AMD Thunderbird 1Ghz
Right, well lets admit it AMD weren't very good before the launch of the original Athlon, but since then they have dominated the market, since the release of this Athlon there has always been a need for a cheaper version, one with more value added, this is where the Duron comes in to play, but some of us, well we don't want to play with the low end CPUs. So AMD have released the Thunderbird, this uses the full 256K of internal L2 Cache. It uses the new socket A format chip, and basically a Thunderbird Processor is a Duron but with one crucial difference, more L2 cache. The Thunderbird uses 256K L2 cache compared to the Duron mere 64K.
The
Specs:
|
Feature
|
AMD
Athlon™ Processor Slot
A/Socket A |
|
Operations
per clock cycle |
9 |
|
Integer
pipelines |
3 |
|
Floating
point pipelines |
3 |
|
Full
x86 decoders |
3 |
|
L1
cache size |
128KB
|
|
L2
cache size |
Internal,
256KB |
|
Peak
bus bandwidth |
1.6
GB |
|
Bus
outstanding transactions
|
24
per processor |
|
Clock
technology |
Source
synchronous |
|
3D
enhancement instructions -
Total no. of instructions -
Single-precision FP SIMD -
4 FP operations per clock -
Cache/prefetch controls -
Streaming controls -
DSP/comm extensions
|
Enhanced
3DNow!™ technology 45
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
|
|
Multiprocessing support
|
Yes,
point-to-point |
|
Max.
system processors
|
Unlimited
(by chipset) |
|
No.
of transistors per die
|
~22
million – 37 million |
So
far the only official supporting boards are the VIA KT133 and the AMD 750,
although all the other chipset makers, have come up
with their own solution soon to be released. Another thing is that because of
the CPU’s new Socket A format, there is no need for GFDs and the multiplier
can be unlocked using a pencil ;) To compare this I set the multiplier to only 7
as we could see what it was like compared to a Duron 700 CPU, I did some
benchmarks later with the CPU set at full speed the full 1Ghz.
Anyway on to testing: -
For
the benchmarks performed I used the following spec PC for the AMD Cpu's:
Test System: -
Coolermaster ATCS 200 Case
Abit KT7 Raid
1Ghz TBird CPU
Alpha PAL Cooler
Hedgehog Cooler
Global Win FOP38 Cooler
Elsa Ge-force 64MB GTS
1 * Crucial 128meg PC133 Cas2 Dimm
1 * Mushkin 128Meg PC150 Cas2 Dimm
Quantum Viking 2 9.1 GB LVD SCSI DRIVE
Seagate Barracuda 50.1GB LVD
Soundblaster Live Soundcard
Adaptec 2904u2w Scsi card
Pioneer 6xDVD/32xCD Scsi
Teac 32X CDRom Scsi
And my baybus ;)
For testing the Intel CPU's I used the same base with the Abit BX-133 Raid
The
Thunderbird is just behind the P3 which is the leader here, it compares well with the P3 but the Duron is
with the Celeron here just how AMD wanted it to be.
In
this test all the CPUs come within a few point of each other, the Duron scoring
very well and beating a PIII.
Again
all CPUs do well, but the TBird is winning again, but beats the Duron, whilst the
Celeron is lagging behind.
This may seem low but don't forget it was under Windows 2000!
SiSoft Results
