What types of processors are suitable for socket am2. Processor socket AM2: processors, technical specifications and performance levels

Many people, when assembling a PC, or when purchasing a ready-made solution based on a particular processor, are faced with the concept of “socket”. Let's guess: half have no idea what it is or what it is intended for. In this article we will look at what this term represents, as well as the main sockets of AMD processors.

The Reds have always been distinguished by a loyal policy regarding the replacement of processor sockets: maximum preservation of compatibility with obsolete chips, a single fastener for cooling systems (AM2-AM3+ generations), easy BIOS flashing and more. But how the company’s technologies developed is the topic of this article.

To put it very briefly, a socket is a special connector on the motherboard into which the CPU is inserted. This design is created as an alternative to soldering, which greatly simplifies chip replacement and system upgrades as a whole. The second advantage is the reduction in cost of MP production.

And now about the pulp. The socket “accepts” only a certain type of processor. In other words, the contact pad of various connectors is significantly different from each other. Moreover, the type of mounts for cooling systems also often differs, which makes almost all sockets incompatible with each other.

AMD processor sockets

We would like to present you with a list of the most current AMD processor sockets at the moment, as well as describe the supported technologies for each. The list will consist of the following candidates:

1. Socket AM4+;
2. Socket TR4;
3. Socket AM4;
4. Socket AM3+;
5. Socket AM3;
6. Socket AM2+;
7. Socket AM2.

Let's get to the educational program, gentlemen.

1.Socket AM4+

The AM4+ processor socket should theoretically debut in April 2018 to support 12nm Zen+ processors (but this is not certain). It is known that motherboards with this socket will support the new X470 chipsets, which indicates higher CPU overclocking to frequencies previously unattainable with the X370.

Additionally, there is support for XFR 2 and Precision Boost 2 technologies. A nice feature of the new product is full compatibility with all existing representatives of the Ryzen 1000 series. It will be enough just to update the UEFI-BIOS firmware.

There is no information about AMD processors on this socket yet.

2. Socket TR4

A completely new socket developed by AMD engineers in 2016 for Threadripper family processors and visually similar to SP3, but not compatible with Epyc models. The first LGA connector of its kind in “red” design for consumer systems (previously only PGA versions with “legs” were used).

Supports processors with 8-16 physical cores, 4-channel DDR4 memory and 64 PCI-E 3.0 lanes (4 of which are on the X399 chipset).

Processors running on this socket:

• Ryzen Threadripper 1950X (14 nm);
• Ryzen Threadripper 1920X (14 nm);
• Ryzen Threadripper 1900X (14 nm).

3. Socket AM4

A socket introduced by AMD in 2016 for microprocessors based on the Zen architecture (14 nm). It has 1331 pins for connecting the CPU and is the first connector from the company that supports DDR4 RAM. The manufacturer claims that this platform is unified for both high-performance systems without an integrated graphics core and future APUs. The socket is supported by the following motherboards: A320, B350, X370.

Among the main advantages, it is worth noting support for up to 24 PCI-E 3.0 lanes, up to 4 DDR4 3200 MHz modules in 2-channel mode, USB 3.0/3.1 (natively, not using third-party controllers), NVMe and SATA Express.

Processors running on this socket:

Summit Ridge (14 nm):

• Ryzen 7: 1800X, 1700X, 1700;
• Ryzen 5: 1600X, 1600, 1500X, 1400;
• Ryzen 3: 1300X, 1200.

Raven Ridge (14 nm):

• Ryzen 5: 2400G, 2200G.

Bristol Ridge (14 nm):

• A-12: 9800;
• A-10: 9700;
• A-8: 9600;
• A-6: 9500, 9500E;
• Athlon: X4 950.

4. Socket AM3+

This socket is also called AMD Socket 942. It is essentially a modified AM3, developed exclusively for processors of the Zambezi family (i.e., the familiar FX-xxxx) in 2011. Backwards compatible with the previous generation of chips by flashing and updating the BIOS (not supported on all MP models).

Visually different from its predecessor in the black color of the socket. Among the features worth noting is the memory management unit, support for up to 14 USB 2.0 and 6 SATA 3.0 ports. In parallel with the socket, 3 new chipsets were presented: 970, 990X and 990FX. Also available are the 760G, 770 and RX881.

Processors running on this socket:

Vishera (32 nm):

• FX-9xxx: 9590, 9370;
• FX-8xxx: 8370, 8370E, 8350, 8320, 8320E, 8310, 8300;
• FX-6xxx: 6350, 6300;
• FX-4xxx: 4350, 4330, 4320, 4300;

Bulldozer (32 nm):

• Opteron: 3280, 3260, 3250;
• FX-8xxx: 8150, 8140, 8100;
• FX-6xxx: 6200, 6120, 6100;
• FX-4xxx: 4200, 4170, 4130, 4100.

5. Socket AM3

A processor socket that first appeared on the market in 2008. Designed with low-cost to high-performance systems in mind. It is a further development of the AMD AM2 socket and differs from its predecessor, first of all, in support of DDR3 memory modules, as well as higher bandwidth of the HT (HyperTransport) bus. The socket is supported by the following motherboards: 890GX, 890FX, 880G, 870.

All processors released for socket AM3 are fully compatible with socket AM3+, when the latter only supports mechanical interaction (identical arrangement of PGA pins). To work on newer boards you will have to reflash the BIOS.

You can also install AM2/AM2+ family chips in the socket.

Processors running on this socket:

Thuban (45 nm):

• Phenom II X6: 1100T, 1090T,1065T, 1055T, 1045T, 1035T.

Deneb (45 nm):

• Phenom II X4: 980, 975, 970, 965, 960, 955, 945, 925,910, 900e, 850, 840, 820, 805.

Zosma (45 nm):

• Phenom II X4: 960T.

Heka (45 nm):

• Phenom II X3: 740, 720, 710, 705e, 700e.

Callisto (45 nm):

• Phenom II X2: 570, 565, 560, 550, 545.

Propus (45 nm):

• Athlon II X4: 655, 650, 645, 640, 630, 620, 620e, 610e, 600e.

Rena (45 nm):

• Athlon II X3: 460, 450, 445, 435, 425, 420e, 400e.

