AMD Mobile Processors
| AMD has had a series of mobile processors, including several mobile versions of the K6, as well as the Mobile Athlon 4, Mobile Duron, and Mobile Athlon XP-M. They are based on AMD's existing desktop processors, with added features such as PowerNow! (processor performance control), which allows for dynamically controlled speeds and voltage, as well as lower overall power consumption. Today, AMD offers mobile versions of its Athlon 64 and Sempron processors, as well as a new platform designed to compete with Intel's Centrino platform based on the AMD Turion 64 processor. AMD K6-Series Mobile ProcessorsAMD's K6 series of processors has become popular among cost-conscious personal and corporate computer buyers. These processors have dominated the under$1,000 computer market since the late 1990s. Starting in the fall of 1998, AMD began to develop this Socket 7compatible series of processors for mobile use. All mobile versions of the AMD K6 family share some common characteristics, including low-voltage operation, MMX technology, and a choice of either ceramic pin grid array (CPGA) or the more compact ceramic ball grid array (CBGA) packaging. Mobile K6 processors also have a large 64KB L1 memory cache, as their desktop siblings do. Later versions of the Mobile K6 are called the K6-2+ and K6-III+. These new processors are both made on a 0.18-micron technology process, enabling reduced die size and voltage. They also both incorporate on-die L2 cache running at full processor speed and PowerNow! technology, which is AMD's version of Intel's SpeedStep technology. This allows for lower speed and voltage operation while on battery power to conserve battery life. The only difference between the K6-2+ and the K6-III+ is the size of their on-die L2 caches. They both incorporate 64KB of L1 on-die: The K6-2+ adds a further 128KB of on-die L2 cache, whereas the L2 size is increased to 256KB in the K6-3+. AMD offers the Mobile K6 family processors shown in Table 4.15.
AMD's Mobile Athlon and Athlon XPEven though the K6 family of processors offers very good performance in its class, these processors are not fast enough to compete with the 600MHz and higher Mobile Pentium III and Mobile Celeron processors from Intel. In May 2001, AMD introduced its Mobile Athlon, known as the Athlon 4, and its Mobile Duron processors, which, similar to their desktop siblings, directly compete with the Intel Pentium III and Celeron processors. The Athlon 4 features 256KB of on-die L2 cache and support for either PC-133 or DDR SDRAM. The Athlon 4 uses 1.4V of power at full speed and 1.2V in battery-saving mode. The Mobile Duron features 64KB of on-die L2 cache and uses the standard 200MHz FSB introduced by the original Athlon CPU. The Mobile Duron uses 1.5V at full speed and 1.2V in battery-saving mode. Both the Mobile Athlon 4 and the Mobile Duron use the 0.18-micron process, use a modified version of the 462-pin Socket A used by desktop Athlon and Duron processors, and feature 128KB of Level 1 cache and an improved version of AMD's PowerNow! battery-saving technology. The mobile Athlon uses a 200MHz or 266MHz processor (front-side) bus called the EV6 to connect to the motherboard North Bridge chip as well as other processors. Licensed from Digital Equipment, the EV6 bus is the same as that used for the Alpha 21264 processor, now owned by Compaq. The EV6 bus uses a clock speed of 100MHz or 133MHz, but it double-clocks the data, transferring data twice per cycle, for a cycling speed of 200MHz or 266MHz. Because the bus is 8 bytes (64 bits) wide, this results in a throughput of 8 bytes x 200MHz/266MHz, which amounts to 1.6GBps or 2.1GBps. This bus is ideal for supporting PC1600 or PC2100 DDR memory, which also runs at those speeds. The AMD bus design eliminates a potential bottleneck between the chipset and the processor, and enables more efficient transfers compared to other processors. The use of the EV6 bus is one of the primary reasons that the Athlon and Duron chips perform so well. The Athlon has a very large 128KB of L1 cache on the processor die, and 256KB or 512KB of full-core speed L2 cache in the latest Athlon XP models. The Athlon also has support for MMX and the Enhanced 3DNow! instructions, which are 45 new instructions designed to support graphics and sound processing. 3DNow! is very similar to Intel's SSE in design and intent, but the specific instructions are different and require software support. The Athlon XP adds the Intel SSE instructions, which it calls 3DNow! Professional. Fortunately, most companies producing graphics software have decided to support the 3DNow! instructions along with the Intel SSE instructions, with only a few exceptions. Table 4.16 lists the AMD Mobile Duron and Mobile Athlon 4 processors initially offered by AMD.
