I’ve heard that there is more than one type of Athlon64 processor.

I don’t mean the socket – I mean the processor itself. I have a Socket 939 Athlon64 system and I’d like to know what type of processor I have.

Is this correct and how do I tell?

Lorenzo Olovio, Murray River,

Wow! You’ve sorta heard something but you haven’t quite, have you? I’ll try to explain it for you.

Initially, Athlon64 processors were produced for Socket 754 motherboards. Later, Athlon64 processors were also produced in a format to suit Socket 939 motherboards. A processor for one socket format cannot, of course, be used in a motherboard offering the other socket format. They are quite different.

Currently, Athlon64 processors are available in models from 2800+ to 3700+ for Socket 754, and in models from 3000+ to 4000+ for Socket 939 motherboards.

Along with the move to Socket 939, however, came a change in production methods. Initially, Socket 939 Athlon64 processors were based on the ‘Newcastle’ core, which uses a 0.13 micron Silicon on Insulator (SOI) manufacturing process. The models initially made available were 3500+ and 3800+. More recently, AMD has made a change to producing Athlon64 socket 939 processors which use the slightly modified ‘Winchester’ core, which is based on the 0.09 micron SOI manufacturing process. The Winchester die core is about 40% smaller than the Newcastle, and generates less heat, dissipating a rated 67 watts instead of the 89 watts stated for the Newcastle. It is available in models from 3000+ to 3500+.

To further confuse you, AMD has also now released a 4000+ model, which uses what is known as the ‘Sledgehammer’ core, which is again 0.13 micron SOI and dissipates 89 watts of power.

The upshot of all that is that, unless you have a 3500+, your processor is going to definitely be either one core or another. Only the 3500+ has been produced in versions with different cores. The models, and their Official Part Numbers (OPN) are as follows:

• 3000+ Winchester ADA3000DIK4BI
• 3200+ Winchester ADA3200DIK4BI
• 3500+ Winchester ADA3500DIK4BI
• 3500+ Newcastle ADA3500DEP4AW
• 3800+ Newcastle A3800DEP4AW
• 4000+ Sledgehammer ADA4000DEP5AS

Of course, if that processor of yours is fitted in your system, as I suspect it will be, the only way to tell the difference is to remove the heatsink and inspect the OPN printed on it. Sounds to me like a job that should be left until such time as a new heatsink is being fitted to it. I wouldn’t pull the heatsink off one which was working fine, simply to satisfy curiosity. There is very little, if any, performance difference between the two versions of 3500+ in any event.

I hope that’s helpful to you.

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Update: Greg (below) is quite correct. The Winchester core processors, which use less power and generate less heat, often overclock quite well in comparison to Newcastle core chips. they are more sought after by enthusiasts for that reason.

Those people who have mentioned that utility programs such as CPU-Z can provided more detailed information about your processor are also quite correct, as HelpStation's Marcel Doust has already pointed out.

However those people who are wondering why we didn't advise to get the information from System Properties must not quite be understanding the question and answer. All that System Properties will tell you is the make and frequency or performance rating of the processor.

There are two socket formats for Athlon64 processors for starters. In this article we've referred only to the Socket 939 variety. There are also Athlon64 processors with some of the available models available for Socket 754 motherboards. The two socket formats are NOT interchangeable.

The Socket 754 Athlon64 processors include the following models:

• 2800+
• 3000+
• 3200+
• 3400+
• 3700+

Because of the power/heat issues, and the potential for overclocking, the Socket 939 Athlon 64 Winchester core models 3000+, 3200+ and 3500+ processors are very popular amongst enthusiasts, and this is the reason many people like to clearly identify which specific model they have!

Cheers,

Terry O'Shanassy