the processor's core frequency, the integrated memory controller increases bandwidth directly available to the processor at reduced latencies. With previous processors, the communication between the CPU and the memory went through the Northbridge chipset thereby creating a bottleneck. The Athlon 64 eliminates that step.

The memory bus for the Athlon 64 3200+ that we are seeing today will be operating at an effective 400MHz. The Athlon 64 FX-51 is different in that it is confined to the same memory restrictions of the Opteron 100 Series processor. The Athlon 64 FX tops out at 333MHz and requires ECC Registered memory installed in pairs in our nForce3 motherboard. Although AMD promises Registered DDR400 memory soon, you are currently limited to DDR333 until that time comes. Certainly, a workstation environment welcomes the Registered memory, but the average desktop user will more than like want to ride on the faster bus, since performance is generally the most important factor for the desktop system.

The Athlon 64 also brings to the table more than just the performance increased that is realized with today's applications. Soon we will see applications make their way to the market that will take advantage of the 64-bit technology that is behind the Athlon 64. This 64-bit technology allows the Athlon 64 to operate with larger numbers without breaking them down into a smaller sequence of numbers. This will again eliminate a bottle neck where the 32-bit CPU of today wastes clock cycles calculating large amounts of information. This gain cannot be achieved until 64-bit applications are put in place and that should begin with the 64-bit version of Windows XP expected sometime after the beginning of the year. The Athlon 64 will do what Intel failed to do with their 64-bit chip, and that is speed up current 32-bit applications as well as 64-bit apps.

AMD did happen to borrow something from Intel though for the Athlon 64 processors and that is the SSE2 instructions set. This additional instruction set should enable the Athlon 64 and Athlon 64 FX to perform even better with those applications that make use of these features. The additional SSE2 instructions are primarily put in use by applications dealing with multimedia such as imaging, audio and video. Not only does the Athlon 64 now carry the SSE technology in the Pentium4 architecture, but it still retains 3DNow! as well.