AMD Mobile DuronThe AMD Duron processor (originally code-named Spitfire) is a derivative of the AMD Athlon processor in the same way that the Celeron was originally a derivative of the Pentium II and III (current Celerons are based on the Pentium 4). Basically, the Duron is an Athlon with less L2 cache; all other capabilities are essentially the same. It is designed to be a lower-cost version with less cache but only slightly less performance. In keeping with the low-cost theme, Duron contains 64KB on-die L2 cache and is designed for Socket A, a socket version of the Athlon Slot A. Except for the Duron markings, the Duron is almost identical externally to the Socket A versions of the original Athlon. Essentially, the Duron was designed to compete against the Intel Celeron in the low-cost PC market, just as the Athlon was designed to compete in the higher-end Pentium III and Pentium 4 market. The Duron has since been discontinued, but most systems that use the Duron processor can use AMD Athlon or, in some cases, Athlon XP processors as an upgrade. Because the Duron processor is derived from the Athlon core, it includes the Athlon 200MHz front-side system bus (interface to the chipset) as well as enhanced 3DNow! instructions in Model 3. Model 7 processors include 3DNow! Professional instructions (which include a full implementation of SSE instructions). AMD Mobile Athlon XP-MThe newest mobile version of the Athlon is called the mobile Athlon XP (or XP-M) and was introduced in July 2002. This is basically an improved version of the previous Athlon, with improvements in the instruction set so that it can execute Intel SSE instructions and a new marketing scheme that directly competes with the Pentium 4. The latest Athlon XP models have also adopted a larger (512KB) full-speed on-die cache. AMD uses the term QuantiSpeed (a marketing term, not a technical term) to refer to the architecture of the Athlon XP. AMD defines this as including the following:
These design improvements wring more work out of each clock cycle, enabling a "slower" Athlon XP to beat a "faster" Pentium 4 processor in doing actual work (and play). The first models of the Athlon XP used the Palomino core, which is also shared by the original Athlon 4 mobile processor. Later models have used the Thoroughbred core, which was later revised to improve thermal characteristics. The different Thoroughbred cores are sometimes referred to as Thoroughbred-A and Thoroughbred-B. The latest Athlon XP processors use a new core with 512KB on-die full-speed L2 cache known as Barton. Additional features include these:
Also new to the Athlon XP is the use of a thinner, lighter organic chip-packaging compound similar to that used by recent Intel processors. Figure 4.19 shows the latest Athlon XP processors that use the Barton core. Figure 4.19. AMD Athlon XP 0.13-micron processor with 512KB of L2 cache for Socket A (PGA form factor). (Photo courtesy of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.) This packaging allows for a more efficient layout of electrical components. The latest versions of the Athlon XP are made using a new 0.13-micron die process that results in a chip with a smaller die that uses less power, generates less heat, and is capable of running faster as compared to the previous models. The newest 0.13-micron versions of the Athlon XP run at actual clock speeds exceeding 2GHz. The Athlon XP-M is available in the following versions, designated by performance rating:
AMD Mobile Athlon 64 and Mobile SempronWith AMD's introduction of the Athlon 64, the mobile version of that processor wasn't far off. Because it is equipped with the same space-saving integrated memory controller as the desktop version of the Athlon 64, the Mobile Athlon 64, shown in Figure 4.20, is ideally suited for use in the small confines of a notebook. Figure 4.20. The AMD Mobile Athlon 64 processor. (Photo courtesy of AMD.) The mobile Athlon 64 offers the same features as the desktop processor but uses a more stringent approach to power saving through implementation of its PowerNow! feature. Not long after the introduction of the budget desktop processor from AMD, the Sempron, which lacked 64-bit support and featured only half the L2 cache memory, it too was offered as a mobile processor: the mobile Sempron. Both the mobile Athlon 64 and the mobile Sempron use the lidless 754-pin micro-PGA socket that's derived from the 754-pin socket as used on the desktop for entry-level computers. Table 4.17 lists the AMD Mobile Athlon 64 and Mobile Sempron processors offered by AMD.
AMD Turion 64Unlike Intel does with its Centrino platform, AMD does not specifically define a whole platform with the Turion brand name. Rather, the AMD Turion 64 processor, shown in Figure 4.21, is optimized for use in mobile devices such as laptops, much like Intel's Pentium M processor. The AMD Turion 64 processor can be combined with a variety of different chipsets and wireless solutions from various third-party manufacturers that allow it to offer similar performance and battery life as compared to Intel's offering. Figure 4.21. The AMD Turion 64 processor. (Photo courtesy of AMD.) The AMD Turion 64 processor is based on the same 64-bit core that can be found in the AMD Athlon 64 and Sempron processors and also incorporates the same integrated memory controller. Like these other AMD processors, the Turion 64 offers compatibility with 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems and is able to address over 4GB of memory directly. The AMD Turion 64 offers 3DNow! technology and also supports SSE2 and SSE3. The AMD Turion 64 uses the same lidless 754-pin Micro-PGA socket as the mobile Athlon 64 and Sempron. Table 4.18 lists the AMD Turion 64 processors offered by AMD.
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