September 23: AMD Athlon 64 Launch Day

[SimGuy]

September 23: AMD Athlon 64 Launch Day (Full Roundup)

Remember Short-Media's coverage of the AMD Opteron launch? Tune in for SM's coverage of the AMD Athlon 64 launch during this turning point in modern computing.

After delays & revisions, it's finally here. How does it stack up? NDA's drop @ 11:00 AM Eastern, with the official launch webcast getting underway at 1:00 PM Eastern, available from VirtualWebCaster.com (http://www.visualwebcaster.com/AMD/092303/event.html). This thread will be updated as more news becomes available over the next 24 hours.

Last Updated: 3:04 PM 9/23/2003

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News, Press Releases & Editorials:<TABLE WIDTH="820" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="0" BORDER="0"><TR><TD VALIGN="TOP">ABS Computer: Pre-Order AMD Athlon 64 3200+ System (very configurable)! (http://www.abspc.com/app/config.asp?mono=1709)
Asus: Asus Releases K8V Via-based Athlon 64 Motherboard (http://usa.asus.com/products/mb/socket754/k8v-d/overview.htm)
BetaNews: Windows XP Beta Brings AMD64 Support (http://www.betanews.com/article.php3?sid=1064315823)
Bink.nu: Microsoft Re-labels Their Windows 2003 64-bit Edition Products (http://bink.nu/BinkPortal/DesktopModules/ArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=132)
CBR Online: AMD Preps Athlon 64 Launch (http://www.cbronline.com/todaysnews/c95e6648245cb95280256daa0018ce7d)
CIOL: AMD Beats Intel on 64-bit Chip For PCs (http://www.ciol.com/content/news/2003/103092302.asp)
CNET: AMD Athlon Steps Up To 64-Bits (http://news.com.com/2100-1006_3-5080217.html)
CNET: Chip Giant SiS Backs Athlon 64 (http://news.com.com/2100-1006-5080368.html)
ComputerWorld: AMD Prepares For Athlon 64 Launch (http://www.cworld.cl/link.cgi/Enfoque_CW/1833)
Costco: Athlon 64, 1 GB DDR SDRAM, 160 GB HDD for $1399! (http://www.costco.com/frameset.asp?trg=product.asp&catid=84&subid=4369&hierid=4374&prdid=10036533&log)
CPUPlanet.com: The Athlon 64 Chipset Rush Is On (http://www.cpuplanet.com/features/article.php/3075061)
CRN: AMD Athlon 64 Draws TechXNY Praise (http://www.crn.com/sections/BreakingNews/dailyarchives.asp?ArticleID=44592)
Digit-Life: SiS760 - Integrated Solutions For Athlon 64, Opteron (http://www.digit-life.com/news.html?96098#96098)
E Week: AMD CEO Looks Ahead After 64-Bit (http://eweek.com/article2/0,4149,1273446,00.asp)
Economic Times: AMD Unveils Athlon 64 Processor (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/xml/uncomp/articleshow?msid=197952)
Financial Times: AMD's New Chip Gets Market To Itself (http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1059480038163)
Forbes: The Great 64-Bit Game (http://www.forbes.com/home_europe/2003/09/23/cx_ah_0923tentech.html)
InformationWeek: AMD Unveils 64-Bit Chip For PCs (http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=15000829)
InfoWorld: AMD Prepares For Athlon 64 Launch (http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/09/18/HNathlon64_1.html)
Internet News: AMD's Athlon Enters Area 64 (http://www.internetnews.com/infra/article.php/3081331)
Mac Daily News: AMD Launches Athlon 64; its First 64-Bit Chip For Mainstream PCs (http://www.macdailynews.com/comments.php?id=P1829_0_1_0)
MSNBC: AMD's Athlon Steps Up To 64-bits (http://famulus.msnbc.com/famulusgen/cnet09-22-144021.asp?t=CNTEK)
News Wireless: AMD 64-bit Laptop in 7 Days, with Benchmarks! (http://www.newswireless.net/articles/030917-AMD.html)
New York Times: AMD To Introduce 64-bit Chip (http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/22/technology/22chip.html?ex=1064894400&en=d2419f29cb8f0552&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE)
OCZ Technologies: OCZ Launches PC3200 DDR ECC Memory Modules For Athlon 64 FX (http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/memory/OCZ+PC-3200+ECC+Registered+Dual+Channel+DDR)
Overclockers.com: Athlon 64 Analysis (http://www.overclockers.com/tips00461/)
Reuters: AMD Unveils Athlon 64, Seen as Head Start vs Intel (http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=0Z1WUVJCYMOKSCRBAEKSFFA?type=technologyNews&storyID=3488211)
PCStats: Athlon 64 and AMD's 64-bit Technology (http://pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1466)
PCWorld: Athlon 64 Is Ready For Takeoff (http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,112541,00.asp)
PCWorld: Plugged In: Desktops Get A 64-bit Speed Boost (http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,112021,00.asp)
San Francisco Chronicle: Mad Dash In The Microchip Race (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/09/23/BUGTC1SC6M1.DTL)
