![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Tuesday , October 09, 2001
- Author:
- Kyle Bennett
- Editor:
- Steve Lynch
- Google +1
AMD's AthlonXP 1800+ Review
The long wait is over and the CPU that many of us having been saving our pennies for is here and ready for action. How much action? Let's just say that if a CPU could make your Momma proud, this one just might be it.
For those of you who are not familiar with AMD CPUs of late, please allow us to get you up to speed very quickly. The AthlonXP is the next generation CPU from AMD. It is based on a new core technology that is known in Tech-head circles as the "Palomino". The Palomino core offers up some features not found in the Athlons of yesterday. We are first going to cover the physical chip itself, then take look inside to see what makes it tick.
The Outside:
Now don't gloss over the outside of the AthlonXP. It is going to have a lot to do with the inside; at least for OCers, DIYers, or Computer Enthusiasts.
The TBird we know and love is now dead and gone. Well, not really. Although the 1.33GHz and 1.4GHz parts are still in production, rest assured they will be disappearing from the landscape as soon as the AthlonXP (AXP) takes hold of the retail market. The AXP comes with a totally new look and feel. Gone are the days of ceramic CPUs. Welcome to the world of fiberglass and the Organic Pin Grid Array, or OPGA, for you guys in the know. We now have the OPGA for two reasons. The first is that it is cheaper than ceramic and the second deals with an issue of impedance. While this is not elaborated on by AMD anywhere I have read, we can give you a quick definition of "impedance" for those of you who care.
The apparent resistance in an electric circuit to the flow of an alternating current, analogous to the actual electrical resistance to a direct current, being the ratio of electromotive force to the current. It is equal to rootR^{2 + X^2}, where R = ohmic resistance, X = reactance. For an inductive circuit, X = 2[pi]fL, where f = frequency and L = self-inductance; for a circuit with capacity X = 1 [div] 2[pi]fC, where C = capacity.
Additionally, the capacitors can be moved to the bottom of the package allowing for better scaling with the OPGA.
Simply by looking at the CPU, you see that it is much different. First off, the biggest thing you will notice is the coloration of the substrate that the die is affixed to. It is now a pasty brown. When you pick up the new AXP you will feel a difference too, as the pasty brown plastic is now a material that would be most likened to a common Printed Circuit Board or "PCB".
You guys with a really sharp eye will see a difference that many of the unskilled will never notice. The die size is obviously different than it was on the TBird. Yes, the Palomino core takes up a bit more room, but it has the same finish we have been accustomed to. There is also a slight height difference due to the new packaging of the AXP. The new CPU sits slightly lower than the current ceramic based CPUs. While we don't think HSF seating will be a concern with current HSFs, you might want to spend an extra moment and make sure you have a solid mating surface when installing your HSF. Still, there are the padded feet to keep your heatsinks nice and level and they should compress to the proper height. As long as the HSF falls within the AMD approved guidelines, everything should be fine. Still need HSFs? Oh yeah.
If you are the curious type, you probably looked closely at the two shots above and saw something that does not look quite right about our 1.533GHz AthlonXP. Clearly someone has screwed up because right there on the die, laser engraved in front of Gawd and everybody, it reads "1800". No mistakes here, Bucky, just some slick marketing going on at AMD that will no doubt confuse the hell out of everyone involved. . .for a little while anyway. Here it is in a nutshell:
AthlonXP 1700+ = 1.47GHz
AthlonXP 1600+ = 1.4GHz
AthlonXP 1500+ = 1.33GHz
This is AMD's new rating system. The core logic here (pun intended) is that if they had built an 1.8GHz TBird chip, the AthlonXP at 1.533GHz would be equal in performance. I will sort of buy that, as it does at least have some logic to it.
The real reason for this is that the normal Joe Sixpack type guy that does not know Ben Gay from Artic Silver is walking into Best Buy and looking at the shelf and thinking to himself, "Hmmm, Intel at 2GHz or AMD at 1.4GHz? Intel has to be faster!" This rating system is nothing more than a marketing tool aimed at the uneducated consumer. Many of you have gone nuts over this as if it is the end of the world. As soon as everyone on the Enthusiast side figures out the rules it will be nothing more than a worthless label to us. As a side note, we have it from a good source that this rating system will extend to all Athlon lines of CPUs.
Now with all that said, even with these huge differences, AMD has stuck to some promises they made to us verbally last year when we met with them at Comdex.
The first joyous note is that the package, albeit a lot different, is still based on the socket we have all come to know and love, the Socket A or Socket 462. Now what this means is that it will very likely fit into your current Socket A motherboard. Unlike the Tualatin, not only will it fit into the legacy socket of your motherboard, there is a very good possibility that it might actually work! Yes, many boards already out there are ready for the AXP. Some, sadly, will not work, but others will simply need a BIOS update in order for it to be on its way to a "drop-in upgrade".
Also, with the form factor staying pretty much the same, that means that your HeatSink and Fan (HSF) unit may very likely be up to the task of cooling an AXP. I would venture to say that if you are running a 1.1GHz or faster Athlon, you might already have acceptable cooling in place. We will find out more about this as we get more experience with the CPU.
Lastly, there is the issue of the traces on the face of the CPU. AMD committed to not removing these trace bridges from our grasp. If you do not know, these bridges can be used to "unlock" the CPU's multiplier. Here is a great page with tons on information on this. We will be following up with a full article on OCing the AXP here next week. Still, these have changed and the days of "penciling" your CPU are pretty much over. Why? Because now instead of the traces being cut with a single pass of the laser, they are being cut to the point that the entire trace between the two contact points is gone.
Now don't get all upset, because as AMD promised, the traces are still there and very accessible. However, in order to close the L1 bridges to unlock the multiplier you will now need to use some other sort of conductive method that has the ability to span the wide gap that exists on the AXP, and odds are simple pencil lead will not do the job very well. There are a couple of solutions that easily come to mind. First, a trace pen should work well if you have a steady hand. Also, trace tapes, such as the ones Plycon started importing, might also work well in this scenario. We are just simply going to have to play around a bit more before we know for sure.
Now some bad news, but this has not been confirmed yet. The gentlemen that worked so hard on the above mentioned trace bridge analysis (Thanks JOHN CARCICH) did note that boards that altered the multiplier using jumpers would no longer work in that capacity with the AXP. To what extent their testing covered jumpered boards is unknown, and the fact that jumpered boards would not allow you adjust the multiplier is a bit suspect. However, they added in our mails that motherboards that have the SoftMenu feature, such as the ABIT KG7, are still able to change the multiplier at will. Again, we will know more about this soon, and I would not consider this a fact at this time.
Lastly, on the outside there will be a price tag. This is what AMD is telling us the pricing will be in lots of 1000 parts this morning.
AthlonXP 1700+ (1.47GHz) - US$190
AthlonXP 1600+ (1.4GHz) - US$160
AthlonXP 1500+ (1.33GHz) -US$130