Athlon

The first Athlon processor was a result of AMD's development of K7 processors in the 1990s. AMD founder and then-CEO Jerry Sanders aggressively pursued strategic partnerships and engineering talent in the late 1990s, working to build on earlier successes in the PC market with the AMD K6 processor line.{{cite news |author=CNET News Staff |title=IBM PCs tout AMD chips |url=https://www.cnet.com/news/ibm-pcs-tout-amd-chips/ |work=CNET |date=April 7, 1998 |access-date=August 4, 2020}}{{cite news |author= |title=The Next Big Thing |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1028292261927297480 |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=August 5, 2002 |access-date=August 4, 2020}} One major partnership announced in 1998 paired AMD with semiconductor giant Motorola{{cite web |url=http://www.hpcwire.com/hpc-bin/artread.pl?direction=Current&articlenumber=13625|title=Motorola Prepares to Manufacture AMD's Upcoming K7 Chip |publisher=HP |date=August 7, 1998 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928004540/http://www.hpcwire.com/hpc-bin/artread.pl?direction=Current&articlenumber=13625 |archive-date=September 28, 2007}} to co-develop copper-based semiconductor technology, resulting in the K7 project being the first commercial processor to utilize copper fabrication technology. In the announcement, Sanders referred to the partnership as creating a "virtual gorilla" that would enable AMD to compete with Intel on fabrication capacity while limiting AMD's financial outlay for new facilities. The K7 design team was led by Dirk Meyer, who had previously worked as a lead engineer at DEC on multiple Alpha microprocessors. When DEC was sold to Compaq in 1998 and discontinued Alpha processor development, Sanders brought most of the Alpha design team to the K7 project.{{Citation needed|date=August 2020}} This added to the previously acquired NexGen K6 team, which already included engineers such as Vinod Dham.{{cite news |author=Graham Singer |title=The Rise and Fall of AMD |url=https://www.techspot.com/article/599-amd-rise-and-fall/|work=TechSpot |date=November 21, 2012 |access-date=August 3, 2020 }}

The AMD Athlon processor launched on June 23, 1999, with general availability by August 1999. Subsequently, from August 1999 until January 2002, this initial K7 processor was the fastest x86 chip in the world. Wrote the Los Angeles Times on October 5, 1999: "AMD has historically trailed Intel’s fastest processors, but has overtaken the industry leader with the new Athlon. Analysts say the Athlon, which will be used by Compaq, IBM and other manufacturers in their most powerful PCs, is significantly faster than Intel’s flagship Pentium III, which runs at a top speed of 600MHz."{{cite news |author=Charles Piller |title=AMD Boosts Lead Over Intel With New Version of Its Athlon Chip |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-oct-05-fi-19012-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |date=October 5, 1999 |access-date=August 4, 2020}} A number of features helped the chips compete with Intel. By working with Motorola, AMD had been able to refine copper interconnect manufacturing about one year before Intel, with the revised process permitting 180-nanometer processor production. The accompanying die-shrink resulted in lower power consumption, permitting AMD to increase Athlon clock speeds to the 1 GHz range.{{citation |url=https://www.amd.com/us/press-releases/Pages/Press_Release_729.aspx |title=AMD Announces First Revenue Shipments From Dresden "MEGAFAB" |publisher=AMD Press Release |date=June 5, 2000 |access-date=January 6, 2012 |archive-date=March 16, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120316164430/http://www.amd.com/us/press-releases/Pages/Press_Release_729.aspx |url-status=dead }}. The Athlon architecture also used the EV6 bus licensed from DEC as its main system bus, allowing AMD to develop its own products without needing to license Intel's GTL+ bus.{{cite news |author=Gary Mauler, Milt Beebe |title=I/O subsystems and capacity planning for clusters |work=Clustering Windows Server: A Road Map for Enterprise Solutions |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P5kx6MWu2eIC&q=EV6+bus+athlon+licensing&pg=PA113 |date=December 19, 2001 |isbn=9780080488493 |access-date=August 4, 2020}} By the summer of 2000, AMD was shipping Athlons at high volume, and the chips were being used in systems by Gateway, Hewlett-Packard, and Fujitsu Siemens Computers among others.{{cite news |author=Richard Ricthmyer |title=AMD's chips hit high gear |url=https://money.cnn.com/2000/08/28/technology/amd/ |work=CNN |date=August 28, 2000 |access-date=August 4, 2020}}

The second-generation Athlon, the Thunderbird, debuted in 2000. AMD released the Athlon XP the following year, and the Athlon XP's immediate successor, the Athlon 64, was an AMD64-architecture microprocessor released in 2003. After the 2007 launch of the Phenom processors, the Athlon name was also used for mid-range processors, positioned above brands such as Sempron.[https://web.archive.org/web/20071211104023/http://www.amdboard.com/amdid.html "AMD Athlon/Duron/Sempron CPU identification and OPN breakdown"], amdboard.com. The Athlon 64 X2 was released in 2005 as the first native dual-core desktop CPU designed by AMD, and the Athlon X2 was a subsequent family based on the Athlon 64 X2. Introduced in 2009, Athlon II was a dual-core family of Athlon chips.