Regor (45 nm):

• Athlon II X2: 280, 270, 265, 260, 255, 250, 245, 240, 240e, 225, 215.

Sargas (45 nm):

• Athlon II: 170u, 160u;
• Sempron: 190, 180, 145, 140.

6. Socket AM2+

The AMD socket appeared in 2007. It is similar to its predecessor down to the smallest detail. Developed for processors built on Kuma, Agena and Toliman cores. All processors belonging to the K10 generation work perfectly on systems with an AM2 socket, but you will have to put up with a “cut” in the HT bus frequency to version 2.0, or even 1.0.

The socket is supported by the following motherboards: 790GX, 790FX, 790X, 770,760G.

Processors running on this socket:

Deneb (45 nm):

• Phenom II X4: 940, 920.

Agena (65 nm):

• Phenom X4: 9950, 9850, 9750, 9650, 9600, 9550, 9450e, 9350e, 9150e.

Toliman (65 nm):

• Phenom X3: 8850, 8750, 8650, 8600, 8450, 8400, 8250e.

Kuma (65 nm):

• Athlon X2: 7850, 7750, 7550, 7450, 6500.

Brisbane (45 nm):

• Athlon X2: 5000.

7. Socket AM2

It first debuted under the name M2 in 2006, but was hastily renamed to avoid confusion with Cyrix MII processors. Served as a planned replacement for amd 939 and 754 sockets. The socket is supported by the following motherboards: 740G, 690G, 690V.

As an innovation, it is worth noting support for DDR2 RAM. The first processors on this socket were single-core Orleans and Manila and dual-core Windsor and Brisbane.

Processors running on this socket:

Windsor (90 nm):

• Athlon 64: FX 62;
• Athlon 64 X2: 6400+, 6000+, 5600+, 5400+, 5000+, 4800+, 4600+, 4200+, 4000+, 3800+, 3600+.

Santa Ana (90 nm):

• Opteron: 1210.

Brisbane (65 nm):

• Athlon X2: 5050e, 4850e, 4450e, 4050e, BE-2400, BE-2350, BE-2300, 6000, 5800, 5600;
• Sempron X2: 2300, 2200, 2100.

Orleans (90 nm):

• Athlon LE: 1660, 1640, 1620, 1600;
• Athlon 64: 4000+, 3800+, 3500+, 3000+.

Sparta (65 nm):

• Sempron LE: 1300. 1250, 1200, 1150, 1100.

Manila (90 nm):

• Sempron: 3800+, 3600+, 3400+, 3200+, 3000+, 2800+.

Results

AMD are such entertainers. Perhaps they themselves are surprised at the number of processor architectures that they have developed over their long history. It is noteworthy that the vast majority of older processors still work and pair perfectly with newer motherboards (if we are talking about the gap between sockets AM2 and AM3).

The most progressive connector at the moment, AM4, and its successor, AM4+, should receive support at least until 2020, which indicates potential backward compatibility of platforms with some minor limitations in functionality.

I can’t guarantee that in other countries the problem of gradually upgrading a computer is just as acute, but in our country, buyers often think about the further possibility of upgrading the desktop system they are purchasing. AMD has long been loved for its ability to use new processors in old motherboards, but after integrating the memory controller into the processor core, ensuring such continuity has become more difficult.

The transition from Socket AM2 to Socket AM2+ was supposed to calm those AMD supporters who were afraid of the inevitable comprehensive computer upgrade. As is known, Socket AM2+ processors belonging to the K8L (K10) generation will be compatible with existing motherboards equipped with Socket AM2 connectors. You will only have to sacrifice support for the HyperTransport 3.0 bus, but continuity of platforms always requires some sacrifices, and this is not the worst of them. In addition, Socket AM2+ processors in motherboards with a Socket AM2 connector will not be able to manage their power supply as flexibly as is provided for them in “native” motherboards.

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Socket AM2 processors will work in motherboards with Socket AM2+ connector, this is quite natural. Some uncertainty existed only regarding the compatibility of processors and motherboards with the Socket AM3 connector and previous platforms. Until now, it was believed that Socket AM3 processors would only be compatible with motherboards with Socket AM2+ and Socket AM3 connectors. Motherboards with a Socket AM3 socket will not be able to accept Socket AM2 and Socket AM2+ processors, since they do not support DDR-3 memory.

French colleagues from the site

IntroductionThe approaching summer promises to be a truly hot time. And if from a meteorological point of view this forecast may not come true due to the action of powerful cyclones, then in the processor market everything has already been determined absolutely precisely. Both leading players, AMD and Intel, have chosen the summer period to update their high-performance platforms. Thus, Intel will launch processors with a fundamentally new Core microarchitecture to the market in mid-summer, and AMD will focus on promoting the Socket AM2 platform, which provides support for DDR2 SDRAM, to the market throughout the summer season.
Although the currently most anticipated processors should be considered the Intel Core 2 Duo family of CPUs, also known by their codename Conroe, AMD, according to tradition that has developed over the past few years, is ahead of its competitor and will begin mass deliveries of its updated processors for the Socket AM2 platform on June 1 . That is why today we will take a closer look at the new products from AMD, postponing the publication of Core 2 Duo reviews for a while, until their official announcement.
Despite the imminent release of very promising Intel processors, the Socket AM2 platform from AMD is attracting a lot of attention. AMD delayed the transition to using DDR2 SDRAM until the last minute, because the K8 processor microarchitecture, which includes an integrated memory controller, benefits primarily not from memory bandwidth, but from its low latency, which the existing DDR2 SDRAM on the market cannot boast of. However, today DDR2 memory speeds have already increased so much that switching Athlon 64 family processors to work with this type of memory can theoretically give tangible dividends in the form of performance gains. Although the first tests of engineering samples of the new platform from AMD did not reveal any particular advantages, now we are talking about serial processors and motherboards. This is the main intrigue of this material. After all, many fans of AMD processors want to believe that Socket AM2 processors will be able to compete on equal terms with Intel Core 2 Duo.
In addition, the updated AMD processors receive a new revision of the core, which, in addition to supporting new types of memory, has some cosmetic changes, which also increase the attractiveness of the Athlon 64 family of processors. Of course, the appearance of Intel processors with the Core microarchitecture will contribute to the outflow of adherents of the current AMD solutions into the “enemy camp”. But it’s too early to draw hasty conclusions, especially since some improvements in K8 processors may be very popular in a number of cases. So, let's take a closer look at AMD processors for Socket AM2 and try to predict how attractive they will be to potential consumers.

Revision F Core: Basics

For use in new processors designed for the Socket AM2 platform, AMD has developed an updated core with the K8 microarchitecture, which received revision number F. Thus, all dual-core and single-core AMD processors with an integrated memory controller that supports DDR2 SDRAM will for now be based exclusively on this core .
The main innovation in the microarchitecture introduced by the core of the new revision was support for DDR2 memory. In the new core, AMD simply replaced the memory controller; fortunately, the Athlon 64 microarchitecture allows such changes to be made without any problems. At the same time, the new memory controller of the Athlon 64 family of processors is not backward compatible with DDR SDRAM. This means that from today DDR memory can be classified as an obsolete solution. Modern platforms from leading processor manufacturers AMD and Intel are now unanimous and require the use of DDR2 SDRAM. Obviously, this should affect the reduction in price of such memory, and in the very near future the cost of DDR2 SDRAM will be set at a lower level than the price of DDR memory modules of the same size.
Returning to the issue of support for DDR2 SDRAM by the memory controller of the revision F kernel, it should be noted that it officially supports memory with a frequency of up to 800 MHz. In other words, AMD managed to implement support for DDR2-800 SDRAM in its platforms before Intel. Naturally, new AMD processors are also compatible with slower DDR2 memory with frequencies of 667 or 533 MHz. But, given the fact that low memory latency is primarily important for the K8 architecture, it is the use of DDR2-800 SDRAM that can give the maximum effect in terms of performance.
It should be noted that traditionally the memory controller of the new core is equipped with a slightly larger number of dividers for the DDR2 operating frequency than is listed in the official specification. Thanks to this, some motherboards will be able to support Athlon 64 family processors for Socket AM2 systems even with DDR2-1067 SDRAM, without overclocking the clock generator. But for now, AMD does not declare work with memory faster than DDR2-800 in its official documents.
In addition to support for DDR2 SDRAM, the revision F kernel boasts some additional innovations. Thus, processors of the Athlon 64 family for the Socket AM2 platform now support virtualization technology, codenamed Pacifica. This is a symmetrical response to Intel VT technology, which appeared in Intel processors with the Presler core.
An equally important circumstance associated with the transition of AMD processors to the revision F core was the reduction in their power consumption. Despite the fact that AMD continues to use the old 90 nm process technology (with SOI and DSL technologies) to produce processors, Socket AM2 processors have lower heat dissipation and power consumption than their Socket 939 counterparts. Formally, the transfer of dual-core processors of the Athlon 64 X2 line to a new core made it possible to lower the maximum heat dissipation limit by 19%, from 110 to 89 W, and the maximum heat dissipation of single-core Athlon 64 processors, thanks to the revision F core, was reduced by 30% - from 89 to 62 W.
This increase in efficiency is an equally important improvement of the new core, along with the transition to support for DDR2 memory. Especially in light of the fact that the performance per watt ratio is currently being actively promoted by CPU manufacturers as the main metric for assessing the consumer qualities of their products.
However, the indicated reduction in heat emission of mainstream AMD processors is not all. The fact is that with the release of the Socket AM2 platform and with the manufacturer’s transition to using revision F kernels at the core of its CPUs, it became possible to release additional Energy Efficient processor lines. AMD is going to offer consumers two options for energy-efficient CPUs: with maximum heat dissipation limited to 65 and 35 W. Obviously, processors with a maximum heat dissipation of 65 W will compete with Conroe in terms of thermal and electrical characteristics, and 35-W copies will be intended for use in small, quiet and energy-efficient systems. AMD does not plan to use any special manufacturing technologies to produce energy-efficient processors. Such CPUs will be obtained by simply selecting crystals among all processors of revision F.
The transfer of AMD processors to the Socket AM2 platform will be massive. For the new platform, both dual-core Athlon 64 X2 processors, single-core Athlon 64 and budget Sempron processors will appear simultaneously. Therefore, the kernels of revision F will simultaneously exist in several forms. Possible options and their formal characteristics are shown in the table below.


And this is what the core of the Athlon 64 X2 revision F processor looks like.

It should be noted that, despite the appearance of support for DDR2 SDRAM, the revision F kernel does not contain any fundamental improvements in terms of microarchitecture. Since the release of the first processors of the Athlon 64 family, AMD has avoided making any changes directly to the decoders or kernel execution units. That is, roughly speaking, so far we are seeing the development of the K8 architecture only along the extensive path of making small improvements. And this was quite enough for Intel to successfully compete. But now the situation is changing. Intel Core 2 Duo processors coming out this summer have a fundamentally new microarchitecture, distinguished by the ability to execute up to 4 instructions per clock cycle. And it will be quite difficult for AMD processors to compete with them, given that they do not have the same theoretical peak performance. From this point of view, the kernel of revision F, despite all the innovations present in it, is somewhat disappointing. To be honest, we would like more from it, primarily improvements at the microarchitecture level. But AMD engineers cannot offer us anything like that yet.

Socket AM2 platform

Let's take a closer look at what the new Socket AM2 platform offers the user, in addition to support for DDR2 SDRAM.
First of all, it should be noted that formally Socket AM2 is a 940-pin processor socket. At the same time, processors in the Socket AM2 version are neither logically nor electrically compatible with the old Socket 939 and Socket 940 connectors. To protect users from incorrect installation, Socket AM2 processors physically cannot be installed in old motherboards; they are located differently on them legs.

