AMD Rolls Outs Two More FM1 Socket Athlon II X4 Processors

[Cristian_25H]

AMD may be busy building up hype for its Trinity-generation APUs (accelerated processing units) but it's still churning out new chips, the latest releases being the rather low-profile Athlon II X4 641 and X4 638. Both of these models are made on 32 nm technology, have an FM1 packaging, and boast four 'Stars' x86 cores just like those found in Llano APUs (but unlike Llano, these Athlons don't have integrated graphics).

The Athlon II X4 641 comes with a core clock of 2.8 GHz, 4 MB of L2 cache, and a 100 W TDP, while the Athlon II X4 638 features a 2.7 GHz clock, 4 MB of L2 cache, and a TDP of 65 W. Both CPUs are priced at $81 (pricing is for 1000-unit tray quantities).

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[The Von Matrices]

Any clue as to what distinguishes a xx8 processor from a xx1 processor?

 

[imitation]

641: 2,8G X4 w/ 100W TDP
638: 2,7G X4 w/ 65W TDP
631: 2,6G X4 w/ 100W TDP
am i missing something here?

 

[xenocide]

Kind of confused why anyone would go FM1 for a non-Llano CPU...

 

[_JP_]

I don't understand it either, xenocide. :\
Just release Trinity already, AMD!

Any clue as to what distinguishes a xx8 processor from a xx1 processor?

TDP, it seems.

 

[Red_Machine]

Those are probably just Llano chips with defective GPUs.

 

[Thefumigator]

any idea on how high could be the probability of unlocking the GPU on these?

 

[Mussels]

i just wished desktops had unlocked multis like the mobile chips. AMD would sure see a big boost in sales there.

 

[MikeMurphy]

Kind of confused why anyone would go FM1 for a non-Llano CPU...

These make excellent home server chips due mostly in part to the low idle power consumption. They also undervolt extremely well for large reduction in load power consumption

Although even as a home server chip it makes more sense to grab a GPU-enabled model.

 

[TRWOV]

^ Not to mention the improved memory controller. Not a very compelling reason but a benefit nonetheless.

 

[Patriot]

Kind of confused why anyone would go FM1 for a non-Llano CPU...

32nm... cheap overclocking...

 

[badtaylorx]

now all i need to see is a phenom ii die shrink to 32nm slap it on the FM1 platform and id buy one!!!

 

[imitation]

now all i need to see is a phenom ii die shrink to 32nm slap it on the FM1 platform and id buy one!!!

Dude, that's exactly what this is: four improved "Stars" cores, 32nm, FM1. Just no black editions yet.

 

[devguy]

Dude, that's exactly what this is: four improved "Stars" cores, 32nm, FM1. Just no black editions yet.

Yeah, but it's more of a Propus at 32nm (and with a lot of useless die space from disabled GPU core) than a 32nm Deneb with plenty of L3. At least Llano offers up 1mb L2 cache per core like the Regor Dual Core (that helps).

Black edition FM1 with no GPU core would probably have a fair amount of interest. I wonder if they're gonna make any Black Edition Trinity APUs? If so, they'll probably wait until the end of its lifecycle again like they did with the 3870k (which is stupid to me- focus on the notebook Trinity, but have at least a few launch BEs on day 1 AMD).

 

[imitation]

I think they just had a lot of trouble with 32nm, trying to get yield up before pushing for higher clocks. They could have labeled a chip BE, but it wouldn't have overclocked like expected for a BE, if at all.

There aren't many benchmarks out there that test the FM1 Athlons specifically, but i guess clock-for-clock they perform the same as the APUs. They are no PhII-Killer, that's for sure, but they're pretty close. The 3870K is a decent CPU by itself, but when overclocked it will beat a stock PhII 980.

 

[Mussels]

i just wish we could OC APU's, my laptop would love me.

 

[imitation]

i just wish we could OC APU's, my laptop would love me.

My netbook would hate me
But it would be fairly interesting to see how far the E-350 would go CPU-wise.