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By,
Marco Chiappetta
January 6, 2004
AMD
closed out 2003 by quietly releasing the Athlon 64 3000+.
The 3000+ was clocked at the same 2.0GHz as the Athlon 64
3200+, and it used the same 754 pin socket, but it
featured 512K of L1 cache, only half that of the 3200+.
Its performance, however, was only slightly behind that of
the 3200+, and it was priced much more affordably at
around $200 U.S. The 3000+ is exactly the type of
CPU mainstream buyers gobble up in droves, but this almost
low profile launch was rather unusual, with all the
fan-fare being made about the new core in general.
AMD and Intel have been playing a perpetual game of
one-upmanship for the past few years, as each company
tries to outdo the other with each new CPU release.
The Athlon 64 3000+ wasn't meant to compete with Intel at
the high-end of the market though. The processor
we'll be looking at today, however, can possibly compete
with Intel's best, dollar for dollar.
Only a few
weeks after the introduction of the 3000+, AMD is now
officially unveiling the Athlon 64 3400+. This new
CPU is similar to the 3200+, but it is clocked at 2.2GHz,
matching the clock speed of AMD's flagship FX-51
processor. We took a look at
the Athlon 64 FX-51 back in September, and were quite
impressed with its performance and the new features that
it brought to the table. If you're not up to speed
on all of the enhancements associated with the relative
new Athlon 64 architecture, we'd suggest taking a gander
at
our FX-51 launch article, there's a lot of information
there. Architecturally speaking, the new Athlon 64
3400+ is very similar to the FX-51, with the only
different being their respective memory interfaces.
The Athlon 64 FX-51 has a 128-bit memory interface, while
the 3400+ has a 64-bit interface. The same
HyperTransport link, 1MB of L2 cache and integrated memory
controller are all there, however. On paper, the
Athlon 64 3400+ has the makings of a speedy and
significantly more affordable CPU. What do you say
we plug it in and take her for spin? We though you'd
like that...
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Specifications of the AMD Athlon 64 3400+
Processor |
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Increased Core Clock Speed |
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Specifications /
Features from
AMD.COM
The
AMD64 core provides leading-edge 32-bit performance
and support for future 64-bit applications
- AMD64 technology
provides full speed support for x86 code base for
uncompromising 32-bit performance, with readiness
for 64-bit applications
- 40-bit physical
addresses, 48-bit virtual addresses
- Eight new (sixteen
total) 64-bit integer registers
- Eight new (sixteen
total) 128-bit SSE/SSE2 registers
- Including support
for 3DNow!? Professional technology and SSE2
A
high-bandwidth, low-latency integrated DDR memory
controller
- Supports PC3200,
PC2700, PC2100 or PC1600 DDR SDRAM
- Unbuffered DIMMs
- 72-bit DDR SDRAM
memory (64-bit interface + 8-bit ECC)
- Up to 3.2 GB/s
memory bandwidth
- ECC protection
enables increased system reliability
HyperTransport technology for high speed I/O
communication
- One 16-bit link up
to 1600MHz
- Up to 6.4GB/s
HyperTransport I/O bandwidth
- Up to 9.6GB/s total
delivered processor-to-system bandwidth
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Large
high performance on-chip cache
- 64KB Level 1
instruction cache
- 64KB Level 1 data
cache
- Up to 1MB Level 2
cache
- Improved branch
prediction for greater accuracy in anticipating
instruction calls
- Enhanced TLB
structures for better memory management of complex
workloads
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THE DIE |
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THE
ATHLON 64 |
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MORE
ATHLON 64 |
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PROCESSOR
COMPARISON |
The
specifications listed above don't reveal anything we
haven't seen before. The Athlon 64 3400+ is equipped
with the same 1MB of L2 cache, has the same integrated
memory controller, the same HyperTransport link and the
same die size as the 3200+. It's not until you get
to the bottom of the list above, and see two additional
operating frequencies, at different power states, that we
observe something new. With the 3400+ AMD is
bringing their "Cool'n'Quiet" technology to the a desktop
CPU. This is the same technology that allows AMD
mobile processors to run only as fast, and to draw only as
much power as is needed, for any given task. As the
name implies, the result is a cooler running and quieter
system, because the system's fans can spin slower, which
in turn consume less power. In order to take advantage of
this CPU feature, you must have a motherboard that has
been designed to support the Cool'n'Quiet technology.
We've already begun to see some vendors add the feature
their BIOS options (see
here), and suspect others will be adding it as well in
the near future.
Physically,
the Athlon 64 3400+ looks identical to the 3200+ that
preceded it. It uses the same organic packaging, and
has the same large integrated heat spreader. When
placed side by side with a Pentium 4 though, the Athlon 64
3400+ is quite a bit larger. A quick look at the
underside of the CPUs reveals the much "busier" 754 pin
package, as opposed to the 478 pins found on the P4.
The stock cooler AMD provided with the 3400+ also deserves
some attention. The heatsink, which is built by
Ajigo, has a thick copper base, with thin Aluminum
fins covering its entire surface. We found the
heatsink to work quite well. It kept our CPU running
in the mid 40°C range while gaming at default clock
speeds.
More Processor Info & Overclocking |