A positive aspect of the transition to Socket AM2 is that from now on AMD will offer a single platform for expensive dual-core and single-core budget processors. The same Socket AM2 motherboards can work with both Athlon 64 X2 and Athlon 64 and Sempron processors.
However, the introduction of a new processor socket does not yet sign the death warrant for the old sockets. AMD promises to continue supporting and supplying Socket 939 products as long as consumers remain interested in this platform.
Socket AM2 also sets new requirements for motherboards in terms of maximum power consumption and heat dissipation of processors. Although we said that the new CPUs with the revision F kernel can boast of reduced power consumption, the platform’s ability to support electrically powerful processors has been increased. Now the upper limit on current consumption is set to 95 A versus 80 A provided by Socket 939 motherboards. All this can make it possible to use processors consuming up to 125 W, while the maximum power consumption of the Socket 939 CPU was limited to 110 W.
Along with the new, more powerful power supply for Socket AM2 processors, motherboards offer a new cooler mounting mechanism. Now the frame on which the cooler is fixed is screwed to the motherboard not with two, but with four bolts. But at the same time, the fixing “teeth” on the frame remained in the old places.

This means that Socket AM2 motherboards can allow the use of older cooling systems, provided that they were mounted on a standard frame. The same heat dissipation systems that were screwed directly to Socket 939 motherboards cannot be used on new platforms without modification.

Processors for Socket AM2

In the table below we provide a complete list of Socket AM2 processors that will become available for sale after June 1st.

It should be noted that the correspondence between the frequency, cache size and rating of the CPU for the Socket AM2 platform is the same as for Socket 939 processors. On the one hand, this will allow users to more easily navigate the characteristics of the new processors, but on the other hand, it clearly makes it clear that AMD does not expect a noticeable increase in performance from the transition to a new platform and processor core.
I would like to draw attention to the fact that support for the fastest memory, DDR2-800 SDRAM AMD, is declared only for dual-core processors. Single-core CPUs, according to the official specification, are only capable of working with DDR2-667 memory. This is quite logical, given the increased requirements of dual-core CPUs for memory bandwidth, at least due to the fact that RAM is directly involved in solving core cache coherence issues.
The line of Socket AM2 processors has been significantly expanded thanks to the emergence of energy-efficient processors with two new thermal packages - 65 and 35 W. These processors do not have as high frequencies as their “full-fledged” counterparts and are somewhat more expensive. However, they can be very attractive options in a range of applications, including small, low-noise computers. However, it is unlikely that these processors will favor the preferences of the majority of consumers, including enthusiasts. In other words, we do not yet expect widespread adoption of energy-efficient CPUs.
However, it should be remembered that processors with a reduced thermal package can be easily distinguished by their markings. While the third letter in the marking line of conventional processors is “A”, for a CPU with a thermal package of 65 W it will be changed to “O”, and the most economical processors with a heat dissipation limited to 35 W will be marked with the letter “D” .
Unfortunately, the appearance of processors in the Socket AM2 version will do little to increase the popularity of dual-core CPUs from AMD. The transition to a new platform, although it expands the range of the company’s dual-core offerings, does not entail a reduction in prices for processors with two cores. All Athlon 64 X2 processors will continue to be sold at prices over $300, which is unlikely to have a positive impact on their popularity. Especially considering the fact that Intel, in light of the imminent appearance of a CPU with a new Core microarchitecture, has released a large number of cheap dual-core processors onto the market. For example, the cost of Intel's junior dual-core processor has already dropped significantly below $150. So from these positions, it is Intel that should be considered the main locomotive promoting dual-core CPUs to the market.

Test processors: Athlon 64 FX-62 and Athlon 64 X2 5000+

To test the performance of the new Socket AM2 platform, AMD sent us two processors: Athlon 64 FX-62 and Athlon 64 X2 5000+. The first of them is a dual-core processor aimed at gamers who are ready to do anything (financially) to achieve maximum performance, the second is the senior dual-core processor in the Athlon 64 X2 line.
Athlon 64 FX-62 has the highest frequency among new and old CPUs from AMD at 2.8 GHz. Moreover, it even caught up in frequency with the single-core Athlon 64 FX-57! However, this did not pass without a trace: the maximum heat dissipation of the new product is 125 W, which can be called a kind of record. There are no other equally hot processors among AMD products yet.

The CPU-Z diagnostic utility provides the following information about the Athlon 64 FX-62.

It should be noted that the standard supply voltage of the Athlon 64 FX-62 is 1.35-1.4 V, which is more than that of other dual-core CPUs in the Athlon 64 X2 line.
All this clearly indicates that the frequency potential of 90 nm cores with K8 microarchitecture is coming to an end. However, the results of overclocking the Athlon 64 FX-62 indicate that if you close your eyes to the growing power consumption, you can achieve more.
Thus, our test processor, when its supply voltage was increased to 1.5 V, was able to operate stably at a frequency of 3075 MHz, obtained as 15 x 205 MHz (Athlon 64 FX processors have a variable multiplier).

Heat was removed from the processor using a completely ordinary air cooler from AVC (part number Z7U7414002).

It must be said that overclocking the dual-core Athlon 64 FX-62 processor to frequencies above 3.0 GHz without using special cooling means is quite an impressive fact. Typically, all FX series processors with air cooling allowed increasing their frequency by only about 200 MHz. So, if desired, AMD will be able to increase the standard frequencies of its dual-core processors to 3 GHz. The only thing that can prevent this idea from being implemented is the excessively increasing power consumption and heat dissipation of the CPU. Thus, the power consumption of our test copy of the Athlon 64 FX-62, overclocked to a frequency of 3.075 GHz and operating under full load, according to measurement results, was 192 W (!), which clearly does not fit into the requirements that AMD itself has set for the Socket platform AM2.
The second processor we tested in our laboratory, Athlon 64 X2 5000+, has a standard clock frequency of 2.6 GHz, but is inferior to the FX-62 in terms of second-level cache memory. The cache memory of each of its cores has a volume of 512 KB.

The CPU-Z utility detects this processor as follows.

It is worth noting that all dual-core processors of the Athlon 64 X2 line, including the model with a rating of 5000+, have a supply voltage reduced to the range of 1.3-1.35 V. This, in particular, allows such processors to fit into a thermal package limited by the maximum heat dissipation in 89 W.
A comparison of the electrical characteristics of the new Socket AM2 processors measured in practice allows us to obtain a very interesting picture. As always in our tests, the processor load when measuring the maximum level of power consumption was performed by a specialized S&M utility, which can be downloaded here. As for the measurement technique, it, as usual, consisted of determining the current passing through the processor power circuit. That is, the figures given below do not take into account the efficiency of the CPU power converter installed on the motherboard.

