AMD brings us the occasion to test the new Athlon64 4000+ for socket 939, a new platform that offers a quality jump in performance compared with the previous socket 754, now used for Semprons mainly. This time AMD made an exception and the 4000+ is based on "Sledgehammer" core (1MB L2 cache) instead of the usual "Newcastle" core (512KB L2 cache) obtaining similar feaures than a Athlon FX-53. Clock frequency is 2,4Ghz for Athlon64 4000+ and 2,6Ghz for FX-55. We have here the last processor with 0,13 micron manufacturing process, since AMD launched the new "Winchester" core with 0,09 micron, that is going to beat the 2,6Ghz speed of the FX-55. The voltage is lower and the heat dissipation as well.
Features. Cool & Quiet and bit NX.
Cool & Quiet is a very good way to low down the huge amount of heat generated by today´s processors. FX-55 can easily go close to 100W. Cool'n'Quiet technology reduces power consumption of the latest AMD processors and system noise, with the CPU being used at its full clock speed and voltage only when needed.
Bit NX was implemented by AMD to avoid certain worm and virus attacks. All AMD64 processors are enabled with Enhanced Virus Protection, but need Microsoft Windows XP SP2 to will be able to fully utilize the security technology.
Socket 939 Platform
Main features of this new socket:
An integrated 128 bit dual channel DDR memory controller on-die compatible with unbuffered memory. Registered memory, much more expensive, is no needed.
HyperTransport bus clock frequency at 1Ghz DDR (2Ghz effective).
Both, Athlon64 and Athlon 64 FX use this new platform, the only difference is the size of the L2 cache memory: 512KB for Athlon64 and 1MB for Athlon64 FX, although the Athlon64 4000+ has 1MB of L2 cache, similar to an Athlon64 FX-53.
Let´s see the thermal-electrical features of the new Socket 939 processors:
