The Memory Controller

While this may seem a little out of place for opening up with, the memory controller is at the heart of AMD’s change to socket AM2. Remember that AMD pulled the memory controller in from the motherboard chipset and started building it on the processor die. So now when you buy an AMD processor, you are not only buying a CPU, but a memory controller for your system as well. AMD has been using DDR memory technology for a good while now, and while it is getting a bit long in the tooth, AMD has and is still leveraging it quite successfully, but more on that later. AMD’s new socket AM2 processors now have an integrated DDR2 memory controller that operates at specified speeds of DDR2-667 and DDR2-800 that means that you will get a fastest computer without buying a top lead processor.

Core Power Reductions

While there is nothing new in terms of core performance, AMD has made some great strides when it comes to power consumption in their non-FX line of processors. This of course is good for everyone as we are seeing major wattage drops with AM2. This means cooler running processors not dumping so much heat into our cases which house other components. Also these are not small decreases in wattage as you can see below. Some of these wattage drops can be be described as incredible.

Quick Specs:

Process Technology: 90-nanometer DSL SOI (silicon-on-insulator) technology

Packaging: Socket AM2 (940-pin organic micro PGA)

HyperTransport technology: Supports single HT link - up to 8.0 GB/sec per link bandwidth

Memory: DDR2 memory controller

Effective data bandwidth: Up to 12.8 GB/sec dual channel memory bandwidth

Total CPU bandwidth: Up to 20.8 GB/sec (HyperTransport + Memory bandwidth)

Memory Speed - FX and X2: DDR 2 memory up to and including PC2 6400 (DDR2-800) unbuffered

Memory Speed - A64 and Semp: DDR 2 memory up to and including PC2 5300 (DDR2-667) unbuffered

Common Features Added: AMD Virtualization technology

Chipsets: ATI, NVIDIA, SiS and VIA