A USD$55 low-power Athlon 200GE with a Radeon graphics processor was introduced in September 2018, sitting under the Ryzen 3 2200G. This iteration of Athlon used AMD's Zen-based Raven Ridge core, which in turn had debuted in Ryzen with Radeon graphics processors.{{cite news |author= |date=May 26, 2018 |title=Two New 35W Raven Ridge Parts: AMD Athlon 200GE and Athlon Pro 200GE |url=https://www.anandtech.com/show/12816/two-new-35w-raven-ridge-parts-exist-amd-athlon-200ge-and-athlon-pro-200ge |access-date=August 4, 2020 |work=Anandtech}} With the release, AMD began using the Athlon brand name to refer to "low-cost, high-volume products", in a situation similar to both Intel's Celeron and Pentium Gold. The modern Athlon 3000G was introduced in 2019 and was positioned as AMD's highest-performance entry-level processor. AMD positions the Athlon against its rival, the Intel Pentium. While CPU processing performance is in the same ballpark, the Athlon 3000G uses Radeon Vega graphics, which are rated as more powerful than the Pentium's Intel UHD Graphics.{{cite news |author=Kevin Carbotte |title=AMD Athlon vs Intel Pentium: Which Cheap Chips Are Best? |url=https://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-athlon-intel-pentium-showdown,38737.html |work=Tom's Hardware |date=March 4, 2019 |access-date=August 4, 2020}}

{{Main|List of AMD Athlon processors}}

{{Infobox CPU

| name = Athlon Classic

| image = AMD-Athlon-Processor-Logo.svg

| caption = The logo of the Athlon "Classic"

| produced-start = June 23, 1999

| produced-end =

| slowest = 500 | slow-unit = MHz

| fastest = 1400 | fast-unit = MHz

| fsb-slowest = 100 | fsb-slow-unit = Mhz

| fsb-fastest = 133 | fsb-fast-unit = Mhz

| size-from = 250 nm

| size-to = 180 nm

| manuf1 = AMD    

| core1 = Argon (K7)

| core2 = Pluto/Orion (K75)

| core3 = Thunderbird

| predecessor = K6-III

| successor = Athlon XP

| sock1 = Slot A

| sock2 = Socket A

| sock3 = Socket 563

| arch = x86

}}

The AMD Athlon processor launched on June 23, 1999, with general availability by August 1999. Subsequently, from August 1999 until January 2002, this initial K7 processor was the fastest x86 chip in the world.{{Cite web |url=http://www.cpu-collection.de/?l0=co&l1=amd&l2=athlon |title=amd athlon |website=cpu-collection.de |access-date=2017-02-24}} At launch it was, on average, 10% faster than the Pentium III at the same clock for business applications and 20% faster for gaming workloads.{{citation |author=Lal Shimpi, Anand |url=http://www.anandtech.com/show/355/3 |title=AMD Athlon |date=August 9, 1999 |access-date=January 6, 2012 |quote=The performance of the K7, then clocked at 500 MHz, was on par with a Pentium III 500.}} In commercial terms, the Athlon "Classic" was an enormous success.

;Features

Image:Amd athlon classic.jpg

The Athlon Classic is a cartridge-based processor, named Slot A and similar to Intel's cartridge Slot 1 used for Pentium II and Pentium III. It used the same, commonly available, physical 242-pin connector used by Intel Slot 1 processors but rotated by 180 degrees to connect the processor to the motherboard. The cartridge assembly allowed the use of higher-speed cache memory modules than could be put on (or reasonably bundled with) motherboards at the time. Similar to the Pentium II and the Katmai-based Pentium III, the Athlon Classic contained 512 KB of L2 cache. This high-speed SRAM cache was run at a divisor of the processor clock and was accessed via its own 64-bit back-side bus, allowing the processor to service both front-side bus requests and cache accesses simultaneously, as compared to pushing everything through the front-side bus.{{citation |author=De Gelas, Johan |url=http://aceshardware.com/read.jsp?id=71|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011225163156/http://aceshardware.com/read.jsp?id=71 |title=Clash of Silicon, The Athlon 650 |publisher=Ace's Hardware |date=September 29, 1999 |archive-date=December 25, 2001 |access-date=January 6, 2012}}.

The Argon-based Athlon contained 22 million transistors and measured 184 mm². It was fabricated by AMD in a version of their CS44E process, a 250 nm complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) process with six levels of aluminium interconnect.{{citation |author=Golden, Michael |year=1999 |title=A Seventh-Generation x86 Microprocessor |journal=IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits |volume=34 |issue=11 |pages=1466–1477 |doi=10.1109/4.799851|bibcode=1999IJSSC..34.1466G |display-authors=etal}}.{{citation |author=Keith Diefendorff|author-link=Keith Diefendorff |title=K7 Challenges Intel |journal=Microprocessor Report |date=October 26, 1998 |volume=12 |issue=14 |url=http://www3.hi.is/~hh/kennsla/ht/Athlon.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www3.hi.is/~hh/kennsla/ht/Athlon.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |access-date=January 6, 2012}}. "Pluto" and "Orion" Athlons were fabricated in a 180 nm process.

