AMD M2.. What We Know So Far

[Rob Williams]

There has not been that much info released about the AM2 yet, but there is enough to cover. Will this be a CPU that we should wait for before building another system? Let's take a look at what we know so far and see.

Please feel free to comment on the article!

[(cf)Eclipse]

"The problem is, it appears much larger than current brackets on any motherboard, which is odd because the CPU size has not changed in the least. So is this to say that the AM2 will generate that much more heat, that we will need massive new coolers to accommodate them?"

the new bracket is most likely intended for better mechanical stability over the horrible design that's currently in use.

[Meerkat154]

Argh - what to do...have the upgrade "itch" to AMD dual core but not sure if I should wait for M2. I'm afraid M2's are going to be insanely expensive - including the DDR2 prices on launch.

[Rob Williams]

If you need a computer now, I wouldn't bother waiting. DDR2 modules are generally more expensive, and I could see the CPU's costing a pretty penny off the get go.

Originally Posted by Rob Williams

There has not been that much info released about the AM2 yet, but there is enough to cover. Will this be a CPU that we should wait for before building another system? Let's take a look at what we know so far and see.

Please feel free to comment on the article!

No offense but there is a great deal of errors in that article.

#1 Amps/current has increased some ~33%, with voltage. Therefor the TDPs do not change significantally (similar to the change from AXP to A64)

#2 DDR2-800 has been officially supported by intel since the i955XBX, however DDR2-1066 has not (other than Asus on the XEs)

#3 The bracket was changed not due to larger coolers per-say but re-directing *where* the pressure is applied to the chip to make it a more even contact area (changing the plane from 2 --> 4 points)

Finally there should be a significant clock increase comparable to what we saw Prescott do on LGA775 because of the far superior power filtration systems in place. 3ghz+ will happen on 90nm (as a rated speed)

[(cf)Eclipse]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Finally there should be a significant clock increase comparable to what we saw Prescott do on LGA775 because of the far superior power filtration systems in place. 3ghz+ will happen on 90nm (as a rated speed)

maybe, but it won't happen right off the bat

also, the RATED current the socket and power subsystem has to provide is going up from what i can tell, not the actual power draw of the cpu's. big difference.

the clock speed bump we saw with socketT was primarily from the new revision core, not from the socket change itself. the timing of the two was convenient afaict

[b1lk1]

The prices of S939 cpus has steadily declined. I would either wait a month or two and scoop up a cheap S939, or just go ahead and buy now. S939 will still be viable for years to come. Most of us that have them now have not tapped their full potential. You really cannot lose by sticking to them. I personally am planning on an X2 very soon. The prices have come down quite a bit.

[werty316]

Well based on the sample reviews I would have to say wait to get an AM2 system. I want to see benches with DDR2-800 since the samples can only use DDR2-667. Still even eith DDR2-800 I doubt there will be a huge difference in performance. I will stil with S939 for a while.

[Sledgehammer70]

I guess Kingston and Corsair are the only companies with DDR2-1000 on the market at this point in time. 500Mhz wow that is just some crazy stuff these days. is DDR3 going to bring 1600Mhz? 2000Mhz????

Originally Posted by (cf)Eclipse

"The problem is, it appears much larger than current brackets on any motherboard, which is odd because the CPU size has not changed in the least. So is this to say that the AM2 will generate that much more heat, that we will need massive new coolers to accommodate them?"

the new bracket is most likely intended for better mechanical stability over the horrible design that's currently in use.

quad core heat dispersal???

go and buy AMD64 3200+ AM2(940 pin), DDR2 533mhz, MSI NVIDA chipset mother board, really gr8 performance,...no problems installing windows,redhat, fedora linux...really gr88 performance,pc is so cool,supports multi threading... no need to go for intel core2 duo ( its just a 32bit processor no 64bit)., go for AMD athlon 64 AM2 (supports ddr2)-->>>gr8 bandwidth...gr8 performance...price is low too...he he

bye

[Rory Buszka]

Unfortunately, it's projected that the quad-core AMD processors are going to need a different socket entirely. They'll be transitioning from pins to a Land Grid Array design, like Intel's socket 775.

[Rob Williams]

Originally Posted by Taterworks

They'll be transitioning from pins to a Land Grid Array design, like Intel's socket 775.

Yes that is what will happen... and for good reason. I can't recount how many times I've bent pins on my 939 :-|

[Bobbythecat]

Yup. My good friend was more than happy to make an ornament out of my CPUs with bent pins -_-;

[Jakal]

I've never bent a pin of any of the chips I've owned, unless I wanted to. How'd you manage to do that? I've bent fins on heatsinks, broken components on video cards, dropped hard drives on fans, but I've never bent a pin on a cpu before.