We are already so accustomed to the fact that one of the characteristics of processors with the NetBurst microarchitecture is high heat dissipation. So the numbers shown in the diagram can come as a slight shock. But you can’t argue against the facts. The older AMD processor, Athlon 64 FX-62, today has slightly higher power consumption and heat dissipation than the older dual-core Intel processor, Pentium Extreme Edition 965, which is based on the Presler core revision C1. Approximately the same level of heat dissipation is now demonstrated by older processors in the mass dual-core lines, Athlon 64 X2 5000+ and Pentium D 960. Thus, older AMD processors can no longer be awarded the title of more economical. The latest CPUs from Intel, which are based on the most recent revision of the Presler core, are clearly no worse in this parameter. Thus, the Socket AM2 platform acquired increased tolerances for current and heat dissipation of processors for a reason.
However, let's return to considering the Athlon 64 X2 5000+ processor, namely, let's talk about its overclocking potential. This CPU must be overclocked by increasing the frequency of the clock generator; its multiplier is fixed at the top. However, this does not prevent you from achieving high results. By increasing the supply voltage of our test unit to 1.5 V, we were able to achieve stable operation at a frequency of 2.99 GHz.

The obtained results of overclocking two Socket AM2 processors using a simple air cooler suggest that the frequency potential of the CPU with the revision F core has become somewhat higher than that of previous AMD processors. Thus, the Socket AM2 platform may be quite interesting for overclockers.

Chipsets

Since the connection between logic sets and all processors with the K8 microarchitecture is carried out using the HyperTransport bus, and the memory controller is integrated into the CPU, the transition of the Athlon 64 family to the use of a new socket and DDR2 SDRAM memory does not require the use of any special logic sets. All those chipsets that were used in Socket 939 motherboards can be successfully used in Socket AM2 motherboards.
However, despite this, NVIDIA, which at the moment can be considered the leading supplier of chipsets for AMD processors, marked the release of a new platform from AMD with the announcement of new system logic sets for it. The new chipsets of the NVIDIA nForce family (nForce 590, nForce 570, nForce 550) are positioned by the manufacturer as “specially designed for new AMD processors.” However, there is nothing special in terms of processor support in these chipsets; they are notable only for their advanced capabilities. The simultaneous announcement of new NVIDIA chipsets and the Socket AM2 platform is just a marketing step.
However, switching to a new AMD platform will still require changing the motherboard. In this regard, new chipsets are quite in demand, because most users will probably want to get a new board with more advanced capabilities. It is precisely this category of consumers that the new chipsets from NVIDIA are designed for.
The line of new chipsets from the NVIDIA nForce family includes four products aimed at different target audiences.

All these logic sets are built on the same element base, the basis of which is the nForce 570 chipset. It should be considered the starting point from which the other products - nForce 590 and nForce 550 - stand.
The NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI chipset is a single-chip solution that can be called a further development of nForce 4 SLI.

This chipset supports SLI mode, but only under the PCI Express x8 + PCI Express x8 scheme.
A similar chipset, NVIDIA nForce 570 Ultra, is the same product, but without the ability to activate the SLI mode.

For the most “advanced” part of the gaming community, NVIDIA has also prepared the nForce 590 SLI chipset, which is capable of supporting SLI modes using the PCI Express x16 + PCI Express x16 scheme. In this implementation, to support a second PCI Express x16 graphics slot, the chipset includes an additional chip connected to the processor and MCP via a HyperTransport bus with a width of 16 bits in each direction and a frequency of 1 GHz.

As for the budget NVIDIA nForce 550 chipset, it is the same nForce 570 Ultra, but with somewhat reduced capabilities.

The formal characteristics of the new nForce family chipsets are summarized in the table below:

A study of the characteristics of the new NVIDIA chipsets for the Socket AM2 platform shows that they do not have many differences from the previous generation of chipsets of the nForce4 family. In fact, there are only three main improvements in the new chipsets:

Dual-port gigabit Ethernet controller;
Increasing the number of SATA channels to six;
The long-awaited appearance of High Definition Audio.

It must be said that despite such a small list of improvements, NVIDIA presents the new chipsets as a huge step forward, which is facilitated by both the marketing emphasis of some features of the chipsets and the additional features being developed, implemented at the software level.
Without going into details, we note the main technologies present in the chipsets, which are a source of special pride for NVIDIA engineers:

LinkBoost. Automatic overclocking of PCI Express x16 buses to increase bandwidth between GeForce video cards installed in the system;
SLI-Ready Memory. Another name for the previously announced Enhanced Performance Profile technology, which allows the use of memory modules with expanded SPD content, in which, in addition to the main timings, the optimal voltage of the modules and the values ​​of secondary parameters are preserved.
FirstPacket. A technology that allows you to assign high priority to network packets generated by certain applications. NVIDIA uses it to reduce pings in gaming applications.
DualNet. The chipset's dual-port network controller allows you to use both ports separately or together for one connection.
TCP/IP Acceleration. Part of the procedure for processing TCP/IP packets, traditionally performed by the network card driver, is transferred to the hardware capabilities of the logic set.
MediaShield. The chipset's six-port Serial ATA II controller allows the formation of one or more RAID arrays of levels 0, 1, 0+1 and 5.

In addition, along with boards based on the new nForce 590/570/550 chipsets, NVIDIA plans to ship a new utility, nTune 5.0, which has now acquired new capabilities for monitoring and fine-tuning the system.
One of the first motherboards based on the NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI chipset was the ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe, which we used in our tests.

How we tested

To test the performance of the new Socket AM2 AMD processors, we used the following set of equipment:

Processors:

AMD Athlon 64 FX-62 (Socket AM2, 2.8GHz, 2x1MB L2);
AMD Athlon 64 FX-60 (Socket 939, 2.6GHz, 2x1MB L2);
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ (Socket AM2, 2.6GHz, 2x512KB L2);
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ (Socket 939, 2.4GHz, 2x1MB L2);
Intel Pentium Extreme Edition 965 (LGA775, 3.76GHz, 2x2MB L2).
Intel Pentium D 960 (LGA775, 3.6GHz, 2x2MB L2).