Image:Athlon arch.png

Image:Slot-A Athlon.jpg

Image:Argonathlon.jpg

The Athlon's CPU cache consisted of the typical two levels. Athlon was the first x86 processor with a 128 KB{{BDprefix|p=b}} split level-1 cache; a 2-way associative cache separated into 2×64 KB for data and instructions (a concept from Harvard architecture). SRAM cache designs at the time were incapable of keeping up with the Athlon's clock scalability, resulting in compromised CPU performance in some computers.{{citation |author=Lal Shimpi, Anand |url=http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=1189&p=2|title=AMD Athlon 1 GHz, 950 MHz, 900 MHz |publisher=Anandtech |page=2 |date=March 6, 2000}}. With later Athlon models, AMD would integrate the L2 cache onto the processor itself, removing dependence on external cache chips.{{cite news |author=Robert Bruce Thompson, Barbara Fritchman |title=PC Hardware in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kG8LcWfruOAC&q=thoroughbred+A+die+shrink+palomino&pg=PT64 |work=Thompson |date=July 24, 2003 |isbn=9780596552343|access-date=August 4, 2020}} The Slot-A Athlons were the first multiplier-locked CPUs from AMD, preventing users from setting their own desired clock speed. This was done by AMD in part to hinder CPU remarking and overclocking by resellers, which could result in inconsistent performance. Eventually a product called the "Goldfingers device" was created that could unlock the CPU.{{citation |author=Jim Noonan; James Rolfe |url=http://www.overclockers.com.au/techstuff/r_gfd1/ |title=Athlon Gold-Finger Devices |publisher=Overclockers.com.au |date=March 21, 2000 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090201190219/http://www.overclockers.com.au/techstuff/r_gfd1/ |archive-date=February 1, 2009 |access-date=January 6, 2012}}.

AMD designed the CPU with more robust x86 instruction decoding capabilities than that of K6, to enhance its ability to keep more data in-flight at once.{{citation |author=Paul Hsieh |url=http://www.azillionmonkeys.com/qed/cpujihad.shtml|title=7th Generation CPU Comparisons |date=August 11, 1999 |access-date=January 6, 2012}}. The critical branch-predictor unit was enhanced compared to the K6. Deeper pipelining with more stages allowed higher clock speeds to be attained.De Gelas, Johan. [https://web.archive.org/web/20011124231810/http://www.aceshardware.com/Spades/read.php?article_id=50 The Secrets of High Performance CPUs, Part 1], Ace's Hardware, September 29, 1999. Like the AMD K5 and K6, the Athlon dynamically buffered internal micro-instructions at runtime resulting from parallel x86 instruction decoding. The CPU is an out-of-order design, again like previous post-5x86 AMD CPUs. The Athlon utilizes the Alpha 21264's EV6 bus architecture with double data rate (DDR) technology.{{citation needed|date=August 2020}}

AMD ended its long-time handicap with floating point x87 performance by designing a super-pipelined, out-of-order, triple-issue floating-point unit (FPU). Each of its three units could independently calculate an optimal type of instructions with some redundancy, making it possible to operate on more than one floating-point instruction at once. This FPU was a huge step forward for AMD, helping compete with Intel's P6 FPU.{{citation |author=Pabst, Thomas |url=http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/performance,124-7.html|title=Performance-Showdown between Athlon and Pentium III |publisher=Tom's Hardware |date=August 23, 1999 |access-date=January 6, 2012}}. The 3DNow! floating-point SIMD technology, again present, received some revisions and was renamed "Enhanced 3DNow!" Additions included DSP instructions and the extended MMX subset of Intel SSE.{{citation |author=Womack, Tom |url=http://www.tom.womack.net/x86FAQ/faq_features.html |title=Extensions to the x86 architecture |access-date=January 6, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120115195956/http://www.tom.womack.net/x86FAQ/faq_features.html |archive-date=January 15, 2012 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}.

;Specifications

• L1-cache: 64 + 64 KB (data + instructions)
• L2-cache: 512 KB, external chips on CPU module with 50%, 40% or 33% of CPU speed
• MMX, 3DNow!
• Slot A (EV6)
• Front-side bus:100 MHz (200MT/s)
• Vcore: 1.6 V (K7), 1.6–1.8 V (K75)
• First release: June 23, 1999 (K7), November 29, 1999 (K75)
• Clock-rate: 500–700 MHz (K7), 550–1000 MHz (K75)

File:KL AMD Athlon XP Thunderbird.jpg

The second-generation Athlon, the Thunderbird or T-Bird, debuted on June 4, 2000. This version of the Athlon was available in a traditional pin-grid array (PGA) format that plugged into a socket ("Socket A") on the motherboard, or packaged as a Slot A cartridge. The major difference between it and the Athlon Classic was cache design, with AMD adding in 256 KB of on-chip, full-speed exclusive cache. In moving to an exclusive cache design, the L1 cache's contents were not duplicated in the L2, increasing total cache size and functionally creating a large L1 cache with a slower region (the L2) and a fast region (the L1),{{citation |author=Stokes, John |url=https://arstechnica.com/old/content/2005/02/amd-hammer-1.ars/9|title=Inside AMD's Hammer: the 64-bit architecture behind the Opteron and Athlon 64 |publisher=Ars Technica |page=9 |date=February 1, 2005 |access-date=January 6, 2012}}. making the L2 cache into basically a victim cache. With the new cache design, need for high L2 performance and size was lessened, and the simpler L2 cache was less likely to cause clock scaling and yield issues. Thunderbird also moved to a 16-way associative layout.{{citation |url=http://www.sandpile.org/impl/k7.htm |title=K7 microarchitecture information|publisher=Sandpile.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991013102053/http://sandpile.org/impl/k7.htm |archive-date=October 13, 1999 |access-date=January 6, 2012}}.

