We really cant fault AMD for their activity of late, they’ve been hard at work refining the Athlon64 core with the release of Venice which provided improved memory performance and the availability of more settings on the memory configuration side of things. In addition to this they also released the X2 range of CPU’s recently which are without doubt the best performing dual core desktop CPU’s on the market. There’s nothing wrong though with increasing the speed and specifications of your current single core performance brand and that’s why we’re here today. AMD’s launch of the Athlon64 FX-57.

The FX-57

The FX-57 uses AMD’s new San Diego core which uses a 0.09 micron process. The San Diego core also allows AMD to use low core voltages and less heat than older cores whilst maintaining some very high clockspeeds. Operating at 1.4v the FX57 is clocked at 2.8ghz (200mhz more than the FX-55). This is achieved by running the core on a 14x multiplier.

The Chip of course supports all the latest technology such as SSE3 and is as always 64 bit enabled. This chip has 64kb of L1 cache and 1mb of level 2 cache.

The chip itself looks like any other Athlon64 and uses socket 939, and interestingly the chip has the same thermal requirements as the FX55 (which by the way will continue to be produced by AMD, as will the 4000+) so your existing heatsinks/coolers will work just fine on the FX-57. Additionally the FX-57 should work on all existing socket939 motherboards though some will require a bios update.

Here’s the detailed specs of the CPU:

AMD ATHLON 64 FX-57 PROCESSOR TECH SPECS:
Frequency: 2.8GHz
Cache Sizes: 64KB L1 Data + 64KB L1 Instruction Cache / 1MB L2 Cache (Exclusive)
CPU to MC: 2.8GHz
Memory Controller: Integrated 128-bit wide memory controller
Supported Memory: PC1600, PC2100, PC2700 and PC3200 DDR memory
HyperTransport Links: 1
HyperTransport Spec: 2GHz (2x 1000MHz / DDR)
Effective data bandwidth: 14.4 GB/sec [8GB/sec x1 HyperTransport link + 6.4GB/sec memory bandwidth]
Packaging: 939-pin organic micro-PGA
Fab location: AMD's Fab 30 wafer fabrication facility in Dresden, Germany
Process Technology: 90nm (.09-micron) Silicon on Insulator (SOI)
Approx. Transistor count: 114 million
Approx. Die Size: 115 mm2
Nominal Voltage: 1.35-1.40V
Max Thermal Power: 104 W
Max Icc (processor current): 74.9A
Max Ambient Case Temp: 49-63 degrees Celsius

Before we get on to the performance figures for the CPU there was a note included with the FX57 info in which AMD mentioned that there still seems to be a bit of confusion regarding the terms FSB and HTT. To help clear this up we want to include some of that information to help make sure all of you reading fully understand AMD’s products.

DIRECT CONNECT ARCHITECTURE ("FSB" DOES NOT APPLY):
…Some readers have been confused and do not understand that AMD has replaced the old FSB bus technology with what we call Direct Connect Architecture. First, the CPU-to-chipset connection is replaced with a full-duplex (send and receive at same time) 2GHz HyperTransport Link. Some journalists have referred to that HyperTransport link as a "front-side bus," but it is not. The old FSB architecture had memory and all other CPU traffic going from processor to chipset on a particular type of bus. Memory calls are now handled on the die of the processor between the processor and the memory controller. Some have referred to that as the "front-side bus," but again... it is not. That is the CPU to MC speed. The term front-side bus simply doesn't apply because that style architecture and bus technology is not used… …Each K8 motherboard has a 200MHz clock generator that feeds every other signal on the motherboard, but no data passed at this level. It is simply the feed signal which generates all other motherboard signals.”

And finally the all important pricing details for the AMD FX range:

AMD Athlon 64 FX-57 processor $1,031 each (PIB / 1KU pricing)
AMD Athlon 64 FX-55 processor $827 each (PIB / 1KU pricing)

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