AM2 whats next?

Claire Drew · 24 Mar 2007 at 10:48

So I got my AM2 7 months ago and its doing me fine, I have been told that AMD are going to be releasing some new CPU's but dont know when or what they are called.

Is this the case and also will it be compatable with by current board so I can just remove the existing CPU and pop in a new one? (2 years down the line).

masslac · 24 Mar 2007 at 10:49

It'll be a whole new platform altogether.

Claire Drew · 24 Mar 2007 at 10:51

So does this mean I will be starting a new rig build then? wont AMD make it compatable?

Jokester · 24 Mar 2007 at 10:57

There will be K8L based CPUs for AM2, there will also be a new socket called AM3 which will suppory DDR3. Chips made for AM3 will be backwards compatible with AM2 according to AMD.

Jokester

Dwbreeze1982 · 24 Mar 2007 at 11:03

do u no when this is coming out m8, cause thinking of upgrading to am2 soon or is c2d better and scrap amd all together

Jokester · 24 Mar 2007 at 11:07

Should be the end of this year some time, I think August was mentioned but I'm not sure if that'll be the consumer AM2 variants or not.

Jokester

Fx-Overlord · 24 Mar 2007 at 11:08

Probably around 3rd quarter of this year. The server varieties are apparenly arriving around June sometime so it should be a few months after this.

Claire Drew · 24 Mar 2007 at 11:16

Thats good to know, so probley just need a bios upgrade and plug in a AM3 and see a nice increase in performance without the need to build a new rig

Any idear on priceing yet?

masslac · 24 Mar 2007 at 11:51

AM3 != AM2

Dwbreeze1982 · 24 Mar 2007 at 12:17

so what am2 boards will take am3 chips. please amd

Jokester · 24 Mar 2007 at 12:20

masslac said:
AM3 != AM2

According to AMD, AM3 chips will work in AM2 sockets.

Jokester

masslac · 24 Mar 2007 at 12:21

Jokester said:
According to AMD, AM3 chips will work in AM2 sockets.

Jokester

o lawd

I was not aware of that.

Kamakazie! · 24 Mar 2007 at 12:23

To clarify some points on here:

The next AMD chips to be released are the Barcelona Quad Core Server chips, these will released for socket 1207+ but are backwards compatible with socket 1207.

In the same vane, a month or so later, the Agena quad cores will come out for socket AM2+. This is socket AM2 that supports HT3.0. Agena will be drop in compatible with AM2 but will run at the standard HT speed of 1ghz. The difference that this will make to single socket variants will probably be negligible so it will not be a problem. Dual cores based on this architecture will also be released.

Keep you AM2 setup and see what the Agena etc. cores are like. They should be very quick.

DDR3 variants are not coming for a while. No doubt 2H 2008 and that will be socket AM3. Again these are supposed to have dual DDR2/DDR3 memory controllers so these chips should, theoretically also be compatible with AM2, though that could well change.

jaykay · 24 Mar 2007 at 12:29

i think you wont need ht3 for the quad cores
at the moment ht2 is already fast enough for dual cores with plenty of room to spare

taz488 · 24 Mar 2007 at 13:36

ive got an am2 as well (sig) so im keepin my 3800+ for quite a while, ive had it for 9 months and it copes with everythin speedily, i might not upgrade for a year or so yet ! but am3 looks interesting.

Gashman · 24 Mar 2007 at 15:27

yeah according to AMD AM3 is simply identical to AM2 barring AM3 uses DDR3 and AM2 uses DDR2 but K8L is supposidly DDR2 and DDR3 capable, so it should work with either, and Dwbreeze1982 as long as your not overclocking theres really not a great deal between AM2 and C2D, if you overclock and can't wait go for C2D, if your playing the waiting game and are keeping system running stock speeds AM2 is just as good really

cobxx · 24 Mar 2007 at 21:43

Gashman said:
yeah according to AMD AM3 is simply identical to AM2 barring AM3 uses DDR3 and AM2 uses DDR2 but K8L is supposidly DDR2 and DDR3 capable, so it should work with either, and Dwbreeze1982 as long as your not overclocking theres really not a great deal between AM2 and C2D, if you overclock and can't wait go for C2D, if your playing the waiting game and are keeping system running stock speeds AM2 is just as good really

Nicely said. You can still oc the am2's a bit, just don't expect more than a ghz like with the c2d's! It's quite a good upgrade path, I was considering it last year; get a good am2 system with a cheapish am2 cpu, then when the time comes, just upgrade the cpu. But conroe was just too dominant really,especially when they oc so high.

trojan698 · 24 Mar 2007 at 22:17

Jokester said:
According to AMD, AM3 chips will work in AM2 sockets.

Jokester

Interesting. If that's the case it seems pretty pointless releasing a new socket? I mean I can see why AMD would make AM3 boards backwards compatible with AM2 chips but why release a new socket if the new chips work on old boards. I guess if there's a significant performance boost it makes sense.

Emlyn_Dewar · 24 Mar 2007 at 22:25

It's for the HT3 and power management stuff isn't it?

Kamakazie! · 25 Mar 2007 at 00:56

Emlyn_Dewar said:
It's for the HT3 and power management stuff isn't it?

No, AM2+ is for the HT3.0 and power management.

trojan698 said:
Interesting. If that's the case it seems pretty pointless releasing a new socket? I mean I can see why AMD would make AM3 boards backwards compatible with AM2 chips but why release a new socket if the new chips work on old boards. I guess if there's a significant performance boost it makes sense.

AM3, as per the current naming convention, is a "new" socket because it supports DDR3. DDR2 and DDR3 are pin compatible so that is why the CPU could work in both sockets. This is, however, only if they implement a dual memory controller on the CPUs.
I am unsure if Barcelona and Agena will have this feature but i doubt it. The processors that will have this will come at the launch of AM3 if at any point.

So basically, AM3 is so you can easily differentiate between DDR3 and DDR2