Mobile Athlon 4, Duron FAQ

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MOBILE ATHLON4 FAQ

Question:
Which computer manufacturers are offering PCs with the mobile AMD Athlon™ 4 processor?

Answer:
Compaq is our first OEM partner to introduce systems with the new mobile AMD Athlon™ 4 processor. Compaq is offering systems through its retail kiosks and on its Web sites immediately. We expect other OEMs will announce products shortly.

Question:
What are the features of the mobile AMD Athlon 4 processor?

Answer:
The mobile AMD Athlon 4 processors build upon the award-winning features of the AMD Athlon family, such as a 200MHz front-side bus, 384KB full-speed on-chip cache and superscalar floating-point unit. The AMD Athlon 4 processors incorporate a number of new features, such as hardware data pre-fetch (for increased performance) and a further enhanced version of our SIMD instruction set called 3DNow!™ Professional. Special features for the mobile AMD Athlon 4 processors include support for AMD PowerNow! technology (for extended battery life), an on-die temperature sensor, and a combination of low power core design and lower operating voltage (1.2-1.4V) that significantly reduces the power consumption.

Question:
How much do mobile AMD Athlon 4 processors cost?

Answer:
Processor pricing (All pricing in 1K-unit quantities)

Mobile AMD Athlon 4 Processor
1GHz Mobile AMD Athlon 4 $425
950MHz Mobile AMD Athlon 4 $350
900MHz Mobile AMD Athlon 4 $270
850MHz Mobile AMD Athlon 4 $240

Please see http://www.amd.com/news/virtualpress/pricing.html for a complete listing of prices.

Question:
How much are initial mobile AMD Athlon 4 processor-based systems expected to cost?

Answer:
AMD Athlon 4 processor-based notebooks are expected to start at less than $2,000, but our OEMs will set exact pricing based on system configuration.

Question:
What is AMD PowerNow!™ technology and what benefit does it provide the notebook user?

Answer:
AMD PowerNow! technology can significantly extend the battery life of notebook PCs by up to 30% while providing performance on demand. ,AMD PowerNow! technology is a combination of software and hardware support that allows the processor to run dynamically at different frequencies and voltages. There are three basic modes of operation, including AMD’s unique “automatic” mode.

Automatic Mode – the system monitors application use and continuously varies operating frequency and voltage to deliver performance on demand while optimizing battery life.

High Performance Mode – the CPU runs at maximum frequency and voltage.

Battery Saver Mode – the CPU runs at lowest frequency and voltage to maximize system battery life.

Question:
What do you expect the battery life to be on systems based on the mobile AMD Athlon 4 processor?

Answer:
Battery life should be competitive (in the 2.5-3.5-hour range). However, the battery life of a notebook computer is system dependent (depends on BIOS power management, other hardware, such as core logic, graphics, drives and memory), LCD panels, and most importantly, battery size and type. The mobile AMD Athlon 4 processor with AMD PowerNow! technology can significantly extend the system battery life (up to 30%) vs. similar systems without this type of capability. With AMD PowerNow! technology, you get the performance you need when you need it.

Question:
How does the implementation of AMD PowerNow! technology differ from the previous (K6) implementation?

Answer:
In general, the end-user experience and control panel interface is similar to the previous implementation of AMD PowerNow! technology in the mobile AMD-K6®-2+ family of processors. However, there have been significant changes to the hardware and software implementation that allow for better performance and even more responsiveness.

Question:
At what voltage does the mobile AMD Athlon 4 processor operate?

Answer:
The mobile AMD Athlon 4 processor currently operates in the 1.2V to 1.4V range (depending on AMD PowerNow! technology operating state).

Question:
How much power does the mobile AMD Athlon 4 processor consume?

Answer:
In automatic mode, the mobile AMD Athlon processor consumes as little as an average of 2 Watts running typical office applications.

Question:
What level of performance does the mobile AMD Athlon 4 processor offer?

Answer:
The mobile AMD Athlon 4 processor offers the highest levels of performance available in notebook PC processors today, building on the award-winning desktop version of the AMD Athlon processor. The AMD Athlon 4 gives you a highly responsive system for office productivity, content creation and demanding multimedia applications—an overall superior computing experience.

Question:
How does the mobile AMD Athlon 4 processor perform against the mobile Pentium® III processor?