The Thunderbird was "cherished by many for its overclockability" and proved commercially successful, as AMD's most successful product since the Am386DX-40 ten years earlier.{{Cite web |title=The Red Hill CPU Guide: transition to the 386 |url=https://www.redhill.net.au/c/c-3.html |access-date=2020-06-06 |website=www.redhill.net.au}} AMD's new fab facility in Dresden increased production for AMD overall and put out Thunderbirds at a fast rate, with the process technology improved by a switch to copper interconnects.{{cite news |author=Jack Robertson |title=Dresden fab is putting AMD back on the manufacturing map |url=https://www.eetimes.com/dresden-fab-is-putting-amd-back-on-the-manufacturing-map/ |work=EE Times |date=April 24, 2000 |access-date=August 4, 2020}} After several versions were released in 2000 and 2001 of the Thunderbird, the last Athlon processor using the Thunderbird core was released in 2001 in the summer, at which point speeds were at 1.4 GHz.

File:Athlon Tbird 900 slot A.jpg

;Specifications

• L1-cache: 64 + 64 KB (data + instructions)
• L2-cache: 256 KB, full speed
• MMX, 3DNow!
• Slot A & Socket A (EV6)
• Front-side bus: 100 MHz (Slot-A, B-models), 133 MHz (C-models) (200 MT/s, 266 MT/s)
• Vcore: 1.70–1.75 V
• First release: June 4, 2000
• Transistor count: 37 million
• Manufacturing process: /180 nm
• Clock rate:
• Slot A: 650–1000 MHz
• Socket A, 100 MHz FSB (B-models): 600–1400 MHz
• Socket A, 133 MHz FSB (C-models): 1000–1400 MHz

{{See also|List of AMD Athlon XP processors}}

{{Infobox CPU

| name =AMD Athon XP

| image = File:AMD Athlon XP Logo.jpg

| caption = AMD Athlon logo used for Athlon XP

| produced-start = October 9, 2001

| variant =

| predecessor =Athlon Thunderbird

| successor =Athlon 64

|core1=Palomino
Thoroughbred
Thorton
Barton
Corvette
Dublin|soldby=AMD|created=|fsb-slowest=266|fsb-slow-unit=MT/s|fsb-fastest=400|fsb-fast-unit=MT/s|designfirm=AMD|slowest=850|slow-unit=MHz|fastest=2333|fast-unit=Mhz|manuf1=AMD|microarch=K7|sock1=Socket A|size-from=180 nm|size-to=130 nm}}

Overall, there are four main variants of the Athlon XP desktop CPU: the Palomino, the Thoroughbred, the Thorton, and the Barton. A number of mobile processors were also released, including the Corvette models, and the Dublin model among others.

====Palomino====

File:KL AMD Athlon XP Palomino.jpg

On May 14, 2001, AMD released the Athlon XP processor. It debuted as the Mobile Athlon 4, a mobile version codenamed Corvette, with the desktop Athlon XP released in the fall. The third-generation Athlon, code-named Palomino, came out on October 9, 2001, as the Athlon XP, with the suffix signifying extreme performance and unofficially referencing Windows XP.. Palomino's design used 180 nm fabrication process size. The Athlon XP was marketed using a performance rating (PR) system comparing it to the Thunderbird predecessor core.{{citation |author=Wasson, Scott |url=http://techreport.com/articles.x/3086/1|title=AMD's Athlon XP 1900+ processor: Pouring it on |publisher=The Tech Report |page=1 |date=November 5, 2001 |access-date=January 6, 2012}}. Among other changes, Palomino consumed 20% less power than the Thunderbird, comparatively reducing heat output,{{citation |author=Wasson, Scott |url=http://techreport.com/articles.x/2975/1|title=AMD's Athlon XP 1800+ processor: 1533 > 1800 |publisher=The Tech Report |date=October 9, 2001 |access-date=January 6, 2012}}. and was roughly 10% faster than Thunderbird. Palomino also had enhanced K7's TLB architecture and included a hardware data prefetch mechanism to take better advantage of memory bandwidth. Palomino was the first K7 core to include the full SSE instruction set from the Intel Pentium III, as well as AMD's 3DNow! Professional.{{citation |author=Lal Shimpi, Anand |url=http://www.anandtech.com/show/766/4|title=AMD Athlon 4 – The Palomino is Here |publisher=Anandtech |pages=4–5 |date=May 14, 2001 |access-date=January 6, 2012}}. Palomino was also the first socketed Athlon officially supporting dual processing, with chips certified for that purpose branded as the Athlon MP (multi processing),{{citation |author=Lal Shimpi, Anand |url=http://www.anandtech.com/show/780|title=AMD 760MP & Athlon MP – Dual Processor Heaven |publisher=Anandtech |date=June 5, 2001 |access-date=January 6, 2012}} which had different specifications.{{cite news |author= |title=AMD's Technical Specifications for 7th generation CPUs |url=http://www.amd.com/gb-uk/assets/content_type/DownloadableAssets/K7_Electrical_Specification_Rev_ENG.pdf|work=AMD |date=2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051211094608/http://www.amd.com/gb-uk/assets/content_type/DownloadableAssets/K7_Electrical_Specification_Rev_ENG.pdf |archive-date=December 11, 2005 }} According to HardwareZone, it was possible to modify the Athlon XP to function as an MP.{{cite news |author=Jimmy Tang |title=Modding the Athlon XP into an MP |url=http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?id=393|work=Hardware Zone |date=March 15, 2002}}{{cite news |author=Jimmy Tang |title=Modding the Barton XP to a Barton MP |url=http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?id=747|work=Hardware Zone |date=May 12, 2003 }}

