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AMD Athlon 64 FX-60 Review

AMD has finally added dual core support to its top of the range FX chip. Leo thinks that it's a scorcher!

Author	Leo Waldock
Published	10th Jan 2006
Manufacturer	AMD
Supplier	Overclockers.co.uk
Price	£699.57 (Exc VAT)
as reviewed	£822.00 (Inc VAT)
Latest Price

Performance	9 out of 10
Value	7 out of 10
Overall	8 out of 10

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At the end of 2005 AMD had a superb range of desktop processors but there was a serious anomaly right at the top of the range. The £740 Athlon 64 FX-57 was supposed to be the performance king, and if you looked at isolated benchmarks it was the fastest processor in AMD’s range, however the dual core £560 Athlon 64 X2 4800+ was clearly a better processor for most PC users.

AMD has resolved the situation by launching the latest version of the Athlon FX as FX-60 rather than FX-59, and the big news is that it’s a dual core processor. The new FX has a clock speed of 2.6GHz, which is nominally 200MHz slower than the 2.8GHz FX-57, while the X2 4800+ runs at 2.4GHz. In many respects the FX-60 is a pair of FX-55s in a single Socket 939 processor, or if you prefer you could think of it as an Athlon 64 X2 5000+. Naturally the FX-60 is unlocked so while comparison is a little unfair let’s see how the FX-60 stacks up against the FX-57.

	Athlon 64 FX-57	Athlon 64 FX-60
Frequency / Cache Sizes	2.8GHz	2.6GHz
L2 Cache Sizes	1MB	1MB L2 cache per core (2MB total)
L1 Cache Sizes	64KB of L1 instruction and 64KB of L1 data cache	64KB of L1 instruction and 64KB of L1 data cache per core (256KB in total)
Memory Controller	Integrated 128-bit wide memory controller	Integrated 128-bit wide memory controller
Types of Memory	PC1600, PC2100, PC2700 and PC3200 DDR memory	PC1600, PC2100, PC2700 and PC3200 DDR memory
HyperTransport Links	One	One
HyperTransport Spec	2GHz (2x 1000MHz / DDR)	2GHz (2x 1000MHz / DDR)
Effective data bandwidth	14.4 GB/sec [8GB/sec HyperTransport + 6.4GB/sec memory bandwidth]	14.4 GB/sec [8GB/sec HyperTransport + 6.4GB/sec memory bandwidth]
Packaging	939-pin organic micro-PGA	939-pin organic micro-PGA
Process Technology	90nm (.09-micron) Silicon on Insulator (SOI)	90nm (.09-micron) Silicon on Insulator (SOI)
Approximate Transistor count	114 million	233.2 million
Approximate Die Size	115 square mm	199 square mm
Nominal Voltage	1.35-1.40V	1.30-1.35V
Max Thermal Power	104W	110 W
Max Icc (processor current)	74.9A	80A