Answer:
The mobile AMD Athlon 4 outperforms the mobile Pentium® III at the same clock speed on a wide variety of industry-standard benchmarks

Question:
Is the mobile AMD Athlon 4 processor targeted for commercial markets?

Answer:
The mobile AMD Athlon 4 processor is an excellent choice for enterprise, small and medium business and home users. The mobile AMD Athlon 4 processor offers the compatibility and quality that the most demanding commercial buyers expect, and the best performance at any processor price point on a wide range of commercial and consumer benchmarks. The addition of AMD PowerNow! technology enables users to obtain high performance while enjoying the benefit of increased battery life when compared to systems without AMD PowerNow! technology. Please refer to the press presentation or AMD’s Web site for more details.

Question:
Where is the mobile AMD Athlon 4 processor manufactured? What process technology is used?

Answer:
The mobile AMD Athlon 4 processor is currently manufactured on AMD’s advanced 0.18 micron copper process technology at Fab 30 in Dresden, Germany.

Question:
What is the die size of the mobile AMD Athlon 4 processor? How many transistors does it have?

Answer:
The mobile AMD Athlon 4 processor has a die size of 128 mm2, and integrates roughly 37.5M transistors.

Question:
What chipsets are available to support the mobile AMD Athlon 4 processor? When will UMA (integrated graphic) chipsets become available?

Answer:
ALi has announced the availability of the 1647 (MAGiK1) chipset and VIA has announced the availability of the VIA KT133A chipset – both supporting the mobile AMD Athlon 4 and new mobile AMD Duron processors. Both chipsets operate with high-performance external (2X or 4X) AGP mobile graphics controllers (from companies such as ATI, Trident, S3/Via and Silicon Motion), and are well suited for high-performance notebook PCs.

Both ALi and VIA have announced plans for chipsets that include integrated (or UMA) graphics. Please contact those vendors for further details.

Question:
What BIOS will support the mobile AMD Athlon 4 processor?

Answer:
AMD has worked with the major mobile BIOS companies (Phoenix and Insyde) to develop support for the mobile AMD Athlon 4 processor. For a notebook system, the BIOS is typically customized for each specific system. Please contact your notebook OEM for more details about specific BIOS questions.

Question:
Will the mobile AMD Athlon 4 processor support a 266MHz front side bus?

Answer:
The mobile AMD Athlon 4 processors currently support a 200MHz front-side bus. AMD has not announced any plans to offer a mobile AMD Athlon 4 processor with a 266MHz front side bus.

Question:
Does the mobile AMD Athlon 4 processor support Socket A?

Answer:
Yes – the mobile AMD Athlon 4 processor supports the AMD Athlon system bus and is Socket A compatible.

Question:
Can I use my mobile AMD Athlon 4 processor in my Socket A desktop system?

Answer:
No. For mobile platforms, the system bus runs at a lower voltage, and a number of additional pins are defined for mobile specific functions (such as AMD PowerNow! technology). In general, the mobile AMD Athlon 4 processor is not supported in a desktop Socket A system.

Question:
Can I upgrade my mobile AMD-K6® processor-based system with a mobile AMD Athlon 4 or new mobile AMD Duron processor?

Answer:
No. The mobile AMD Athlon 4 and new mobile AMD Duron system bus and pinouts are different from the mobile AMD-K6® family. In general, notebook PCs cannot be upgraded, since there are many other system dependencies also required to support a specific type and frequency of CPU.

Question:
Do you plan to offer a mobile AMD Athlon 4 and DDR memory-based solution?

Answer:
DDR memory has the significant advantages of high performance and low system memory power consumption. Chipsets have already been announced that support the mobile AMD Athlon 4 processor and DDR memory, such as the ALi MAGiK1. However it is an OEM-dependent decision as to when and if to bring such a solution to notebook market).

Question:
What is data pre-fetch technology?

Answer:
Data pre-fetch allows the processor to “look ahead” and fetch data from memory before it is needed by the processor. This results in fewer processor pipeline stalls, and higher overall performance on many applications.

Question:
What is 3DNow!™ Professional technology?

Answer:
Software specifically tuned for 3DNow!™ technology means smoother, richer and more lifelike images, more precise digital 3D audio and an enriched Web experience. 3DNow! Professional technology incorporates 52 new instructions (for 107 total) which further extend the capability of 3DNow! technology.

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