Barton's Here: Athlon XP 3000+ vs. P4 3.06 GHz

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Say No To Thermal Death

About a year and a half ago, THG's article, Hot Spot: How Modern Processors Cope With Heat Emergencies , kicked up quite a furor in the industry. A first for us, the test was accompanied by a video for downloading. It showed the violent reaction of an AMD Athlon with a Palomino core - and a thermal diode - when the CPU cooler failed during ongoing operations.

AMD found itself in the hot seat, while the THG crew met with engineers from the manufacturers (AMD and Siemens) numerous times. A few weeks later, AMD presented a circuit logic that abruptly shuts off the power supply once the die temperature exceeds some 85 degrees Celsius.

For protection to be perfect, the CPU temperature measured by the thermal diode is checked in very short intervals to ensure that the power supply is cut off fast enough. Now all motherboard manufacturers have a new AMD Thermal Guide.

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With hotter CPUs, and more components draining bigger power supplies, you just have to say no to thermal death, and make it a priority to keep your system cool, overclock freak or everyday power user.

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Manufacturer AMD AMD AMD AMD AMD
Processor Athlon XPw/Barton Core Athlon XPw/Thoroughbred "B" Core Athlon XPw/Thoroughbred Core "A" Core Athlon XPw/Palomino Core Athlonw/Thunderbird Core
Introduction March 10, 2003 Q3, 2002 Q2, 2002 Q4, 1999 Q4, 1999
Clock Frequencies 2.16 - 2.xx GHz 1.86 - 2.66 GHz 1.46 - 1.80 GHz 1.2 - 1.80 GHz 0.65 - 1.40 GHz
Manufacturing Process 0.13 µm 0.13 µm 0.13 µm 0.18 µm 0.18 µm
Die size 101 mm² 84 mm² 80 mm² 128 mm² 128 mm²
Number of Gates 54.3 Million 37.5 Million 37.5 Million 37.5 Million 37.5 Million
Platform Socket 462 Socket 462 Socket 462 Socket 462 Socket 462
CPU Bus Clock (Front Side Bus) 166 MHz/ 333 MHz DDR 133/166 MHz266/333 MHz DDR 133 MHz/ 266 MHz DDR 133 MHz/ 266 MHz DDR 100/133 MHz266 MHz DDR
L1 Execution Cache Size 64 kB 64 kB 64 kB 64 kB 64 kB
Execution Pre Decode? no no no no no
L1 Data Cache Size 64 kB 64 kB 64 kB 64 kB 64 kB
Hardware Data Prefetch yes yes yes yes yes
L1 Cache Clock core clock core clock core clock core clock core clock
L1 Data Cache Bus Width 64 bit 64 bit 64 bit 64 bit 64 bit
L2 Cache Size 512 kB 256 kB 256 kB 256 kB 256 kB
L2 Cache Clock core clock core clock core clock core clock core clock
L2 Cache Addressable Range 64 GB 64 GB 64 GB 64 GB 64 GB
Processor Data Bus Width 64 bit 64 bit 64 bit 64 bit 64 bit
Chipsets VIA KT333 to KT400 VIA KT333 to KT400 VIA KT133A to KT400 VIA KT133 to KT400 VIA KT133 to KT400
SiS 735 and SiS 745 SiS 735 and SiS 745 SiS 735 and SiS 745 SiS 735 and SiS 745 SiS 735 and SiS 745
Row 20 - Cell 0 Row 20 - Cell 1 ALi Magik 1 ALi Magik 1 ALi Magik 1
Nvidia nForce, nForce 2 Nvidia nForce, nForce 2 Nvidia nForce, nForce 2 Nvidia nForce, nForce 2 Nvidia nForce, nForce 2
AMD 750 and 760 AMD 750 and 760 AMD 750 and 760 AMD 750 and 760 AMD 750 and 760
Memory Support
Type of Memory DDR-SDRAM SDRAM, DDR-SDRAM SDRAM, DDR-SDRAM SDRAM, DDR-SDRAM SDRAM, DDR-SDRAM
Memory Clock 133/ 166/ 200 MHz 100/ 133/ 166/ 200 MHz 100/ 133/ 166/ 200 MHz 100/ 133/ 166 MHz 100/ 133/ 166 MHz
Instruction Extensions
MMX yes yes yes yes yes
Enhanced 3DNow! yes yes yes yes yes
3DNow! Professional yes yes yes yes yes
SSE yes yes yes yes yes
SSE2 no no no no no
Electrical Specifications
SMP-Support no ('not officially endorsed or supported') no ('not officially endorsed or supported') no ('not officially endorsed or supported') no ('not officially endorsed or supported') no ('not officially endorsed or supported')
Core Voltage 1.65 Volt 1.65 Volt 1.65 Volt 1.75 Volt 1.75 Volt
Thermal Protection (Thermal Diode) yes yes yes yes yes
Integrated Thermal Protection Logic no, requires logic on motherboard no, requires logic on motherboard no, requires logic on motherboard no, requires logic on motherboard no, requires logic on motherboard