AMD's 64-bit Strategy

AMD has 4 product lines in the 64 bit segment; the enthusiast class FX line, the server / highend workstation Opterons, the mobile Athlon 64 and finally the consumer class Athlon 64. The FX series is a no compromise-fastest without a doubt processor line from AMD. According to a recent interview, AMD states that as soon as a new FX chip is released, previous ones will be phased out because they are aimed at the premium segment in terms of both price and performance. The Opteron is basically the same chip as the FX but is seperated into the 100 and 200 series. The 100 series is limited to single CPU operation while the 200 series is dual processor capable. Both the FX and Opteron feature a dual channel integrated memory controller on the die and the CPU is a 940 pin package. Both the FX and Opteron require registered DIMMS.

The Athlon 64 is very similar to both of these chips. There are several differences and the main one is the memory controller; the Athlon 64 is only a single channel solution unlike its brethren. The second difference is that the pin packaging is 754 pins instead of the 940. AMD is rumored to be moving everything into a new 939 pin package later this year so there is a good chance that an upgrade to the next latest and greatest CPU will unfortunately also require a motherboard upgrade. Not all is doom and gloom compared to the FX and Opteron though as the Athlon 64 will not require registered DIMMs so the memory from your current Athlon system will work.

64 Bit Computing

The move to 64 Bit processors on the desktop is not as important for the average consumer as it is for the power user. One of the main benefits of a 64 Bit platform is the ability for the CPU to reference more than 4 Gigabytes of memory directly. 32 Bit platforms used some tricks to get around this limit somewhat. With a 64 Bit platform, memory can be addressed up to the 16 Pentabyte range so it is safe to say that the ceiling has increased significantly which is great for servers. On the desktop side, this is important for graphic artists, 3D Modelers and possibly gamers. Tim Sweeney of Unreal fame has stated that content creation for Unreal in 2005 will likely require a 64-bit processor. One thing that is holding back 64-bit on the desktop is the Windows XP-64, a 64-bit version of Windows slated for later this year. Although the 32-bit speed of the Athlon 64 is improved over the Athlon XP series, the bigger differences should be apparent with an optimized version of Windows.