San Jose Mercury News: AMD Plans To Launch 64-bit Chip For PCs (http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/business/6838960.htm)
Short-Media: EPoX 8HDA+ Athlon 64 Motherboard overview (http://www.short-media.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3700)
Stuff.co.nz: New Processor Tipped To Give Edge Over Intel Corp (http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2668306a1897,00.html)
Sudhian.com: So Long Socket A, Looking Back On K7, Looking Forward To K8 (http://www.sudhian.com/showdocs.cfm?aid=433)
Sudhian.com: AMD Athlon 64 FX 51 Rumoured To Be Multiplier-Unlocked! (http://www.sudhian.com/news/index.cfm#11)
SVBL: Alienware Announces Immediate Availability of Athlon FX Systems (http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=SVBIZINK3.story&STORY=/www/story/09-23-2003/0002022280&EDATE=TUE+Sep+23+2003,+08:02+AM)
T-Break: Athlon 64 Meets The Prometia! (http://tbreak.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=19526)
TechCentral: AMD Gets 64-bit Headstart On Intel (http://star-techcentral.com/tech/story.asp?file=/2003/9/23/technology/6340394&sec=technology)
The Inquirer: IWill Slim Athlon 64 Box Waiting For Chips (http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=11709)
The Inquirer: AMD Promises DDR400 for FX 64's (http://the-inquirer.net/?article=11689)
The Inquirer: AMD Introduces New Chip Today (http://the-inquirer.net/?article=11708)
The Inquirer: AMD Puts Its Shirts on Athlon 64 (http://the-inquirer.net/?article=11686)
The Inquirer: Athlon 64's In Short Supply Already (http://the-inquirer.net/?article=11678)
The Inquirer: Chip Architect Analyses AMD's 64-bitness (http://the-inquirer.net/?article=11694)
The Inquirer: ABit Suggests Athlon 64 'outperforms' Athlon 64 FX (http://the-inquirer.net/?article=11696)
The Inquirer: AMD64 Bus Ready To Depart (http://the-inquirer.net/?article=11705)
The Inquirer: Jetart Readies Coolers for Athlon 64 Fanboys (http://the-inquirer.net/?article=11591)
The Inquirer: Gigabyte Introduces Athlon 64 Boards, Slate of PC Products (http://the-inquirer.net/?article=11586)
The Inquirer: Athlon 64 In Short-Term Memory Loss Shocker (http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=11713)
The Inquirer: AMD Says Intel Megabucks Masking Centrino Shortfalls (http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=11716)
The Register: Mobo Makers Ready Athlon 64 Motherboards (http://theregister.com/content/54/32793.html)
Toms Hardware: Computer Anxiety: Taipei Retailers Jump Ahead On Athlon 64 (http://www17.tomshardware.com/technews/20030920_214045.html)
Toms Hardware: The Intel -vs- AMD Performance War: Enthusiasts Lose. (http://www.tomshardware.com/column/20030923/index.html)
TweakPC.de: AMD's 64-bit: The New Desktop Revolution? (http://www.tweakpc.de/hardware/infos/cpu/64bit/64bit.htm)
USNews.com: A Big, New Chip Hits Town (http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/030929/tech/29chips.htm)
Vnunet.com: AMD Launches Athlon 64 (http://www.vnunet.com/News/1143722)
Washington Post: AMD Puts Its Chips On The Table (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51392-2003Sep23.html)
WinInformant.com: Microsoft Releases Beta Windows XP for AMD 64-bit Chips (http://www.winnetmag.com/WindowsServer2003/Index.cfm?ArticleID=40326)
X-Bit Labs: ALi M1689 - Another Single-Chip Core Logic for Athlon 64, Opteron (http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/chipsets/display/20030922145529.html)
X-Bit Labs: AMD Athlon 64 Comes Tomorrow (http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/cpu/display/20030922164703.html)
X-Bit Labs: SiS Brings Out First Chipset with Integrated Graphics for Athlon 64 (http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/chipsets/display/20030922092101.html)
X-Bit Labs: VIA Developing An Athlon 64 Chipset with PCI Express Support (http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/chipsets/display/20030429155852.html)
X-Bit Labs: AMD Athlon 64 Performance Preview (http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/athlon64.html)
X-Bit Labs: AMD Athlon 64: Strong Demand or Weak Supply? (http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/cpu/display/20030922080550.html)
ZDNet.com: AMD Athlon Steps Up To 64-Bits (http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103_2-5080217.html)
ZDNet UK: AMD Pips Intel With 64-bit Offer (http://news.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/chips/0,39020354,39116577,00.htm)
</TD>
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Reviews, FAQ's & Benchmarks:

