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AMD's long-awaited transition to the DDR2 platform has finally arrived today, in the form of Socket AM2. The community has been waiting patiently for this day, twiddling its thumbs, checking long-in-the-tooth DDR Sandra memory scores, only imagining what kind of kick in the pants 800 MHz DDR2 memory could give the already lightning-fast Athlon 64. Today we will have our answer.

AMD is to be commended for introducing a whole slew of Socket AM2 processors, rather than just a high-midrange and flagship product. Everything from low-cost Semprons, to single- and dual-core Athlon 64s, to the flagship dual-core FX-62 will start becoming available for purchase in the next few days.

AMD's AM2 parts share the following common features:

• Manufactured in Fab 30 in Dresden, Germany on a 90 nm SOI process
• 940-pin micro-PGA AM2 packaging
• DDR2 memory controller supporting DDR2-667 for all chips and DDR2-800 for the X2 and FX
• Single HyperTransport channel for up to 8 GB/sec combined I/O
• Reduced power consumption, including new Energy Efficient models (details below)
• AMD Virtualization support (hardware virtualization on-chip)
• Redesigned 4-bolt heatsink mount for better stability
• Keyed ZIF socket to ensure only correct AM2 processor can be installed

The initial AM2 line-up consists of the following:

• Athlon 64 FX processor: FX-62
• Athlon 64 X2 processors: 5000+, 4800+, 4600+, 4400+, 4200+, 4000+, and 3800+
• Athlon 64 processors: 3800+, 3500+
• Sempron processors: 3600+, 3500+, 3400+, 3200+, and 3000+

Has this day been worth the wait? We'll attempt to answer that question, and more. We will examine what kind of benefit, if any, we get from using DDR2 memory with a Socket AM2 processor as compared to using regular DDR memory with a Socket 939 processor. We will look at stock performance, and of course, we will tweak the systems as far as they can go to see what kind of performance we can get when these processors are being juiced to their fullest potential.

Unfortunately, today's launch also signifies the beginning of the end for DDR memory. That end already passed Intel by when it went DDR2 with the 9XX series chipsets, and now AMD is joining in on the flogging of poor DDR.

The question to ask is whether we will find a large speed differential given that the only distinguishing factor between 939 and AM2 is DDR1 vs. DDR2. Theoretically we could - DDR2 can run at much higher clock speeds than DDR - but in practice, the maximum attainable bandwidth is also greatly influenced by board layout, latencies and the efficiency of the memory controller. This question can be watered down to something even simpler ... is the AM2's DDR2 memory controller up to snuff?

Let's find out!