AMD announced its entry into the 65-nm manufacturing generation Tuesday with a new line of 65-watt "energy-efficient" processors that the company claimed already consumes just under 50 percent less power than the Intel Core 2 Duo.
AMD's novel argument provided a backdrop for four new chips – the AMD Athlon 64 X2 4000+, 4400+, 4800+, and 5000+ – will be sold for the same price as their older counterparts, which were fabricated on the 90-nm process. The Athlon 64 X2 line will receive the 65-nm conversion treatment first, which will be completed by the first quarter of 2007 in its Fab 36 in Dresden.
AMD's notebook and server processor lines will receive the same 65-nm treatment, which will be completed some time in 2007, according to Jack Huynh, responsible for marketing and business development at AMD's desktop division. AMD's standard Athlon 64 and Sempron lines will lag the X2's conversion, as they are not "mainstream" parts, Huynh said.
Shifting to a finer manufacturing process means less power and waste heat is needed to run at a given speed. In desktops, that means that the chip can be clocked faster while still maintaining the given power; in notebooks, the overall power consumption can be reduced while still maintaining a given speed. AMD's energy-efficient chips split that difference, offering power savings and a quieter desktop PC environment.
"With the Vista rollout, it's more and more important to multitask and multicore without a super loud box -- that's the end goal," Huynh said.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2068304,00.asp
AMD New Chips Consume Half the Power of Core 2 Duo
Re: AMD New Chips Consume Half the Power of Core 2 Duo
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