AcesHardware: Athlon 64, Athlon 64 FX and Pentium 4 Extreme Edition (http://www.aceshardware.com/read.jsp?id=60000253)
AMD64.net: AMD Athlon 64 Processor Overview (http://www.amd64.net/)
AMDBoard: Athlon 64 Motherboard Roundup (http://www.amdboard.com/k8boards.html)
AMDBoard: AMD Athlon 64 Chipset Roundup (http://www.amdboard.com/hammerchipsets.html)
AMDBoard: AMD Athlon 64 Special (Motherboards, CPUs, FAQs, Chipsets & Coolers) (http://www.amdboard.com/athlon_64_special.html)
AMDZone.com: Athlon 64 FX-51 and Athlon 64 3200+ Reviewed (http://www.amdzone.com/articleview.cfm?ArticleID=1344)
Anandtech: AMD Athlon 64 & Athlon 64 FX - It's Judgement Day (http://www.anandtech.com/cpu/showdoc.html?i=1884)
AthlonXP.com: AMD Athlon 64 3200+ and Athlon 64 FX-51 Review (http://www.athlonxp.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Diner_Wrapper&file=index&req=ShowFile&file_wrap=html/reviews_amd_athlon64.html)
HardOCP: Athlon 64 -vs- Pentium 4 (http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NTI0)
HardTecs4U: AMD Athlon 64 3200+ and FX-51 Review (http://www.hardtecs4u.com/reviews/2003/amd_athlon64/)
Hexus.net: Review: AMD Athlon 64 FX-51 (http://www.hexus.net/content/reviews/review.php?dXJsX3Jldmlld19JRD02MjU=)
LostCircuits: AMD's Athlon 64 FX-51 (http://www.lostcircuits.com/cpu/amd_a64fx51/)
Tech Channel: Review: AMD Athlon 64 -vs- Pentium 4 Extreme Edition (http://www.tecchannel.com/client/desktop/440/index.html)
Tech Report: Review: AMD's Athlon 64 (http://techreport.com/reviews/2003q3/athlon64/index.x?pg=1)
The Inquirer: Athlon FX 51 Benchmarks! (http://the-inquirer.net/?article=11674)
Toms Hardware: A New World Order: Athlon 64 -vs- Athlon 64 FX - P4 EE (http://www20.tomshardware.com/cpu/20030923/index.html)
Voodoo Extreme: Athlon FX 51 / Athlon 64 3200+ Review (http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/451/451110p1.html?fromint=1)
X86-Secret: AMD Athlon FX -vs- P4 EE (http://www.x86-secret.com/popups/articleswindow.php?id=91)
X-Bit Labs: Asus Demonstrates AMD Athlon 64 Motherboard with DDR-II & PCI Express! (http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/mainboards/display/20030923015519.html)

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Sources: Many

[Shorty]