;Specifications

• L1-cache: 64 + 64 KB (data + instructions)
• L2-cache: 256 KB, full speed
• MMX, 3DNow!, SSE
• Socket A (EV6)
• Front-side bus: 133 MHz (266 MT/s)
• Vcore: 1.50 to 1.75 V
• Power consumption: 68 W
• First release: October 9, 2001
• Clock-rate:
• Athlon 4: 850–1400 MHz
• Athlon XP: 1333–1733 MHz (1500+ to 2100+)
• Athlon MP: 1000–1733 MHz

File:KL AMD Athlon XP Thoroughbred.jpg

The fourth-generation of Athlon was introduced with the Thoroughbred core, or T-Bred, on April 17, 2002.{{citation |url=http://www.cpu-world.com/Cores/Thoroughbred.html|title=AMD Athlon Thoroughbred core |date=May 2, 2011 |access-date=January 6, 2012}}. The Thoroughbred core marked AMD's first production 130 nm silicon, with smaller die size than its predecessor. There came to be two steppings (revisions) of this core commonly referred to as Tbred-A and Tbred-B. Introduced in June 2002, the initial A version was mostly a direct die shrink of the preceding Palomino core, but did not significantly increase clock speeds over the Palomino. A revised Thoroughbred core, Thoroughbred-B, added a ninth "metal layer" to the eight-layered Thoroughbred-A, offering improvement in headroom over the A and making it popular for overclocking.{{citation |author=Lal Shimpi, Anand |url=http://www.anandtech.com/show/972/3 |title=Introducing Thoroughbred Revision B |publisher=Anandtech |date=August 21, 2002 |access-date=January 6, 2012}}.

;Specifications

• L1-cache: 64 + 64 KB (data + instructions)
• L2-cache: 256 KB, full speed
• MMX, 3DNow!, SSE
• Socket A (EV6)
• Front-side bus: 133/166 MHz (266/333 MT/s)
• Vcore: 1.50–1.65 V
• First release: June 10, 2002 (A), August 21, 2002 (B)
• Clock-rate:
• Thoroughbred "A": 1400–1800 MHz (1600+ to 2200+)
• Thoroughbred "B": 1400–2250 MHz (1600+ to 2800+)
• 133 MHz FSB: 1400–2133 MHz (1600+ to 2600+)
• 166 MHz FSB: 2083–2250 MHz (2600+ to 2800+)

File:KL AMD Athlon XP Barton.jpg

Fifth-generation Athlon Barton-core processors were released in early 2003. While not operating at higher clock rates than Thoroughbred-core processors, they featured an increased L2 cache, and later models had an increased 200 MHz (400 MT/s) front side bus.{{citation |author=De Gelas, Johan |url=http://www.aceshardware.com/read.jsp?id=50000364 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030324002539/http://www.aceshardware.com/read.jsp?id=50000364|title=Barton: 512 KB Athlon XP Reviewed |publisher=Ace's Hardware |date=February 10, 2003 |archive-date=March 24, 2003 |access-date=January 6, 2012}}. The Thorton core, a blend of Thoroughbred and Barton, was a later variant of the Barton with half of the L2 cache disabled.{{Cite web |url=http://www.cpu-world.com/Cores/Thorton.html |title=AMD Thorton core}} The Barton was used to officially introduce a higher 400 MT/s bus clock for the Socket A platform, which was used to gain some Barton models more efficiency. By this point with the Barton, the four-year-old Athlon EV6 bus architecture had scaled to its limit and required a redesign to exceed the performance of newer Intel processors. By 2003, the Pentium 4 had become more than competitive with AMD's processors,{{citation |author=Lal Shimpi, Anand |url=http://www.anandtech.com/show/1066|title=AMD's Athlon XP 3000+: Barton cuts it close |publisher=AnandTech |date=February 10, 2003 |access-date=January 6, 2012}}. and Barton only saw a small performance increase over the Thoroughbred-B it derived from, insufficient to outperform the Pentium 4. The K7-derived Athlons such as Barton were replaced in September 2003 by the Athlon 64 family, which featured an on-chip memory controller and a new HyperTransport bus.{{cite web |url=https://techreport.com/review/6070/amds-athlon-64-3400-processor/|title=AMD's Athlon 64 3400+ process|author=Scott Wasson |date=January 6, 2020|publisher=The Tech Report |access-date=August 4, 2020}}

Notably, the 2500+ Barton with 11× multiplier was effectively identical to the 3200+ part other than the FSB speed it was binned for, meaning that seamless overclocking was possible more often than not. Early Thortons could be restored to the full Barton specification with the enabling of the other half of the L2 cache from a slight CPU surface modification, but the result was not always reliable.

