K7/Athlon: A Killer
In 1999, AMD released its seventh-generation processor, the K7, later renamed Athlon. This chip did away with the drawbacks of earlier models and finally had an FPU worthy of the name—in fact, it was even better than Intel’s. The Athlon was the fastest x86 processor and had many strong points, including a fast FSB—the EV6, used in the first Alpha processors—and high performance numbers. The only real problem came not from the processor but from the chipsets: neither the AMD nor Via models could compete with Intel’s chipsets (like the famous 440BX). The K7 used Slot A (competing with Intel’s Slot 1) and had a Level 2 cache with a variable divider (1/2, 2/5 or 1/3).
| Code name | Argon (K7) | Pluto, Orion (K75) |
| Date released | 1999 | 1999 |
| Architecture | 32-bits | 32-bits |
| Data bus | 64-bits | 64-bits |
| Address bus | 32-bits | 32-bits |
| Maximum memory | 4,096 MB | 4,096 MB |
| L1 cache | 64 KB + 64 KB | 64 KB + 64 KB |
| L2 cache | Slot A (1/2 CPU) | Slot A (1/2, 2/5 or 1/3 CPU) |
| Clock frequency | 500-700 MHz | 550-1000 MHz |
| FSB | 100 MHz (DDR) | 100 MHz (DDR) |
| FPU | built-in | built-in |
| SIMD | MMX, Enhanced 3DNow! | MMX, Enhanced 3DNow! |
| Fabrication process | 250 nm | 180 nm |
| Number of transistors | 22 million | 22 million |
| Power consumption | 42-50 W | 31-65 W |
| Voltage | 1.6 V | 1.6–1.8 V |
| Die surface area | 184 mm² | 102 mm² |
| Connector | Slot A | Slot A |
Just as a side note, it was AMD who was the first to announce (and market) a 1 GHz processor with the Athlon (two days before Intel’s 1 GHz Pentium III).