Motherboards:

ASUS P5WD2-E Premium (LGA775, Intel 975X Express);
ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe (Socket AM2, NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI);
DFI LANParty UT CFX3200-DR (Socket 939, ATI CrossFire CFX3200).

Memory:

2048MB DDR400 SDRAM (Corsair CMX1024-3500LLPRO, 2 x 1024 MB, 2-3-2-10);
2048MB DDR2-800 SDRAM (Mushkin XP2-6400PRO, 2 x 1024 MB, 4-4-4-12).

Graphics card: PowerColor X1900 XTX 512MB (PCI-E x16).
Disk subsystem: Maxtor MaXLine III 250GB (SATA150).
Operating system: Microsoft Windows XP SP2 with DirectX 9.0c.

Testing was performed with the BIOS Setup settings of the motherboards set to maximum performance.

DDR2 vs DDR: did it make sense?

In anticipation of performance tests of new AMD processors for the Socket AM2 platform, we decided to pay special attention to finding out what can be gained in terms of performance for processors of the Athlon 64 family by switching them to use DDR2 SDRAM. After all, it’s no secret that platforms built on AMD CPUs are very critical of the latency of the memory subsystem. And the transition from DDR to DDR2 SDRAM, although it promises a significant increase in throughput, does not provide a gain in latency.
To get practical data that allows us to draw some conclusions about the benefits that AMD received from using DDR2 SDRAM in its systems, we assembled two similar systems with DDR and DDR2 memory and compared their performance when setting different timings and different memory bus frequencies. The central processors used during testing were the Athlon 64 FX-60 for Socket 939 and the Athlon 64 FX-62 slowed down to 2.6 GHz for Socket AM2. Note that for these tests we used 512 MB memory modules, that is, the total amount of memory in the test systems was 1 GB.
First, let's take a look at the results of synthetic benchmarks that measure practical memory bandwidth and latency.

The results obtained in practice confirm the theoretical speculations. DDR2 SDRAM has a higher bandwidth than regular DDR memory, which is higher the higher its frequency. But from the point of view of latency, the picture is completely different. DDR400 SDRAM, operating at minimal 2-2-2 latencies, can only compete with DDR2-800 SDRAM with fairly aggressive (for this frequency) 4-4-4 timings. DDR2-667 SDRAM with the minimum possible timings of 3-3-3 can only achieve approximately the same practical latency as DDR400 with latencies of 2.5-3-3; it cannot compete with fast DDR SDRAM. As for DDR2-533 SDRAM, in terms of latency this memory is guaranteed to be worse than any DDR400 SDRAM.

The results of SiSoftware Sandra 2007 are quite consistent with the data we obtained using another test, Sciencemark 2.0. In fact, we can already say that only those owners of Socket AM2 platforms who will use either DDR2-800 SDRAM or fast DDR2-667 memory with 3-3-3 latencies can gain performance benefits. The increase in performance in all other cases remains in question and will depend primarily on the nature of the tasks being solved.
From testing the parameters of the memory subsystem, let's move on to considering the speed of operation in complex tests.

The SuperPi test only exacerbates the above statements. Indeed, the Socket AM2 platform demonstrates greater performance than a Socket 939 system with DDR400 memory with 2-2-2 latencies only if it uses DDR2-800 SDRAM.

Some tasks demonstrate a rather weak dependence on the speed of the memory subsystem. However, the low efficiency of DDR2 SDRAM compared to fast DDR400 SDRAM can be seen here too.

The speed of the WinRAR archiver greatly depends on the performance of the memory subsystem. In this case, we see that this task reacts quite sensitively to the growth of throughput. But despite this, only DDR2-800 with 4-4-4 timings manages to show slightly higher results than the Socket 939 platform with memory with 2-2-2 timings demonstrates.

The same can be said when looking at gaming performance. Even the slowest DDR400 memory turns out to be better than some types of DDR2 SDRAM.
So, answering the question posed at the beginning of this section, we can say that there is no direct sense in moving to DDR2 SDRAM in terms of increasing platform performance. Another thing is that the transition to support a newer memory standard may be useful from the point of view of future prospects. The development of DDR SDRAM came to an end, and both manufacturers and JEDEC focused on developing fast memory standards based on DDR2. That is why the choice of AMD should be considered correct. The company waited until DDR2-800 SDRAM became widely available on the market, which did not reduce platform performance, and switched to a new memory standard, looking into the future. By the way, a significant advantage of DDR2 memory compared to DDR SDRAM in light of the imminent release of the new generation Windows Vista operating system should be considered the better availability of large-capacity memory modules.

Performance

Synthetic tests: PCMark05, 3DMark06 and ScienceMark 2.0

First of all, we decided to test the performance of the processors in question using common synthetic tests.

It should be noted that there is nothing fundamentally new in the results obtained. As shown above, switching AMD processors to use DDR2 SDRAM gives a small performance gain. Therefore, the high level of performance of the new CPU Athlon 64 FX-62 is explained primarily by its high clock frequency of 2.8 GHz. The performance of the Athlon 64 X2 5000+ processor in some cases is inferior to the speed of the Athlon 64 FX-60, since, despite the same clock frequency, this CPU has half the cache memory. However, in those tests for which the size of the cache memory is not important, the Athlon 64 X2 5000+ can outperform any of the Socket 939 CPUs, since in the tested configuration it is equipped with high-speed DDR2-800 memory.

Overall Performance

We assessed overall performance in applications for creating digital content and in office tasks using the SYSMark 2004 SE test, which, moreover, actively uses multithreading.

When working with digital content, AMD processors significantly outperform competing Intel CPUs. As for the new Socket AM2 platform, it does not present us with any surprises in this case.

In office applications, cache memory is of great importance. Therefore, the Athlon 64 X2 4800+ processor for Socket AM2 systems is ahead of the Athlon 64 X2 5000+. I would also like to note the fairly high results shown in this benchmark by the Intel Pentium D 960 processor. As can be seen from the diagram, it is inferior in performance only to AMD FX series processors, which have a much higher price.

