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AMD's 3GHz Athlon 64-FX 'due Q1 2006'

New Semprons, Opterons, Athlons coming this quarter

Roadmap AMD will upgrade its Athlon 64 X2 and 64-FX processor lines early next year - potentially the chips' final Socket 939 incarnations before the company debuts its M2 interconnect in Q2 2006.

The FX-59, clocked to 3GHz, will ship in Q1 2006. So will a 2.6GHz dual-core Athlon X2, possibly with a 5000+ rating, according to AMD roadmaps seen by AnandTech. The two chips are derived from AMD's 'San Diego' and 'Toledo' cores, respectively.

The first Socket M2 parts will use two cores, 'Windsor' and 'Orleans' - the former is the dual-core version, the latter will be used for single-core products. The new interconnect is all about adding support for DDR 2 memory, which the new chips' integrated memory controller will cater for. They will also support 'Pacifica', AMD's answer to Intel's Virtualisation Technology, and 'Presidio', the chip maker's upcoming security system, which, again, will be pitched against Intel's 'LaGrande' security technology.

The roadmap points to Athlon 64s clocked at 2.2 and 2.4GHz, with either 512KB or 1MB of on-board L2 cache, yielding model numbers 3500+, 3800+ and 4000+. That suggests AMD will simply replace today's Athlon 64 processors with the new, DDR 2-supporting version.

Two M2-based X2s are listed: the 4800+ and the 5000+, clocked at 2.4GHz and 2.6GHz, respectively.

The desktop Sempron line-up will be updated sooner - sometime in Q3 this year, according to the roadmap - but won't make the shift to Socket M2 before Q3 2006 at the earliest.

The current quarter should see the arrival of Sempron 3400+ chips in both Socket 939 and Socket 754 varieties, along with core updates to the existing non-Socket A Semprons. The upshot will be a line of Semprons in Socket 754 and Socket 939 forms, offering either 128KB or 256KB of L2 cache, and clocked at 1.8GHz to 2.0GHz. The new core will bring 64-bit processing to the entire desktop Sempron range.

Q1 2006 should see the arrival of Sempron 3500+ and 3600+ parts, clocked at 2GHz (with 256KB L2) and 2.2GHz (128KB L2), respectively. The following quarter, expect to see 2.2GHz, 256KB L2 Sempron 3700+ parts with Socket 754 and Socket 939 interconnects.

Beyond that, 'Manila' will bring M2 to the Sempron line, Anandtech says, albeit without Presidio and Pacifica support.

On the mobile side, AMD will this quarter shift its low-power Semprons to its 'Roma' core, which will debut as the 3300+, clocked at 2GHz with 128KB of L2 - a 256KB version will ship Q1 2006 as the 3400+. Roma versions of existing low-power Semprons will also ship this quarter, the roadmap indicates.

'Albany', the standard-voltage equivalent of Roma, will appear in mobile Semprons this quarter too, as the 3300+ and 3400+, with 128KB and 256KB of L2, respectively, but the same clock speed, 2GHz. Expect a current-generation Mobile Sempron 3300+ to ship first, though, before AMD migrates to Albany, which will reach down to the 3000+ and 3100+ parts.

The roadmap indicates a 2.6GHz Mobile Athlon 64 4000+ will ship later this quarter, as will further ML- and MT-class Turion mobile processors. Expect MT-37 and MT-40, along with ML-40 and ML-42 parts this quarter, with the ML-44 following in Q4. The MT-42 will debut in Q1 2006. Later next year, AMD will offer dual-core Turions based on the upcoming 'Taylor' core.

On the server side, there's nothing on the horizon other than the Opteron 154, 254 and 854, all clocked at 2.8GHz, and due sometime this quarter. ®

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