AMD Takes on Intel with AM2 and HT - AM2 Means DDR2
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AM2 Means DDR2
Rumors are that AMD has been holding off releasing AM2 until the newest memory is officially released. The new AM2 will initially support DDR2 speeds up to DDR2 800. This does not necessarily mean any improvement in the actual desktop performance, though.
The first test samples that AMD sent to test sites a few months ago that used the new DDR2 actually performed more poorly than their 939 equivalents. The current chipset has come a long way to realize 5 GB/s memory bandwidth of the theoretical 6.4 GB/s maximum. The new DDR2 800 could theoretically reach 12.8 GB/s bandwidth, but its efficiency is still far lower than DDR400
The newest AM2 test samples actually perform very close the 939 systems available already. They score between 2% and 9% higher for things that are big memory hogs: Multimedia Winstone 2004, DivX 6.0, Quake 4, and ScienceMark. Nearly all other tests were essentially the same as a 939 rig. It's unlikely that a desktop user would not have been able to tell the difference between the systems.
Well, that's about what anyone can expect from AM2 if it is released according to the news we've heard so far. We'll get a familiar pin layout, a different heatsink fan cage, and different memory. It's not really a big step forward, but it doesn't need to be at this point. All that we're seeing is a vast improvement in the potential memory bandwidth. This is going to be very useful soon.
Current processors might not be bottlenecked by DDR, but that could change as we see the number of cores on processors multiplying. Future improvements in performance will come partly from the number of threads a CPU processes rather than just its operating frequency. In an interview with ZDnet, Phil Hestor of AMD said that the company plans to release quad-core CPUs by 2007. Four or more processing cores will need more memory bandwidth than just one. Even if it doesn't show a large improvement initially, it's better to fix a bottleneck before it happens.
As far as Intel is concerned, their upcoming Conroe is still going to be monster and perform much better than the Pentiums we've seen before. AMD isn't updating their cores, and AM2 won't introduce a new technology that will stop Intel's newest Core processors from slowing or reversing AMD's gains on the desktop market. AM2 only adopts the memory that is already a standard among Intel systems.
Those who are looking forward to buying one of Intel's newest processors may not need to worry about AMD obsolescing them, but AMD's plans seem to be focused on setting up the new platform for the future of their 65nm and multi-core CPUs.
Next: Plans for Extending HyperTransport >>
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