MEGA HUGE Kudos to Simguy :cool:

That is the DEFINITIVE list. You wanted it.. we got it :)

Thanks Sim!:thumbsup:

[Templar]

So I guess the Athlon 64 is launching today.. hmm.. That was a quiet one :p

[SimGuy]

XBit Labs: (http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/mainboards/display/20030923015519.html) ASUSTeK is Demonstrating AMD Athlon 64 Mainboard with DDR-II and PCI Express Support

ASUSTeK Computer is showcasing a mainboard for AMD Athlon 64 processors with support for DDR-II memory and PCI Express interconnections at Computex Taipei 2003. The mainboard company claims that the product is a Year 2004 Conceptual Mainboard, Japanese web-site PC Watch reports.

There are very few facts concerning this outstanding device, but those that are currently known are very strange and sensational.

As we see, the mainboard is not finalized and more resembles a mechanical, rather than engineering sample. There is a PCI Express x16 port with an installed graphics card probably based on the code-named RV380/RV381 VPU from ATI, besides, there are two PCI Express slots for other add-in cards onboard. Certainly, the industry will not shift to PCI Express from conventional PCI in one quarter and that is why we see three PCI 32-bit 33MHz slots on this Year 2004 Conceptual Mainboard from ASUS.

The most important peculiarity of the mainboard is claimed support for DDR-II SDRAM memory at 400, 533 and 667MHz. According to the information we know, Socket 939 AMD Athlon 64 processors code-named San Diego will still have dual-channel DDR SDRAM controller and there is no information about any actual AMD64 microprocessors with DDR-II-compliant memory controller.

There are four possible explanations for DDR-II availability on a mainboard for AMD Athlon 64 processors due to come next year:

<LI>Socket 939 Athlon 64 processors support both DDR and DDR-II SDRAM. This may be possible since AMD surely needs to maintain support for mainstream memory since DDR-II will be quite expensive in the first half of 2004. DDR-II SDRAM support is important for AMD’s marketing and its support is not totally inconceivable. AMD may also cope with two versions of its next-generation Athlon 64 chips – with DDR and with DDR-II memory controllers, however, there will be a mess in the market in such case.
<LI>There are doubts that it is possible to implement a dual-channel DDR-II controller into AMD Athlon 64 processors for Socket 939. This leads to assumptions that such memory controller may be located in the North Bridge of the chipset, while the built-in DDR controller is disabled.
<LI>This Athlon 64 mainboard is a concept design to attract attention, nothing more, it will never come to the market.
<LI>This is a mainboard for Intel Prescott/Tejas processors. :)

ASUSTeK has even put a sticker on the core-logic of this platform so that we could not find out the name of developer of the chipset. Based on some indirect facts we may assume that this mainboard is based on NVIDIA’s code-named Crush K8 3GIO planned for the release next year. NVIDIA Corporation is known for its superfluous and extravagant solutions for AMD Athlon and AMD Athlon XP processors, so, its core-logic with advanced memory controller for AMD64 may really exist.

[Lincoln]

Excellent work as usual, Sim :cool:

[primesuspect]

Now, when are we gonna see A64 boards with PCI Express and DDR-II in the BTX (http://www.short-media.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3687) form factor?

[SimGuy]

AthlonXP.com: (http://www.athlonxp.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Diner_Wrapper&file=index&req=ShowFile&file_wrap=html/reviews_amd_athlon64.html) AMD Athlon 64 3200+ and Athlon 64 FX-51 Review

We were absolutely blown away by these UT2003 scores. UT2003 tends to scale with processor speed, and given the fact the frequencies of the Athlon 64 and Athlon XP processors represented here are so close, an increase of this magnitude was not expected. Here we have more than a 20% jump in the move to the Athlon 64 CPU.

Tests done with the Athlon FX-51 & Athlon 64 3200+ with a Radeon 9800 Pro. Impressive to say the least. Look at the 20%+ performance jump over the older Athlon XP's!

[kanezfan]

I want :'(

[Thrax]

I feel like a toddler on Christmas! :D

Time to read every link.

//EDIT: 1/2 done.

[GHoosdum]

Amazing... I actually saw this thread LONG before AMD notified me in my e-mail box...

Go AMD!