AMD's new AM2 platform launched

Want to talk about one of the articles in SPCR? Here's the forum for you.
QuietOC
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Post by QuietOC » Thu May 25, 2006 10:21 am

rpsgc wrote:You do notice that that chart shows the new nVIDIA SLI X16 chipset consuming LESS power than the current one?
Yes, apples and oranges. I was talking about socket differences not chipset differences.

The different chipsets have nothing to do with the difference between AM2 and S939 platforms. All K8 chipsets connect to the CPU using the same HT interface--an interface that hasn't changed since the first Socket 940 chips (other than adding higher multipliers).

Maybe you were thinking of Intel chipsets?

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Post by smilingcrow » Thu May 25, 2006 11:01 am

QuietOC wrote:Yes, apples and oranges. I was talking about socket differences not chipset differences.
The different chipsets have nothing to do with the difference between AM2 and S939 platforms. All K8 chipsets connect to the CPU using the same HT interface--an interface that hasn't changed since the first Socket 940 chips (other than adding higher multipliers).
QuietOC, where did you get the graph that showed the different power consumption figures from?

I don’t follow the above at all! The platform changes between S939 & AM2 that affect power consumption in my understanding will potentially be:

CPU – 939 v AM2
RAM – DDR v DDR2
Motherboard – chipsets, VRM & peripherals (SATA controllers, Audio chips etc)

It’s certainly possible to create two motherboards for both platforms with the same chipsets, VRM & peripherals – is that what you mean? Are the motherboards in the graph that you included using identical chipsets etc?

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Post by Engine » Thu May 25, 2006 4:12 pm

smilingcrow wrote:QuietOC, where did you get the graph that showed the different power consumption figures from?
I believe that's the one Tech Reports put out this week. I do recall getting there from hardocp.com, if that helps, when I saw it on AM2-day.

I just want to inject the proper note of awe: a 35 watt 3800+. That's just...neat.

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Post by QuietOC » Thu May 25, 2006 6:42 pm

smilingcrow wrote:It’s certainly possible to create two motherboards for both platforms with the same chipsets, VRM & peripherals – is that what you mean? Are the motherboards in the graph that you included using identical chipsets etc?
Opps, the graph was from TechReport.

Yes, the two Xpress 3200's. One on a AM2 motherboard and the other on a S939. I believe the S939 has a ULI southbridge chip while the AM2 one has a ATI SB600, but southbridges are not power hungry.

Before the K8's integrated memory controller a motherboard chipset defined a CPU platform. Really a K8 is a platform all by itself and the motherboard chipset acts more like generic southbridges--they all connect the same way to any K8 whatever socket. The K8 acts like the traditional northbridge, since it has the job of intefacing with the memory.

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Post by smilingcrow » Fri May 26, 2006 10:27 am

Thanks for the link QuietOC. I see where you are coming from now with regard K8 chipsets. I took a look at the article and something doesn’t add up for me with their figures:

Comparison of AM2 & S939 system power consumption from Techreport. The values below are in Watts and are for AM2 power consumption – S939 power consumption. i.e. + means AM2 consumed more power, - means AM2 consumed less power. Note: Idle is with CnQ disabled.

ATI CnQ +5.1 Idle +14.4 Load +15
nVidia CnQ -5.4 Idle -25.1 Load +6

The differences at idle when disabling CnQ are puzzling: with ATI, AM2 consumes an extra 14.4W, with nVidia, AM2 consumes 25.1W less. To quote Techreport:

‘Keep in mind that because our AM2 platforms are using an underclocked Athlon 64 FX-62, their power consumption results aren't directly comparable to our Socket 939 platforms.’

Whatever the reason these figures don’t add up for me. The power differences under load seem less remarkable, as VRM efficiency and motherboard differences could easily produce those values.

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Post by REMF » Sat May 27, 2006 4:56 am

tay wrote:*sigh*
Nforce 5 series is interesting, but it runs hotter than the ATI chipset. Wonder if the new to nforce5 features work stably.

The chips are boring other than the low power ones. Intel's choice to leave the MC off chip now seems well advised. All this hoopla about merely changing the memory controller *meh*.

So when is conroe out anyway? 2 weeks?
remember that the chipset tested was the 590-SLI which is a combo of the 0.9u 570-SLI chip and a custom chip on an old 0.13u process which is basically another 16 PCI-E lanes, 6 more SATA2 ports, and a Hypertransport link.

I don't think there will be much similarity between the 590 combo and the straight 570 chip.

On Topic: bring on the 35W 3800+ X2 cos it will look ace in a LC-19 case!

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