Audio and video encoding

When encoding audio and video using DivX, iTunes and Windows Media Encoder codecs, we are able to observe a fairly tangible advantage of the new Socket AM2 platform. Streaming video encoding is a task that responds well to increased memory bandwidth. Accordingly, in these tasks the speed of Socket AM2 processors turns out to be approximately 2-4% higher than the speed of Socket 939 processors with similar characteristics.
Apple Quicktime is less enthusiastic about the new platform. When running Socket AM2, the Athlon 64 4800+ processor is even slightly behind its Socket 939 counterpart. However, in any case, we are not talking about fundamental differences in performance even when working with streaming data.

Image and video processing

Until recently, the Intel Pentium Extreme Edition processor remained the unsurpassed leader in Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Premiere. But the release of the high-speed AMD Athlon 64 FX-62 processor changed this state of affairs. Now this processor from AMD receives the title of the fastest product for image processing and non-linear video editing.

Performance in 3ds max 7 and Maya

Unfortunately, the increase in frequency to 2.8 GHz for the Athlon 64 FX-62 processor is not enough to compete with the Pentium Extreme Edition 965 in the final rendering in 3ds max. The thing is that rendering is a highly parallelizable task that can fully load all four virtual cores that a top Intel processor has. However, when rendering in Maya, this picture is not repeated; older dual-core processors from AMD are in the lead in this package.
As for the effect of using AMD DDR2 SDRAM processors, in this case we can talk about its absence or even negativity. In any case, final rendering is not a task for which supporters of AMD processors should switch to a new platform.

3D games

Quite a noticeable performance increase from switching to DDR2 memory can theoretically be obtained in games. The fastest DDR2-800 SDRAM can provide a visible speed increase, reaching 6-7% in some games. However, we are not talking about the qualitative superiority of the new platform yet. At the same time, preliminary test results of the promising Conroe processor show that it will provide a qualitative leap in performance for Intel processors in gaming applications. In other words, although AMD processors continue to maintain a confident lead in games, this balance of power could easily change in the near future. And supporters of the AMD platform need to be mentally prepared for such a turn of events.

Other Applications

Since the performance of the Socket AM2 platform in comparison with the performance of desktop CPUs that support DDR SDRAM seems to be a very interesting question to study, we decided to add several more common programs to the number of test applications.
Using the 7-zip archiver, which very effectively supports multithreading, we measured the speed of data compression and expansion.

We assessed the speed of optical text recognition using the popular ABBYY Finereader 8.0 package.

In addition, we also tested the speed of test systems in the popular computer algebra package Mathematica, the new version of which is now able to take advantage of multi-core CPUs.

conclusions

Summing up everything that has been said about the new platform from AMD, we can only admit that the support for DDR2 SDRAM introduced in it is a small evolutionary step forward. Tests show that you should not expect any performance boost from simply changing DDR SDRAM to DDR2 SDRAM. Moreover, in order to see at least some effect from replacing the memory, in tests it is necessary to use the fastest DDR2 SDRAM with a frequency of 800 MHz and minimal timings. The currently widespread DDR2-667 SDRAM may not at all allow for a performance increase compared to Socket 939 platforms equipped with DDR400 SDRAM with low latency.
In conclusion, I would like to add that the emergence of the Socket AM2 platform working with DDR2 SDRAM should not be assessed as an ordinary event. Despite the fact that at the moment Socket AM2 systems do not have obvious and indisputable advantages over the Socket 939 platform, in the future the effect of this transition will become more than clear. Undoubtedly, DDR2 memory is much more promising today. It more dynamically increases its frequency and bandwidth, becomes cheaper faster and, in addition, allows you to create DIMM modules of larger capacity. As a result, AMD will undoubtedly benefit from the fact that it relied on DDR2. Moreover, at a very opportune moment: now no one will scold the manufacturer for such a step, either from the standpoint of performance or from the point of view of the price aspect.
However, at the moment AMD is not experiencing real pressure from Intel. Processors from this manufacturer continue to be leaders in almost any application. This is also facilitated by an increase in the frequency of older models of dual-core processors Athlon 64 X2 to 2.6 GHz, and Athlon 64 FX-62 to 2.8 GHz. Of course, there is a danger that the current state of affairs will be reversed with the advent of new Intel processors with Core microarchitecture. However, it is too early to talk about this yet.
I must say that after getting acquainted with AMD processors with the revision F core, some disappointment remains in my soul. The fact is that the company's engineers once again got away with cosmetic alterations and abandoned deep microarchitectural improvements. It is precisely this attitude of AMD towards improving its own processors that will sooner or later lead to the fact that the Athlon 64 family will lose the “arms race” to competing processors. Unfortunately, at the moment there is no information about the planned significant changes in the K8 microarchitecture.

"Socket AM2" from AMD, by the standards of computer technology, debuted quite a long time ago - in 2006. Since then, hardware platforms have been updated several times, but computers based on it can still be found quite often.

History of appearance

In 2006, two AMD hardware platforms - "Socket 754" - completely exhausted themselves. The processors no longer allowed for a significant increase in performance, and the RAM subsystem did not allow the use of new, faster DDR2 format modules. At the same time, the main competitor, Intel, did not have such problems. Their LGA775-based platform was successfully developing and made it possible to both increase performance and make it possible to install faster RAM strips on its motherboards. Therefore, AMD was forced to introduce an updated platform with improved specifications, which was based on the “AM2 Socket”. In 2009, the AM2 received a minor update, which, according to the manufacturer's specifications, was called AM2+. TOcomponentsthese two sockets were savedrelevantawnuntil 2011, when the successor to the AM2 and AM2+ processor sockets was presented in the form ofAM3.

Platform Compatibility

The direct successor, in essence, was the “Socket AM2-AM3” computing platform. But there was also an intermediate link - AM2+. AM2 and AM2+ chips were compatible with each other and could be installed in any such processor socket. But AM3 solutions, in addition to this socket, could also be used in AM2+. Physically, the AM3 processor can be installed in “Socket AM2”, but in this case it is necessary to take into account the incompatibility of RAM controllers. AM2 was focused on using only DDR2, and AM3 - only DDR3. In turn, AM2+ was equipped with a “hybrid” RAM controller, which could successfully work with both the first and second types of memory.