;Specifications:

Barton (130 nm)

• L1-cache: 64 + 64 KB (data + instructions)
• L2-cache: 512 KB, full speed
• MMX, 3DNow!, SSE
• Socket A (EV6)
• Front-side bus: 166/200 MHz (333/400 MT/s)
• Vcore: 1.65 V
• First release: February 10, 2003
• Clock rate: 1833–2333 MHz (2500+ to 3200+)
• 133 MHz FSB: 1867–2133 MHz (2500+ to 2800+); uncommon
• 166 MHz FSB: 1833–2333 MHz (2500+ to 3200+)
• 200 MHz FSB: 2100, 2200 MHz (3000+, 3200+)

Thorton (130 nm)

• L1-cache: 64 + 64 KB (Data + Instructions)
• L2-cache: 256 KB, full speed
• MMX, 3DNow!, SSE
• Socket A (EV6)
• Front-side bus: 133/166/200 MHz (266/333/400 MT/s)
• Vcore: 1.50–1.65 V
• First release: September 2003
• Clock rate: 1667–2200 MHz (2000+ to 3100+)
• 133 MHz FSB: 1600–2133 MHz (2000+ to 2600+)
• 166 MHz FSB: 2083 MHz (2600+)
• 200 MHz FSB: 2200 MHz (3100+)

====Mobile Athlon XP====

File:Athlon XPM 2400l.jpg

The Palomino core debuted in the mobile market before the PC market in May 2001, where it was branded as Mobile Athlon 4 with the codename "Corvette". It distinctively used a ceramic interposer much like the Thunderbird instead of the organic pin grid array package used on all later Palomino processors. In November 2001, AMD released a 1.2 GHz Athlon 4 and a 950 MHz Duron.{{cite news |author= Matthew Broersma|title=XP blacks out AMD power management |url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/xp-blacks-out-amd-power-management/|work=ZDNet |date=November 13, 2001 |access-date=August 3, 2020 }} The Mobile Athlon 4 processors included the PowerNow! function, which controlled a laptop's "level of processor performance by dynamically adjusting its operating frequency and voltage according to the task at hand",{{cite news |author=Steven Parker |title=Windows XP Patch: AMD Power Now availability in XP |url=https://www.neowin.net/news/windows-xp-patch-amd-power-now-availability-in-xp/|work=Neowin |date=October 19, 2001 |access-date=August 3, 2020 }} thus extending "battery life by reducing processor power when it isn't needed by applications". Duron chips also included PowerNow! In 2002, AMD released a version of PowerNow! called Cool'n'Quiet, implemented on the Athlon XP but only adjusting clock speed instead of voltage.{{cite news |author=Mark Hachmann |title=AMD Offering Version of PowerNow! For Athlon XP |url=https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/72736-amd-offering-version-of-powernow-for-athlon-xp |work=ExtremeTech |date=January 25, 2002 |access-date=August 3, 2020 }}

In 2002 the Athlon XP-M (Mobile Athlon XP) replaced the Mobile Athlon 4 using the newer Thoroughbred core,{{cite news |author=March Hachmann |title=Update: AMD Launches Mobile Athlon XP|url=https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/50960-update-amd-launches-mobile-athlon-xp|work=Extreme Tech |date=April 17, 2002 |access-date=August 3, 2020 }} with Barton cores for full-size notebooks. The Athlon XP-M was also offered in a compact microPGA socket 563 version.{{cite news |author=Mark Hachman |title=Update AMD Announces Mobile Athlon XP |url=https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/53682-update-amd-announces-mobile-athlon-xp|work=Extreme Tech |date=March 12, 2003 |access-date=August 3, 2020 }} Mobile XPs were not multiplier-locked, making them popular with desktop overclockers.{{cite news |author=Don Woligroski |title=14 Of The Most Legendary Overclocking-Friendly CPUs |url=https://www.tomshardware.com/picturestory/636-best-overclocking-cpu.html |work=Tom's Hardware |date=2013 |access-date=August 3, 2020 }}

{{See also|List of AMD Athlon 64 processors}}

The immediate successor to the Athlon XP, the Athlon 64 is an AMD64-architecture microprocessor produced by AMD, released on September 23, 2003.{{cite news |author=John G. Spooner |title=AMD's Athlon steps up to 64 bits |url=https://www.cnet.com/news/amds-athlon-steps-up-to-64-bits/ |work=CNET |date=September 23, 2003 |access-date=August 3, 2020}} A number of variations, all named after cities, were released with 90 nm architecture in 2004 and 2005. Versions released in 2007 and 2009 utilized 65 nm architecture.

