AMD's "Black Box" Athlon 64 X2 6400+

MojoKid writes "Rumors of a new high-end AMD Athlon 64 X2 chip circulated in July, but availability and specifics of the chip were unconfirmed at the time. Now AMD has officially taken the wraps off their new Athlon 64 X2 6400+, a 3.2GHz dual-core chipset to compete with Intel's Core 2 E6750 and E6850 series. HotHardware notes that the new 6400+ is still built on AMD's 90nm fab process and has a single 2-GHz HyperTransport link and 2 MB of on-chip L2 cache (1 MB per core), just like its predecessor the 6000+. The new processor is said to be a 'channel only' offering and will retail at $239 or so, in a black retail box (picture here) without a heatsink."

Comments

Max thermal power = 125 W

[TeknoHog]

I for one don't welcome our new global warming overlords.

Re:Max thermal power = 125 W

[Dan Ost]

Even if the max thermal power is high, there might still be energy savings if the idle power consumption is low and/or if the processor can do more computing per Watt than the CPU it's displacing.

Re:Max thermal power = 125 W

[Calinous]

The increase in frequency comes with a bigger increase in power consumption - and the increase in performance is not linear with the increase in frequency.
      As for low idle power, why this would have lower idle power than a similar, lower rating (5000+ let's say) processor?

      This is not for the power efficient minded persons, but for bragging rights.

Aint Much of a Deal

[ExE122]

Here's how some of the specs and prices (Intels from Pricewatch) compare:

E6750:
2.66Ghz
1.30V 4MB L2
1.33Ghz FSB
~$225


E6850:
3.00Ghz
1.35V 4MB L2
1.33Ghz FSB
~$300


6400+:
3.20Ghz
1.35V 2MB L2
2.00Ghz HT
~$240


From what I've read, the E6750 actually outperforms the E6850 since it ran cooler and with less power. So it doesn't look like AMD has a whole lot to offer given the price. Not to mention it doesn't come with a heatsink and fan, something you'd probably have to dish out another $20-50 for.

Re:Aint Much of a Deal

[overkordbaever]

But who does actually use the boxed coolers? Well, maybe those who run semperons or similar but I do hardly believe that those who are buying that kind of processor will use the boxed cooler.

Re:Aint Much of a Deal

[Calinous]

If you need FB RAM for Intel, then on AMD's side you need Opteron, not Athlon.
      Fully Buffered DIMMs are only on the server platform (Xeon), not on consumer platform (Pentium/Core2Duo).

Re:Aint Much of a Deal

[michrech]

I was using the OEM cooler that came with my x2 5000+, until the fan died. Then I went out and purchased a CoolerMaster OEM style HSF to replace it (only difference was it had an 80mm fan installed instead of the 60 the OEM came with). It was $18 from a local computer store.

Keeps the CPU somewhere in the 30-45C range, and can barely be heard (the rest of the fans (all two of them!) are 120mm, and quite quiet. There is a variable speed 120mm fan in my PS as well (Thermaltake Modular 500w).

I think people who go out and buy gigantic, noisy-assed, obnoxious HSF's are just wasting their money.

But who does actually use the boxed coolers? Well, maybe those who run semperons or similar but I do hardly believe that those who are buying that kind of processor will use the boxed cooler.

Geez ... only 125W TDP?

[tomstdenis]

What a bargain! Why didn't they just wait till 65nm? The same chip would probably fit in the 90W or less envelope at that size.

Personally, I'm happy with my E6600, which bangs along just fine at 2.4GHz and can easily outperform any Athlon at a similar speed [or at least match it].

Tom

Re:Geez ... only 125W TDP?

[Slaimus]

AMD does not make 2x1MB cache 65nm chips, so the Opterons and higher end X2s are all 90nm.

The "Bright" Model

[DigiShaman]

Everyone knows that all the 3l337 users are holding out for AMD/Intel offerings that feature flashing LEDs!

BlackBox edition....phuuullease

Taken the wraps off?

[Barny]

Wtf? These have been available for about a week.... in Australia.

Maybe America is getting behind the times?

Re:Taken the wraps off?

[ExE122]

Yeah, we like to test our products on Australians to make sure they're not harmful to Americans =P.

Seriously though, America always is behind in technology because there's a lot more red tape, restrictions, and beurocracy involved in American patents. I'm guessing 85% of it is so American lawyers and businessmen can get richer... the other 15% may indeed be for liability.

But if you really wanna see just how behind on the times we are, check out the cell phone technology in Japan or Singapore. I guess they don't have the Verizonopoly over there... They've had a wider range of way cooler phones for as long as I can remember. You usually don't see any of their newest features hit the American markets until at least 6 months later...

I guess that's also the case with computer processors.

Re:Taken the wraps off?

[Hoi Polloi]

Supposedly the real reason isn't some conspiracy of lawyers and evil bureaucrats but that Americans aren't as eager to jump on the latest and greatest as they are in parts of Asia. Dense countries like Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan have a more flexible mom & pop system of small electronics stores and a population that is eager to dump the device they have for the flavor of the month. In the US you have much larger and less flexible chains that prefer products with proven potential and a population that prefers low prices over technical innovation so we hold onto them longer. Bleeding edge enthusiasts may dispute this (they are overrepresented on slashdot) but the population in general in the US follows this trend.

According to this article other reasons include our not using GSM as a standard system, our fragmented carrier market, and our low demand for text messaging and other functions that we can already do on PCs (i.e. web browse).

will NOT retail for $239

[Lumpy]

$239 is at 1000 or more quantity. so it's wholesale pricing.

Newegg will probably retail it at $350 to $390 IF they buy a thousand of them. Most companies dont want to stock that much of a processor as the price drops so fat you are stuck with overpriced stock on hand.

Actually...

[Chineseyes]

I was holding out for a version that comes with interchangeable heatsink attachments.


A Hibachi Heatsink attachment for frying up some pork fried rice in the evenings.
A Space heater attachment as a fireplace replacement on those cold winter nights.
A blow dryer/curler attachment for the modern day multi tasking lady who needs to look sexy and code at the same time.
A heating pad attachment for the elderly developer whose bad back needs comfort after years of poor seating posture in WoW.....coding sessions.

Re:Am I the only one?

[Nick of NSTime]

The Ramones Edition is really fast, but it can only process three instructions over and over.

About stocking things

[Shohat]

I haven't dealt with processors, but I used to own an office supplies/electronics business, and ANYTHING I didn't sell, I simply notified the supplier, and got a full refund, either in merchandise or money (wire/cheque).
Same goes for most products for a restaurant I used to run. We would buy a lot of milk, and if we had any milk go bad due to low latte sales, we would get a full refund for any milk we didn't use, they would just take the bad milk back. I know this is not the case when dealing imported goods, but not all chips are imported, so maybe some merchants do get compensated for overstocking.