Processor models

AMD has released the following processors for Socket AM2:

Septron solutions were used to create PCs for office or budget purposes. With only one computation unit, low clock speed and minimal cache size, these CPUs were not able to be used for anything more.

Mid-level PCs were based on solutions from the Athlon line. They also had only one code processing unit. But their cache size was larger, and their frequencies were increased. All this made it possible at that time to create gaming systems that were average in terms of capabilities.

The premium segment of computer systems within AM2 was occupied by the Athlon X2 CPU. They already had double the number of code processing units, and this made it possible to significantly increase their performance.

System logic sets

In 2006, AMD did not occupy such a dominant position in the system logic set market as it does now. As a result, in most cases the motherboard is “Socket AM2” was based on a third-party chipset. This included such well-known companies as NVidia, ATI, SIS and VIA. Since the dominant position in this niche was occupied by the products of the first company for some time, we will focus our attention on it. The list of chipsets from this company for AM2 included the following sets of system logic:

In a very difficult situation in 2006, AMD announced a socket for installing an AM2 CPU. Processors for sockets 754 and 939 at that time had completely exhausted themselves and could no longer show a sufficient level of performance. As a result, it was necessary to offer something new with higher performance to provide a worthy response to the eternal competitor in the person of Intel Corporation.

How and why did this computing platform appear?

In 2006, sales of a new type of RAM, called DDR2, began on the personal computer market. The sockets that existed at that time for installing AMD CPUs 754 and 939 were focused on using the outdated, but most common type of RAM - DDR.

As a result, the last socket was redesigned and became known as AM2. Processors for this socket received a 30% increase in performance compared to their predecessors. The main factor that allowed for such an increase in performance was the increased RAM bandwidth.

Sockets up to AM2. Subsequent processor sockets

As noted earlier, the predecessors for this processor socket can be considered sockets 754 and 939. Moreover, from the point of view of organizing the functioning of RAM, it was the second of them that was closer to the hero of this review, which also had a 2-channel RAM controller. But server socket 940 can also be classified as the predecessors of AM2. The processors in this case had an identical organization of the RAM subsystem and a similar number of contacts, which was equal to 940 pieces.

In one form or another, AM2 existed until 2009. At this time, instead of it and its updated version in the form of AM2+, a new processor socket AM3 was released, the key innovation of which was the use of a new modification of RAM - DDR3. AM2 and AM3 are physically compatible with each other. Moreover, even the AM2+ CPU can be installed in AM3. But the reverse use of the CPU is unacceptable due to the incompatibility of microprocessor RAM controllers.

Models of central processors for AM2

Socket AM2 was aimed at the following segments of the PC market:

• The products of the Septron line made it possible to assemble budget system units. Such CPUs had only one computing module and a two-level cache. Technologically, these semiconductor solutions were produced at 90 nm (the CPU frequency range was limited to 1.6-2.2 GHz) and 65 nm (1.9-2.3 GHz). These chips had a very, very affordable price and an acceptable level of performance for solving office tasks, and it was for these two reasons that they could often be found in the budget PC segment.
• The mid-segment solutions included all Athlon 64 and Athlon 64 X2 CPUs. The level of performance in this case was ensured by an increase in the size of the cache memory, higher clock frequencies, and even the presence of 2 computing modules at once (processors with the X2 prefix).

• The most productive products on this platform were the Phenom family of chips. They could include 2, 3 or even 4 computing units. Also, the cache memory size has been significantly increased.
• Socket AM2 was aimed at creating entry-level servers. Opteron family processors could also be installed in it. They were available in 2 modifications: with 2 computing modules (based on the Athlon 64 X2 CPU and labeled 12XX) and with 4 cores (in this case, Phenom chips acted as a prototype, and such products were already designated 135X).

Chipsets for this platform

AMD AM2 processors could be used in combination with motherboards based on the following chipsets from AMD:

• The maximum level of functionality was provided by the 790FX. It allowed you to connect 4 video cards at once in 8X mode or 2 in 16X mode.
• The niche of mid-level products was occupied by 780E, 785E and 790X/GX. They allowed the installation of 2 graphics accelerators in 8X mode or 1 in 16X mode. Also, solutions based on the 790GX were equipped with a built-in Radeon 3100 video adapter.
• Even lower one step in terms of functionality were solutions based on the 785G, 785G/V and 770. They allowed the use of only 1 discrete graphics accelerator.

RAM and its controller

The AM2 socket was designed to install the newest DDR2 modules at that time. Processors, as noted earlier, received an additional 30% performance due to this important innovation. As with the 940, the RAM controller was integrated into the central processor. This engineering approach allows for increased performance with the RAM subsystem, but limits the number of types of RAM modules supported by the CPU.

The subsequent appearance of new modifications of the modules leads to the fact that the architecture of the RAM controller needs to be redesigned. It is for this reason that the intermediate solution AM2+ appeared between AM2 and AM3+. It did not have any fundamental differences from its predecessor, and the only difference was that support for DDR2-800 and DDR2-1066 RAM modules was added. In its pure form, AM2 could fully work with DDR2-400, DDR2-533 and DDR2-667. It is possible to install faster RAM modules in such a PC, but in this case their performance was automatically reduced to the DDR2-667 level, and there was no particular benefit from using faster RAM.

The current situation with this platform

Today Socket AM2 is completely obsolete. Processors and motherboards for this platform can still be found in new condition in warehouses. But it is not recommended to consider this socket as a basis even for assembling the most budget PC: the difference in price with the most affordable entry-level processor solutions of more recent sockets is insignificant, but the difference in terms of performance will be noticeable.

Therefore, such components can be used in cases where an AM2-based PC has failed and needs to be urgently restored at minimal cost.

Let's sum it up

A landmark in 2006 for the world of computer technology was the release of the AM2 CPU connector. In this case, the processors received a very significant increase in performance and made it possible to solve more complex problems. But now products based on this platform are outdated, and it is not recommended to consider them as the basis for assembling a new system unit.