{{See also|List of AMD Athlon X2 processors}}

The Athlon 64 X2 was released in 2005 as the first native dual-core desktop CPU designed by AMD using an Athlon 64.{{cite news |author=Tony Smith |title=AMD launches dual-core Athlon 64 X2 |url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/05/31/amd_athlon_64_x2/ |work=The Register |date=May 31, 2005 |access-date=August 3, 2020}} The Athlon X2 was a subsequent family of microprocessors based on the Athlon 64 X2. The original Brisbane Athlon X2 models used 65 nm architecture and were released in 2007.{{cite news |author=Jeff Bouton |title=AMD Athlon X2 BE-2350 and BE-2300 "Brisbane" Processors |url=https://hothardware.com/reviews/amd-be2350 |work=Hot Hardware |date=June 5, 2007 |access-date=August 3, 2020 |archive-date=July 6, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200706180719/https://hothardware.com/reviews/amd-be2350 |url-status=dead }}

{{See also|List of AMD Athlon II processors}}

Athlon II is a family of central processing units. Initially a dual-core version of the Athlon II, the K-10-based Regor was released in June 2009 with 45-nanometer architecture. This was followed by a single-core version Sargas,{{cite news |author= |title=AMD Regor Core |url=http://www.cpu-world.com/Cores/Regor.html|work=CPU World |date=2009 |access-date=August 3, 2020 }} followed by the quad-core Propus, the triple-core Rana in November 2009,{{cite news |author=Patrick Schmid and Achim Roos |title=AMD Athlon II X4 620: Quad Core For The Masses At $100 |url=https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/athlon-ii-propus,2414.html |work=Tom's Hardware |date=September 16, 2009 |access-date=August 3, 2020}} and the Llano 32 nm version released in 2011.{{cite news |author=Don Woligroski |title=Picking A Sub-$200 Gaming CPU: FX, An APU, Or A Pentium?|url=https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-fx-pentium-apu-benchmark,3120.html |work=Tom's Hardware |date=January 30, 2012 |access-date=August 3, 2020}}

{{main|Athlon X4#"Kaveri" (2014, 28 nm)}}

Various Steamroller-based Athlon X4 and X2 FM2+ socketed processors were released in 2014 and the years after. The preceding Piledriver-based Athlon X4 and X2 processors were released before 2014, and are socket compatible with both FM2+ and FM2 mainboards.

{{main|Athlon X4#"Bristol Ridge" (2017, 28 nm)}}

The Bristol Ridge Athlon X4 lineup was released in 2017. It is based on the Excavator microarchitecture and uses 2 Excavator modules totalling 4 cores. It has a dual-channel DDR4-2400 memory controller with clock speeds up to 4.0 GHz. It runs on the new Socket AM4 platform that was later used for Zen 1 to Zen 3 CPUs.

{{Infobox CPU

| name =Zen based Athon

| image = Athlon_logo.png

| caption = AMD Athlon logo used for Zen-based models

| produced-start = September 6, 2018

| produced-end =

| slowest =  | slow-unit =

| fastest = 3.5 | fast-unit = GHz

| size-from = 14 nm

| size-to = 6 nm

| manuf1 = AMD

| core1 =  Raven Ridge

| core2 =  Picasso

| core3 = Mendocino

| predecessor = Athlon Classic
Athlon Thunderbird
Athlon XP/MP
Athlon 64
Athlon 64 X2
Athlon X2
Athlon II
AMD APU

| successor =

| sock1 =

| sock2 =

| sock3 =

| arch = x86-64

| microarch = Zen (with Radeon Graphics)
Zen+ (with Radeon Graphics)
Zen 2 (with Radeon Graphics)

}}

The Zen-based Athlon with Radeon graphics processors was launched in September 2018 with the Athlon 200GE.{{cite news |author=Anton Shilov |title=AMD's Athlon 22GE Processors Now Available |url=https://www.anandtech.com/show/13376/amds-athlon-200ge-processors-now-available |work=Anandtech |date=September 21, 2018 |access-date=August 3, 2020}} Based on AMD's Raven Ridge core previously used in variants of the Ryzen 3 and Ryzen 5, the Athlon 200GE had half of the cores but left SMT enabled. It also kept the same 4 MiB L3 cache, but the L2 cache was halved to 1 MiB.

In addition, the number of graphics compute units was limited to 3 in the Athlon 200GE,{{cite news |author= |title=AMD Reimagines Everyday Computing with New "Zen" Based Athlon™ Desktop Processors, Expands Commercial Client Portfolio with 2nd Generation Ryzen™ PRO Desktop Processors |url=https://www.amd.com/en/press-releases/2018-09-06-amd-reimagines-everyday-computing-new-zen-based-athlon-desktop-processors |work=AMD |date=September 6, 2018 |access-date=August 4, 2020}} and the chip was multiplier-locked.{{cite news |author=Hilbert Hagedoorn |title=AMD Athlon 200GE review |url=https://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/amd_athlon_200ge_review,28.html |work=Guru3D |date=December 21, 2018 |access-date=August 4, 2020}} Despite its limitations, the Athlon 200GE performed competitively against{{cite news |author= |title=The Best Entry Level Gaming CPU: Athlon 200GE vs. Pentium G5400 vs. Ryzen 3 2200G |url=https://www.techspot.com/review/1739-budget-cpu-athlon-vs-pentium-vs-ryzen/ |work=Tech Spot |date=November 2, 2018 |access-date=August 4, 2020}} the 5000-series Intel Pentium-G, displaying similar CPU performance but an advantage in GPU performance.{{cite news |author=Kevin Carbotte |title=AMD Athlon 200GE vs. Intel Pentium Gold G5400: Cheap CPU Showdown |url=https://www.tomshardware.com/news/athlon-200ge-vs-pentium-gold-g5400,38260.html |work=Tom's Hardware |date=December 19, 2018 |access-date=August 4, 2020}}

