AMD Athlon XP Processor Info:

 

AMD Athlon XP Naming Convention

  • Athlon XP 2800+ = 2.25 GHz*
  • Athlon XP 2700+ = 2.16 GHz*
  • Athlon XP 2600+ = 2.13 GHz*
  • Athlon XP 2400+ = 2.00 GHz
  • Athlon XP 2200+ = 1.80 GHz
  • Athlon XP 2100+ = 1.73 GHz
  • Athlon XP 2000+ = 1.67 GHz
  • Athlon XP 1900+ = 1.60 GHz
  • Athlon XP 1800+ = 1.53 GHz
  • Athlon XP 1700+ = 1.47 GHz
  • Athlon XP 1600+ = 1.40 GHz
  • Athlon XP 1500+ = 1.33 GHz

According to AMD, the four Athlon XP processors will have model numbers which represent their relative performance when factoring in overall system performance. For example, the new Athlon XP 1500+ chip will run at 1.33GHz., the 1600+ will run at 1.4GHz, the 1700+ will run at 1.47GHz chip, the 1800+ will run at 1.53GHz, and the 2000+ will run at 1.67GHz.

The Athlon XP is the desktop version of the new Palomino core and is identical to the Athlon 4 mobile and Althon MP multi-processors.  The new Athlon uses AMD's new organic packaging, which is significant for several reasons.  First it allows for cost savings versus the ceramic packaging.  Secondly it allows for better heat dissipation than the ceramic materials.  The organic material is also much lighter than the ceramic.  The core of the XP itself has 1800 and not 1.53GHz as the speed marking.

Below is a chart with a quick comparison of the Palomino to Thunderbird features of the CPU.  The major performance enhancements of the Palomino core are the data prefetch and SSE instructions that have been added.  The CPU also lowers power consumption 20% and adds half a million transistors thanks to these new features and 52 new 3DNow! instructions.  The process remains at .18µ.

  Athlon (Thunderbird) Athlon XP (Palomino)
CPU Interface Socket A Socket A
Fabrication Process .18µ .18µ
Number of Transistors 37 million 37.5 million
Die Size 120mm˛ 128mm˛
Relative Power Consumption -- 20% reduction
3DNow! Version Enhanced 3DNow! 3DNow! Professional
Onboard Cache  384k 384k with data prefetch

The main changes with the release of the XP is purely marketing.  While the Athlon XP is named 1800+ the actual frequency is 1.53GHz.  AMD has chosen to go with a MHz rating in the hopes to educate the public that processor power is more than just raw MHz.  They now determine performance by instructions per cycle times MHz or IPCxMHz=Performance.  The Athlon performs more instructions per clock cycle than the Pentium 4 so they hope that this can be conveyed to the general public which may otherwise make their buying decisions based purely on raw clock speed.  This rating system is quite controversial, and AMD has revived the old MHz Myth argument once again.

AMD calls this 'new architecture' QuantiSpeed.  QuantiSpeed Architecture is described as delivering a quantum leap in performance, having 9 issue fully pipelined superscalar architecture, a superscalar fully pipelined FPU, hardware data prefetch, and translation look aside buffers.  As we have seen in the past the Palomino core of the XP gives a substantial boost in performance thanks to data prefetch and SSE.  But the real issue becomes whether the public will buy into the performance rating and the other marketing related items like the QuantiSpeed architecture and the MHz myth.

* FSB 166MHz
* FSB 133Mhz or 166Mhz available in both speeds