On November 19, 2019, AMD released the Athlon 3000G, with a higher 3.5 GHz core clock and 1100 MHz graphics clock compared to the Athlon 200GE, also with two cores. The main functional difference between the 200GE was the Athlon 3000G's unlocked multiplier, allowing the latter to be overclocked on B450 and X470 motherboards.{{cite news |author=Joel Hruska |title=AMD Launches Budget Athlon 3000G With $49 Overclocking Support |url=https://www.extremetech.com/computing/302345-amd-launches-budget-athlon-3000g-with-49-overclocking-support |work=Extreme Tech |date=November 20, 2019}}

Zen 2-based Athlon with Radeon Graphics processors, codenamed "Mendocino", were released on September 20, 2022, for the entry-level laptop market, alongside the more powerful quad-core Ryzen 7020 mobile series under the same codename.{{cite web |last1=Carrasqueira |first1=João |title=AMD unveils Zen 2-based Ryzen 7020 series "Mendocino" processors |url=https://www.xda-developers.com/amd-ryzen-athlon-7020-series-mendocino/ |website=XDA Developers |access-date=29 June 2024 |language=en |date=20 September 2022}} Featuring two processing cores, with two threads on Athlon Silver and four threads on Athlon Gold models, Athlon 7020 series mobile processors are equipped with two compute units (CUs) of RDNA 2 graphics. These 7020U series models were followed by the release of Ryzen/Athlon 7020C series for Chromebooks on May 23, 2023.{{cite web |last1=Bonshor |first1=Gavin |title=AMD Launches Zen 2-based Ryzen and Athlon 7020C Series For Chromebooks |url=https://www.anandtech.com/show/18868/amd-launches-zen-2-based-ryzen-and-athlon-7020c-series-for-chromebooks |website=www.anandtech.com |access-date=29 June 2024 |date=23 May 2023}} Unlike prior Athlon generations, AMD has not released desktop variants of Mendocino.

;Specifications

Raven Ridge (14 nm), Picasso (12 nm) (see the list article for more details){{cite news |author= |title=AMD Athlon 200GE / 3.2 GHz processor Specs & Prices |url=https://www.cnet.com/products/amd-athlon-200ge-3-2-ghz-processor/|work=CNET |access-date=August 3, 2020}}

• L1 cache: 192 KiB (2×64 KiB + 2×32 KiB)
• L2 cache: 1 MiB (2×512 KiB)
• L3 cache: 4 MiB
• Memory: dual-channel DDR4-2666, 64 GiB max.
• Socket AM4
• TDP: 35 W
• First release: September 6, 2018
• CPU clock rate: 3.2 to 3.5 GHz
• GPU clock rate: 1000 to 1100 MHz

Mendocino (6 nm) (see the list article for more details)

• L1 cache: 128 KiB (2×32 KiB + 2×32 KiB)
• L2 cache: 1 MiB (2×512 KiB)
• L3 cache: 4 MiB
• Memory: dual-channel LPDDR5-5500, 16 GiB max.
• TDP: 15 W
• First release: September 20, 2022
• CPU clock rate: 2.4 GHz
• GPU clock rate: 1900 MHz

A number of supercomputers have been built using Athlon chips, largely at universities. Among them:

• In 2000, several American students claimed to have built the world's least expensive supercomputer by clustering 64 AMD Athlon chips together, also marking the first time Athlons had been clustered in a supercomputer.{{cite news |author= |title=Students build super cheap supercomputer |url=https://www.computing.co.uk/news/1862502/students-build-super-cheap-supercomputer|work=Computing |date=June 8, 2000 |access-date=August 2, 2020 }}
• The PRESTO III, a Beowulf cluster of 78 AMD Athlon processors, was built in 2001 by the Tokyo Institute of Technology. That year it ranked 439 on the TOP500 list of supercomputers.{{cite news |author=Drew Cullen |title=AMD cluster sneaks in Supercomputer top 500 list |url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/07/02/amd_cluster_sneaks_in_supercomputer/ |work=The Register |date=July 2, 2001 |access-date=August 2, 2020 }}
• In 2002, a "128-Node 256-Processor AMD Athlon Supercomputer Cluster" was installed at the Ohio Supercomputer Center at the University of Toledo.{{cite news |author= |title=Ohio Supercomputer Center Awards Cluster to University of Toledo |url=https://www.osc.edu/press/ohio_supercomputer_center_awards_cluster_to_university_of_toledo |work=Ohio Supercomputer Center |date=August 6, 2004 |access-date=August 2, 2020 }}
• Rutgers University, Department of Physics & Astronomy. Machine: NOW Cluster—AMD Athlon. CPU: 512 AthlonMP (1.65 GHz). Rmax: 794 GFLOPS.{{citation needed|date=August 2020}}

• List of AMD Athlon processors
• List of AMD Duron processors
• List of AMD Phenom processors
• List of AMD Opteron processors
• List of AMD Sempron processors

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{commons category|Athlon}}

• [https://www.amd.com/en/processors/athlon-mobile Athlon Official Website]

{{AMD processors}}

Category:Computer-related introductions in 1999

Category:AMD x86 microprocessors

Category:AMD microarchitectures

Category:Superscalar microprocessors

Category:X86 microarchitectures